My Abrams

[abramsky]

I just remembered that if any of you are interested in modern armor (built after World War II) on YouTube you can find one of the best channels about armored weapons. Quite by chance, it will be led by a Polish journalist who writes articles for magazines dealing with the army and weapons.
Below is a link to the playlist (pay attention to the videos about the versions and history of M1 Abrams
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... h_mFQojLiC

enjoy

[tankme]

I think what he is looking for is the scratch built mount under the wheel and sprocket I have on my build:





The mounting plate is actually supposed to have 3 square holes in it, but since the 3rd one in the middle doesn't show once the wheel/sprocket are mounted I didn't bother cutting it in. It's represented by the black square in the middle.

[abramsky]

Hello tankme
Do you have any photos of the original of this mounting plate mounted on the M1 tower? Or is it your own construction? It looks good, although I haven't come across any photos with such a solution. I am curious about the original of this plate.

[tankme]

I got the dimensions and the location from my Dragon M1A2 SEPv2 1/35 model kit. I can see if any of my books have a good pic of it. I have a few not great pics of it for now:

[Meter rat]

Tank me. Thank you. That was exactly was I was looking for.

[tankme]

Best book I have on the Abrams is from Sabot Publications M1A2 SEP Main Battle Tank In Detail. I also have Sabot Publications M1A2 Main Battle Tank, Volume 2 In Detail. They were expensive books, but well worth it. That's where this pic came from:

[abramsky]

I got the dimensions and the location from my Dragon M1A2 SEPv2 1/35 model kit. I can see if any of my books have a good pic of it. I have a few not great pics of it for now:

Thanks tankme
I wrote about these four bolts earlier saying that there is probably no place for a spare wheel here. I have not found any photos (which you sent) confirming that, however, it was possible to use the appropriate adapter to attach the spare wheel in this place. I suspect that (as in my military unit) you can find different solutions in different armored brigades - everything depended on the preferences of the commander and there is no single standard for this solution.

The funny thing is that the first photo of the ARAT reactive armor assembly looks very familiar to the movie I saw on YouTube showing the assembly of such armor on one of the first Abrams tanks with this upgrade - it explains why there are so many "onlookers" around

I'm pretty sure it's the same guy (in a jumpsuit with a beard and glasses on his head;))

phpBB [video]

Anyway, thanks a lot for your photos

[tankme]

Actually the 3 square hole mounting bracket is the way I understand that the more recent M1A2s mount the wheel and a spare sprocket. Yeah the pic with all the people is a still picture taken from that vid. Over the years the wheel has been mounted on top of where the CITV goes prior to the CITV. It has been mounted in front of the CITV with no bracket after the CITV was in widespread use, but there is no way all 4 bolts can be used to hold it there because it wouldn't fit. I would assume they only used one or two of them to hold it in place. The 3 hole mounting bracket is there to minimize the chance the wheel will become a projectile hitting the crew when the tank is hit since you can hold the wheel down with 4 bolts instead of one or two. That bracket and mounting location is the standard for the SEPv2 from what I've seen. The Abrams is under constant improvements and can be reconfigured depending on the mission. Typically there are two road wheels carried in combat, one in front of the CITV and one bolted to the basket using a track center guide. The wheel mounted in front of the CITV also becomes a nice storage location for ammo boxes and as a garbage dump for empty plastic water bottles in the desert...

[Meter rat]

Bit better write up than has gone before.
Spent a bit of time on detailing and weathering. Crew kit added, crew painted and installed.
So far I have made the turret 360% rotation by cutting extra teeth in the existing turret ring, fitted gun flash and smoke, installed a 360 slip ring, removed the BB mechanism, installed metal tracks and wheels, made all the handles from brass and plastic, same fro the bushel extension, bushel rack a bars on the side, MRE boxes from Abramsky, other parts from West Coast Armour,. Hardest part was making the 50Cal from Tamiya and Amber parts, this seamed to involve loosing most of the Aber parts on the floor and them making my own. I need to detail the commander’s hatch and fit some more MRE boxes. Am I right in assuming one box contains one days meal for one crew man, so four crew, four days, sixteen boxes? I also need to fix spare ammunition boxes for the 50Cal and 7.62Cal guns. An awful lot of mistakes have been made along the way. I wanted something that looked good and different from 1500mm away, which could be used, though not much, as I have always preferred the building to the using.
I would like to thank Barry C, for his help and advice, Abramsky, for the MRE boxes, and Tankme for the photographs of the spare wheel mount.
More in the next post.

[Meter rat]

I have no idea why the come out always around.