Tiger I turret rotation

[Bob Cohoon]

Here is a short video of the Bovington Tiger I, and in is a rare view of them rotating the big turret and its "88" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNgyqVzeQc&NR=1

[Ryan]

Nice one Bob. Great to see and hear it running. Bit of a cough from the engine right at the end had the crowd entertained. Would love to see it in person one day.

[John McGillivray]

Did anyone read the comment below the video?

“Tiger tank 131 has trashed another Maybach 230 engine, the museum has launched an appeal, to fund a major engine repair,…”

[Bob Cohoon]

Yes, you can see in the video a lot of blue smoke coming from the left side of the exhaust, and a small backfire when they shut the engine down, not a good sign. I think they had more trouble with it, and it is now out for repairs along with the final drive transmission and cooling fan drive. Looks like they did some improvising on the mechanics to get it functional,originally, and it didn' t all work out so well. I can bet factory parts are like hen' s teeth, and substitution or custom manufacture is a solution, but has to be carefully researched and engineered.There is an explanation of what the situation is now at this link: http://www.tankmuseum.org/asset_aren...f_document.pdf The Maybach 230 was a 23 litre V12 gasoline engine of 600 hp. I was surprised to learn that the manual insisted on using the inertial starter to start a cold engine, not the electric starter, for fear of possible hydraulic lock and consequent piston/ rod damage, like what maybe caused the original engine failure at start-up in 2004