How to Run Tiger 131 | Ep. 17 | Tank Workshop Diaries | The Tank Museum 

Hello Tank Nuts, we hope you enjoy going behind the scenes on how our Workshop Team gets Tiger 131 running! Do let us know your thoughts!

Can we all take a moment to appreciate these people who are keeping all the tanks running and keep them in very good condition? Thank you very much for keeping the Tiger 1 repair free.

That tiger was state of the art back in the day a very intimidating beast. And to be honest she’s still an impressive sight and a priceless peace of history

“When I say STOP, just move away” Proceeds to say: Okay Thanks for the clear instructions sir!

I flew from Dallas Texas USA to Bovington, UK just to see this tank run on Tiger Day in April. Yep, it was worth it.

If that starter ever needs a rebuild, please video it. I'd love to see the insides of that between the handle and engine.

"Shermans are boring because they never go wrong" Kind of sums up the WW2 tank story from the American perspective.

In Britain, they don't also drive on the left side of the road, but also drive their trucks backwards! 3:00

In most cases, when I hear these old engines they spit and sputter with the occasional backfire. Not this tank. Purrs like a big cat and sounds amazing. Well done maintenance team! Really outstanding job.

Big V12's are such a lovely sounding engine, that perfect primary and secondary balance and it just whispers along. (when they feel like working of course)

I watched this wonderful machine running about this afternoon at the Tank Museum Spring Tiger Day 2024. It sounded beautiful, it looked incredible, and its eternally menacing presence gave me genuine goosebumps. Bravo to the great team of volunteers and professional engineers who look after this treasure of our history and keep it alive and healthy for us to watch it prowl in the flesh today!

The workshop diaries are the best videos the tank museum puts out. Great job!

Fascinating; truly fascinating. I was at the Tank Museum a few days after Tankfest and the guys were giving the old lady a post Day once over.

That's why I love to talk to old people, they knew something that never happen in my lifetime. And sometimes, those information is awesome.

God I love the sound of a runing hl engine of a Tiger or Panther in the morning 😁👍

You guys do such a tremendous job, keeping these old warhorses alive and ready for display. I visited this tank in the beginning of the 90's, and she still had the old color scheme. Hapy to see she's still in such a good nick!

Workshop Diaries are my favourite Tank Museum content!

I'm not a museum professional, but I've spent a little time in the industry. I feel that keeping a running example working is more important than keeping its originality. As long as all of the work done is well documented, and any replaced part is kept and preserved, the effort of keeping it running over time becomes part of its history and provenance. In another 50 years, the story about how in 2030 they built a small scale bio-fuel plant to keep it running, will be just as important as any other event in the history of the vehicle.

These gents are doing the lords work.

Crews were advised to avoid longer road marches if possible in order to minimize wear and tear, especially seeing as the average cruise speed was only about 50% faster than that of marching infantry anyway. So they mostly shipped it around on railroad flatcars. But the truly amusing bit is that they were not supposed to be marching together with other mechanized troops because the Tiger tank needed to stop for a quick inspection after the first five kilometers, and then again every 15 km after that. So they would have just slowed down all the others.

I must admit I noticed I’ve had a smile on my face throughout this vid!.

Legendary folks on this video. Richard Cutland for one and Mr. Mike Hayton. Very cool seeing really what is done with the old and also legendary veteran Tiger 131!

G'day from Australia, l really love the Tank and how to start it, glad it was saved for Historic preservation, cheers, Neil.

If I was rich I'd donate you guys enough to keep that going for years

Love the Tiger ever since i first saw it. Thank-you to all for your time and talent-God bless

Definitely coming to visit the Museum on our trip next year. Really appreciate what you all do.

THAT'S JUST A BEAST THERES NO OTHER COMPARISON TOO HER .

We're honestly so lucky to have one of these still running nearly 80 years after the war ended, to see the big cat moving and roaring in reality rather than just having to imagine it in a book or by watching old footage. Massive credit to everyone involved.

Awesome piece of machinery. And what a great team to keep it running! Congratulations!

I came to see that beauty many years ago from Manchester with four of my mate's don't think it was in running order then . Brilliant piece of kit.

Magnificent piece of history.

Playing this vehicle in war thunder and world of tanks gives no justice to how big this tank really is. I was gob smacked when this man was sitting on the turret and there was enough room for him to lay down comfortably sprawled out on the turret…. And then when they’re walking around the back I realize that four men could hide behind the tank in a combat situation… I genuinely had no idea how massive this thing was I knew that it wasn’t small by any means but I didn’t realize how big it was

Super cool. I have been missing the Tank Workshop Diaries. My favorite part of the Tank Museum.

Amazing bit of history, you folks put in so much work to take care of it.

Utterly fascinating. You gentlemen are the best. Thank you so much.

I have mad respect for all the work you guys do. You are the best

Great inside look! Thanks tank museum!

Love seeing this view of the Tiger as well as the Tank Museum too

Love these behind the scenes videos. Keep them coming.

To me, the most beautiful and iconic tank. Tanks for this vid, and all the work you do on the Tiger! Greetings, T.

What an awesome channel! I’m glad the algorithms brought me some thing they knew I would like. Keep up the good work! I’m obsessed with cav history which includes the tanks

This video is superb please do more like this. It is just fascinating to see everything about such iconic machine.

What a wonderful video!

Thank you for sharing!! Very cool video

Vielen Dank für die liebevolle Pflege - Wunderschön -- Thank you for the loving care - beautiful! and greetings from Germany

Great content. Thanks TTM!

Brilliant video, thanks!

That was fantastic. Thank You .

Brilliant presentation

Fantastic vid! Now for the other 16!

That video really brought the tank to life better than watching it roll around.

A model builders dream, thanks for putting that together 😉👌

Great video, thank you!!!

LOVE this content!!!!!

Love my 131 just finishing the battle pass with it.

Gotta appreciate it while it can still be maintained and kept alive

I'd risk a heart attack to be able to turn that handle and be able to say I helped start it once. You are a lucky man to have had that opportunity.

Very interesting to watch, thanks for the video :)

Such a good video. I hope to make it out to watch this tank move when I finally make it out to England for a holiday.

Fantastic!

The TigerMaster is feeding it Avgas100LL, good to hear!!

Amazing Video

need more richard videos!

Greatly enjoyed this video format… and that idling Maybach! Better than Beethoven!

10/10! Grazie Mille!

Fascinating machine

Man, that is cool!

Great video

Thank you

Thanks!

Perfect beast.

Amazing.

Awesome!

Thanks.

Massively over engineered but truly an amazing piece of history.

brilliant

Magnificent

Big Tiger fan here.

Great video, it makes you wonder how German tankers kept these beasts running in the field.

3:01 that van in the background must be feeling the effect of the Tigers engine going into reverse.

Now you are going to have to do it now. A video showcasing the maintenance of a sherman

Thanks

Is there a reason the museum doesn't run the tank more frequently to help with ongoing maintenance? I know it's always a tradeoff, but to my understanding running most vehicles very gently but somewhat frequently significantly helps with keeping them running long term and reduces maintenance, is this not the case with Tiger 131?

I have once seen a old video where the tank was started with a external starter tool. A tool in the size of a chain saw with a little combustion engine.

Thanks for teaching me how to maintain a Tiger so I can go.. to certain eastern countries and make one..

It is still beautiful.

it's remarkable to actually see this old relic moving under it's own wait, I wonder if it would be possible to get another tiger up and running along with it.

I would like to visit the museum one day. Maybe it's just a pipe dream considering how little the pay for lecturer in my country, but oh well, at least I still have world of tanks.

The German tiger 1 is a fantastic tank. I wish there were more that are running. I would love to have a tiger 1 tank, or any ww2 Getman tank.

Epic

I don't know if its just some kind of left over genetic memory from my parents or something, but even after 80 years of these things being around I still feel its imperative to stop whatever I may happen to be doing and gawk at Tiger tanks and various other German armor... (especially Jagdpanther). There is just something about their design and size etc that fascinates me to no end, and keeps me endlessly engrossed...

Nice work making it run and all, NOW ARM IT AND BLOW SOME STUFF UP!!!!!

Sounds like Thunderbird Two when winding up the starter. I love this Tiger even more. Do the palm trees fall sideways when the Tiger drives into the arena ?

I hope there is a team of eager young engineers learning from these experts

This really does typify German overengineering. The guy who maintains this tank says, at 3:40, "Shermans are boring 'cause they never go wrong." But from a military standpoint, that's what you want: monotonous reliability. Sure the Tiger was better armored, and had a more powerful gun. But for an army, it's far more advantageous to have your armored divisions at 95% strength, because almost all their vehicles are working as they're supposed to, than to have an on-paper superior tank, that's so unreliable that you only have 50-70% of your tanks up and running at any given time. The Sherman is underrated. One on one it couldn't match the Tiger. But it was far cheaper to produce, so you could turn three times as many out for a given cost; it was far more easily maintained in the field, so your armored divisions were always closer to full strength; and it was an overall superior vehicle with which to assert massive numerical superiority. Or, to put it another way. "It's a piece of junk! The fuel system leaks all over the place. It's a piece of junk!"

Fantastic video, as far as I know the French have a running Tiger II!

Love LOVE LOVE these. What sort of motor oil do you folks use on 131? If its a specific brand/type, etc Im curious as to why. Same with some of your other armored vehicles- is there a motor oil preference? Specific reason? For so many antique vehicles, I'd be curious to hear about the lubrication: is there a modern type that works?

Brilliant German engineering, no wonder they lost the war! Watching the mechanics start this tank makes me aware of just how much work goes in to maintaining an 80 year old tank!

Imagine doing all this out in the field with dwindling supplies and man power. It's easy to see how reliability, ease of maintenance and efficiency of manufacturing can trump firepower over the long term. However, the Tiger is still impressive roughly 80 years later.

Surely a Tank-tical maintenance procedure. :)