TAMIYA M1A2 Displaymodel

[kintaroukinji]

Coming along nicely sir.

Barry

Thank you for your comment.
I have a lot of references to your wonderful production articles in my production.

[kintaroukinji]

I made an additional bustle rack from scratch. At first I was wondering whether to make it with plastic or brass, but because the bustle rack of this model is a plastic material, the strength of each other will be different if only the additional bustle rack is brass. So I made it with plastic material. The details of plastic materials are still inferior to those of metal, but the processing of the materials is still easy.

[c.rainford73]

That looks fantastic well done

[BarryC]

That looks fantastic well done

I'll second that!

Barry

[Son of a gun-ner]

That looks fantastic well done

I'll second that!

Barry

Thirded
For plastic it looks solid, really well done

[kintaroukinji]

Thank you for your comments.

[kintaroukinji]

In this model, the corners of the joints between the side skirt and the rear panel are connected in a solid state.?
In actual tanks, the corners are connected by hinges, and the side skirt and rear panel can be removed by pulling the pins upward.

corner of rear side skirt

The production of the additional bustle has been completed, and the remaining attention is the APU on the turret bustle. The APU of this model was installed in the ABRAMS early stage (M1A1 or M1A2 early stage), and is now replaced by the enhanced VCSU (Vapor Compression System Unit). Since the shape is completely different (and it is more compact), I was wondering whether to make from scratch or not, but considering the generation of other installed devices, it seems strange that APU is installed. So I decided to make the VCSU from scratch. I made it with a plastic plate and brass material (handles) with reference to the 1/35 model and photos of actual tank.
This is a temporary placement of the VCSU next to the original APU.

APU and VCSU

The somewhat troublesome part of making this VCSU is the fin area. Since it is difficult to place the fins at exactly the same pitch, I expressed the fins by arranging Tamiya's 2mm triangular bars (plastic materials). Dimension is exactly the same. (The number of fins was also adjusted to the actual VCSU.)
According to this method, the fin part can be easily manufactured without worrying about the interval dimension of the fin.

I was worried about making the bottom of the VCSU on the back of the main bustle rack. In the 1/35 scale model, it is expressed without missing. My policy for making RC tanks is not to make invisible places. This part is located on the back of the main rack, so it is usually hard to see, but it can be seen when the turret is rotated about 90 degrees. Is it necessary to pursue that detail with the RC tank? If this is considered a scale model (however, RC tanks need strength), I might still have to do it.
Well, hobbies are really a world of self-satisfaction.

[BarryC]

The Heat Exchanger (VCSU) looks excellent.

For me the additional work for the bottom of the unit and the turret mounted conduit would be necessary.

Will you be adding the APU exhaust on the left rear corner?

Keep up the great work!
Barry

[kintaroukinji]

The Heat Exchanger (VCSU) looks excellent.

For me the additional work for the bottom of the unit and the turret mounted conduit would be necessary.

Will you be adding the APU exhaust on the left rear corner?

Keep up the great work!
Barry

Thank you for your comment. I decided to make the bottom of the unit and the turret mounted conduit. This is a place that is rarely seen normally, but it ’s still noticeable when the turret is rotated and seen from below. I already made the bottom of VCSU. Hmm I'm going to get stuck in the detailing quagmire. Of course, I intend to remove the APU exhaust duct when the VCSU is finally installed.

[BarryC]

Great start!

Barry