M1A1HA, 9/18/23 update. Delay of Game, two week penalty!

[BarryC]

First two pieces of the suspension tower reinforcement which will also serve to reinforce the hull sides.

Cheers for now!

[Uncarina]

Barry,

Great work with the installation for the sprockets and idler adjustments! Those upgrades will really set your beast apart! Have you seen the announcement from Sabot Publications about a new Abrams book coming out? http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/n ... otpub.html

Cheers, Tom

[TheSynchronizer]

Oh man lol, that books already outdated when the sep v3 hits units next year lol

[BarryC]

Barry,

Great work with the installation for the sprockets and idler adjustments! Those upgrades will really set your beast apart! Have you seen the announcement from Sabot Publications about a new Abrams book coming out? http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/n ... otpub.html

Cheers, Tom

Thanks Tom,

I believe the axle shaft supports will greatly reduce stress on the gears and help keep the tracks in tension during maneuvering especially with the addition of the idler adjusters.
I'll have to be on the look out for the book, it is sure to have some useful photos specifically the "operational" one. I am also looking for good walk a rounds showing general details.

Cheers,
Barry

[BarryC]

Oh man lol, that books already outdated when the sep v3 hits units next year lol

Just like the aviation books, by the time a good quality book is released the subject has evolved.

Barry

[DNAR]

I really love how this un-folds Barry. Great to see your step by step build. Again just to re-cap, what specific version of the tank you are aiming for? I read your title M1A1 HA? I will pre order the book from Sabot Publishing, again this is not outdated. This book caters for the M1A2 TUSKs versions which specifically deployed in Iraq. This book does not talk about any other versions of the M1A2 or any upcoming variant. The publisher emailed me that this book was intended to help scale modeller for reference for the Meng's upcoming M1A2 TUSKs.

[BarryC]

I have been busy today making the main piece of the suspension tower/hull reinforcement. It encompasses 6 towers and was a bit of a pain. I spent a good 4 hours getting all the slots spaced and shaped trying to keep each as tight to the tower as possible. It is made of a single piece of .080” styrene sheet.

I also made the remaining pieces for the front towers that fit the arm mount screw tower. I used two pieces for each as the overall thickness is .140” so I used a .080” and a .060” piece. After getting the stack up set I determined that the first piece against the hull side actually needed to be .090” so I will be shaping a piece out of .010” to place between the screw tower stack and the spring tower piece.

That’s all for now,
Barry

[BarryC]

Hi folks,

After my week long business trip, I finally had time to sit down and get some work done this weekend.

I continued working to reinforce the hull side and suspension arm/spring towers. I have completed the hull side reinforcement which encompasses the spring / suspension arm boss towers.



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Here is what I did to the back of the hull reinforcement pieces to allow the suspension arm anti rotation studs to move without interdependence.



I have also completed the suspension arm attachment screw boss tower on the forward suspension arms. I have not decided if I am going to reinforce the screw towers on the remaining screw towers but will leave room to allow to do so or if needed in the future.



more follows,

[BarryC]

Installation of primary added hull weight.

I removed the stiffening ribs internal to the battery door allowing me to lay a piece of lead in it to get nearly maximum coverage of the hull lower plate.



Here is the lowest layer of sheet lead.



This is the second layer of lead giving me a .025” thick layer of lead sheet between the aluminum bulkheads.



Next comes the styrene floor which I hope to complete tomorrow. It will act as an insulator between the electronics and the lead and serve to secure the lead between it and the hull lower plate. One of the tricks will be to get the lead sheet as flat as possible.

Thanks for looking in!
Barry

[Uncarina]

Barry,

Absolutely brilliant! I really am in awe of your engineering skills. That will be one appropriately heavy beast!

Cheers, Tom