Dang! I keep forgetting to take pictures of the work in progress. So sorry for the lack of shots showing the construction of the launcher box. It has been constructed from 1mm plastic (styrene) card. Pretty much a box with a couple of strengthening bulkheads and the edges angled off. There are also a couple of large plates underneath (good for rigidity) and some finer detailing.
The difficult bit was making the front of the launcher as the rockets sit slightly recessed in their launch tubes. This plate is made from 6mm thick hardwood I found in my garage, cut to size and with 24 x 6mm holes drilled into it. There is only 2mm between each hole and this was achieved with a hand-held power drill! (all fingers and both legs accounted for!!). The front plate was then backed with some more plastic card and the whole thing mounted into the launcher box.
The rear plate is the converse of the front in that the missile tubes stick out slightly from the plate that is recessed. This is made from a piece of 1mm plastic card with 24 x 3mm long pieces of 6mm dowel stuck on to it. not quite as bad as the Wellesley's rivets but started to bring back some painful memories.
The stub turret, as you can see it made up from 8 x decreasing circles of 1mm plastic card. This quite excessive in plastic card but I could not think of any easier way of making a conical turret (sanding still in progress). The sub turret will eventually incorporate the mounting for the launcher and the hydraulic elevation ram(s) - not sure how many as the images I have of the TOS-1 shows anywhere between 1 and 3!
I have not started on the hull of the Tiger but some modifications will be needed as I want to build on 2 x large hydraulic pad feet at the back. This provided both stability when firing and protects the rear suspension when the launcher elevates. The Tiger's air filter will therefore, have to go. I think I will have them built into the main engine bay a bit like the Panther - a bit of late war/1946 handwavium!
I'm going to see if I can make the launcher and pads moveable so that I can show the Thor in travel and firing configurations (only cos' I can't decide on which way to go for the finished model).