1/8 Scale HL Abrams

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Oof! Grunt! Groan! Do those help at all? The longer ramp is nonetheless a good idea, for the lesser the incline, the less chance of slipping.

[Jib]

Having a lunch break. Made a lot of progress today. I finally figured out how to the chassis was intended to be accessed!

The upper chassis is screwed into the side walls and the rear wall plate. Once you find all of the screws you just lift the top off, turret and all. I did not think it was unmanageable to do this, you just need to make sure you have something to prop the upper hull/turret against because there are wires running from the turret to the lower chassis.

However, HL are champion screw hiders. With zero instructions or schematics I was left to my own devices to figure all of this out. Some of the screws are visible. Four of the screws are hidden behind the engine grate, which is itself screwed into the rear plate by four screws, which are also hidden behind the mount for the snorkels that almost no Abrams ever uses (I don’t know why they keep putting this on their models). Two other screws are hidden under a plate on the upper hull that has to be slide off after removing other screws that hold the plate in place. This plate and other screws can only be accessed by rotating the turret in different directions, and the turret cannot be moved without turning the whole thing on and using the remote to turn it.

Once you figure it out, it’s not that bad of a system (still could use a better way to access just the turret). It also not something you are going to be doing out in the field either. However, with no instructions it’s not very intuitive.

I pulled out the MFU, TK 8.1. I’m going to try to translate what’s written on it, because there are a lot of unused ports that could be used to do some cool stuff. Among these are 6 PWM channels, I’m hopeful these will allow me to bypass the built in receiver.

Going to eat lunch and get back to it.

If anyone can read Chinese I could use some help!

[Jib]

The magic of Google Translate!

[Jib]

So I’m done for today. Waiting on the cameras and a 3mm socket bit.

So, good news, to access the turret you don’t need to take the upper hull off, so all of it was for naught. At least I learned what to do, and what not to do.

So to take the upper turret half off, there are four screws securing the upper turret half to the lower turret half/turret ring. Take those off and just lift up.

The dog house is secured from the outside of the turret by screws made to look like tank bolts. I need a 3mm socket bit to take them off, then I can replace the doghouse with the 3D printed one with attached LP CROWS from OKMO/DKLMRC

The CITV is secured from the inside of the turret roof. There is no way to make it rotate correctly without a machine tool to precisely slice it in half. I have a 3D printed CITV with a motor to rotate it on the way, also OKMO/DKLMRC.

The turret ring has bearings, so that’s good. Wish they have made the ring in a way that the turret just lifts out, like the real thing.

The slip ring has 4 unused wires and two 2 pin JST XH female plugs in the turret daughter board, so I’ll be able to make use of this. Probably will use it to power a gun smoke unit, VTX, and cameras.

Looks like the 6 channels are the same as the ones found on the TX 7.1, recoil, elevation, two for the proportional drive motor (which I’m not sure why you would have this, maybe the Tiger I has it?) one for periscope (CITV?) rotation, and one for a warning light?

So I’ll still have to get a new MFU to be able to do all the things I want to do, but at least I’ve got options. I might be able to get their gun stabilization unit in there as well, or just use the one from SGS.

[tankme]

Interesting setup. I see they used an off the shelf VXB turntable type bearing for the turret race. That's nice if you ever have to replace it.

[Jib]

Got gun smoke and FPV going

https://youtu.be/OyhU7T57UBQ?si=2Hd4ocXBA0DzrLYF

[Jib]

I bought a 5ft. wheelchair ramp for my bigger tanks to get them in the bed of the pickup truck. I made sure to get the one with the embedded sand texture to ensure the tracks had grip to climb the ramp. It's also one piece and it folds in half. I don't like the separate ramps as they can spread apart if you aren't careful.

Finally took it out somewhere away from the house. Here’s a video of it going up the 7 foot ramp into my truck.

https://youtu.be/1-a9JE_R9gE?si=f_33UXwXK90zqIVt

[Ecam]

First time I've witnessed a truck squat due to the weight of an RC tank!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I think I see a spray-in bedliner. Smart! It looks as if you have a cover for the bed, too, good protection for the 1/8 Abrams and all its siblings who are soon too arrive, right?

I bought a new pickup in 1993 and ditched the plastic liner for a spray-in done in 1995. I used the truck for over 30 years, never in salt, and when a truck was needed or when I could not use the hand-me-down cars from my late wife. At age 31 the truck looked and ran like brand new, so I just couldn't sell it (even for the going price of 17k). Instead I gave it to a great-nephew, an accomplished mechanic who stores it.

[Jib]

I have started eyeballing ArmorTek again. I think if they ever put out a 2A6+, M1A2, or Tiger II again I might look into that more seriously.