HL Abrams detailing build

[greengiant]

No Alpha I think I said it was a highbred unit built for your school and you should describe the whole premise of the girls and tanks phenomena that is so popular in Japan.

Besides highbred unit sounds much better

[ALPHA]

No Alpha I think I said it was a highbred unit built for your school and you should describe the whole premise of the girls and tanks phenomena that is so popular in Japan.

Besides highbred unit sounds much better

You and Scalawag sure set the bar pretty high...your descriptions are pretty readable...all I have to say is...I promise mine won't be

ALPHA

[greengiant]

Come on. I'm interested in it and I think others are to especially if they have seen web news stories about the JSDF actually participating in some of the conventions there and supplying some of the tanks that are repainted to represent the different schools.

[keno]

The detail looks great and the instruction on how is very helpful. I have some info on the Gunners Primary Sight, (GPS), dog house. The left side lense is clear with a slight coating, it can look orangey, this is the day sight. This side opens first on the real Abrams. The right lens is mirrored and it's the front lens protecting the thermal sight. It's coated with a very thin coat of tritium and is heated electrically. I am hoping to do the same with my HL Abrams now that I've seen you do one. This is going to be so helpful. Thanks for the pictures.

[keno]

I like how the bustle rack looks with the screening you have on the bottom. What was used to give that look?

[greengiant]

The screen is just that. Window screening (the plastic type) cut to size so the squares of the screen are diagonal when glued to the rack bottom brackets.

[keno]

Thanks greengiant...what did you use for weight? Also, on the texture, what did you use to glue it down before you painted over everything?

[greengiant]

I masked off the areas that the nonslip was not to be on then spayed a coat of paint on and while still wet sprinkled on the material for the nonslip material, let the paint dry then shook of the excess material. After that spayed on another much lighter paint coat to seal the nonslip in place and let it dry again.
l Normally I used lead bullets for weight but having run out at the time I used pieces of steel nails, and various other steel objects (lead didn't take up as much space) that I could easily fit in the hulls nooks and crannies after putting them into small plastic bags which I held in place with a little hot glue gun glue.
The tanks weigh in at about 12 lbs which makes the suspension work much more realistically.
Besides the one your looking at I did another that I left as the original HL version and an airsoft shooter but with the other modifications done to it.
That one has the finely ground volcanic pumice used for the nonslip surfaces (much nicer looking) that I couldn't find when I did the Sep 2 version. I posted some pics of it on the Abrams thread.

[keno]

Just a little trivia...the material used to give the actual Abrams that texture is ground up glass. Then it's painted over with CARC paint. I don't know at what point the glass is applied. I do know one the newly produced tanks the anti skid would ware out your uniform. During my military career I fielded the Abrams between 1989 thru 1993 all over the country and Middle East.

[greengiant]

I noticed the finish looks like it was applied in some cases with a paint roller of some kind then painted over. Was that the way they came from the factory or were those paint roller looking areas field repairs or touch ups ?
My military service of 7 1/2 years ended when the M60 was our main battle tank and the Sheridan our air droppable Cav tank. I worked in ordnance repair, I was a 41C ordnance repair specialist (on tanks that meant anything to do with the turret interior equipment like sights, traverse, elevation systems and main gun ,machine gun repair or replacement).
I even found one Sheridan when I was in Germany that was issued with a brass or bronze receiver painted flat black 50 cal with US Navy property stamped on it.