Abrams m1a2 tusk 2 build

[tomhugill]

Because I don’t have enough builds on as it is I’ve decided to throw another into the mix. I bought this beautiful Abrams off Martin James recently. It’s hl based with dklm conversion and some wonderful scratch built details martins added. It’s a shell with stock running gear which is where the build part comes in (I wont be tinkering with martins master work paint job).

Much like my telic challenger I’m going to beef up the running gear and add a Clark tk60spg2 board with 2 axis stabilisation, slip ring and turret mounted electrics (hopefully).

So far I’ve got the board, henntec adjuster, and a hl plastic dual current gearbox. I have ordered the slip ring, metal running gear (thanks Herman), Clark rotation with deck level switch. I’ll probably use another WPC large fr7 speaker box. The tub will get resin and alloy reinforcement and there will be magnets to hold it all together.

This is the starting point:






To





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[BarryC]

Hey Tom,

That's one busy Abrams. The "shoe racks" look pretty cool!!

Barry

[Herr Dr. Professor]

What a "starting point"! That's an Abrams just back from a harrowing day in the desert. I can see why you are just concentrating on the electronic "innards." I will be watching.

[tomhugill]

Hey folks, a couple of updates on the urstwhile Abrams which I forgot to post before.

Thanks to Herman I got some metal upgrades to bring her up to the modern tank spec I usually run; metal rubber pad tracks (with the pads moulded in so they don't fall out like the mato ones), metal sprockets (with inducers) and idlers, metal suspension arms and ball raced wheels and finally a pdsgb. I also have a henntec idler adjuster to add.

To stiffen the chassis I pour in an approximate 10mm layer of clear resin in, as well as making the chassis rock solid without faffing with bracing, it also gives a a flat base to place equipment and with gold sparkles look fabulous!



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[tomhugill]

Next stage is the electrical side. With the modern tanks I like to run two axis stabilisation, usually a Clark tk60 or tk80spg2. Add in one of WPC models excellent speaker boxes, a Clark universal rotation unit (with deck level sensor) and a 4x10a, 12x 2a wire slip ring for infinite rotation. To mount the tk60 I use one of Clarks angled bases (ostensibly for the challenger). I'm not the fastest solderer but this stage probably takes 7-8 hours all in.

The tank came with a dklm recoil unit but not elevation, so I've added one of my own. Being quite heavy, I've used a standard sized servo, which should last better than a mini one. I've also added the led flash, and wires for the IR emitter and coax mg led.

To tidy the wires on this iteration I've kept the 8 pin daughter board, instead of having them all floating in the lower hull.

Next I need to add a battery holder in the turret, finish the wiring and start painting the new metal bits.


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[tankme]

So when you get done is the name of this tank on the barrel going to be: "Fabulous!" ?