Abrams possible build

[axiscommander]

I have a cheap 2nd hand doyosha Abrams tank.

it was a cheap ebay buy, with rubber tracks and no suspension, but cheap.
it had been stated that the turret gear box had been fixed after a gear broke, but now i have 2 broken. it appears the final gear is similar to that of a heng long one, so have bought one cheap again off ebay. if it does work, and mesh nicely i will have a go at rebuilding the tank with suspension and probably heng long boards and gear boxes.

the tank looks ok and did work so, basically i am intending to build the tank using the shell and pretty much throwing away the guts of it!

[Matdragon]

nice one, if you do go ahead and build, then keep us posted!

cheers,

Matt

[axiscommander]

i shall indeed. hopefully the turret motor will arrive Monday then i shall see
then i shall have to sort out tracks and drive. any suggestions? there are some fab tracks on ebay for the abrams, they are from hong kong, fit tamiya boxes and even have individual rubber pads, but with postage and the stronger pound will still cost well over £100 :-\

[Matdragon]

I think Macken used HL Pershing tracks on his ... not quite sure, you may have to contact him, although he did have to get 4 tracks due to the larger size,

cheers,

Matt

[axiscommander]

I have seen his post. looks great. i will keep an open mind. have to work out suspension too!

[Mackem]

Hi Axis,

My Abrams build is on hold while I try and work out the easiest way to fit suspension.
If you have any ideas please share.

Cheers
John

[axiscommander]

to coin a phrase from a professor from the year 3000 'good news everybody  ' the heng long turret motor meshes nicely with the turret gear on the tank so the build is on!

i have had to turn the motor over in the gearbox because the gearbox will be tight to the hull so the terminals were foul. to achieve this i has to remove the 'lug' inside that holds the motor flat and stops it spinning. this will not be a problem as it will use the body of the tank to achieve this.

the job for probably thursday morning will be to mount the gearbox and get a pic loaded up on this string. hope that is easy!

regarding the suspension, i have an idea, but will do some more thinking and working out when i decide what tracks i shall use. hmmm how much to spend.......... :-\

[axiscommander]

pic 1. the tank in question.

pic 2. the rubbish turret gearbox remains which only had 3 split gears! >:(

pic 3. the cannon controls....i like the recoil on it so shall try to keep it working. probably wire it up to be controlled by the left analogue stick as i will not be using BB's on this

[axiscommander]

well, finished work early so back up my shed...

heng long turret motor now mounted. used 2 x 6ba set screws. i decided 2 screws were secure enough to hold the motor as also if i used the 3rd it would be visable on top of the hull. the nuts of the 2 used are hidden under the bottom ring of the turret, with washers as spacers to level out between the motor and hull.

turret rotates freely through 320 deg.

[axiscommander]

Hi Axis,

My Abrams build is on hold while I try and work out the easiest way to fit suspension.
If you have any ideas please share.

Cheers
John

Hi John.

I am considering fitting bulldog suspension as the trailing arms are handed unlike my jagdpanther. the upright springs will be hidden by the wheels and skirts so they shouldn't matter. having removed the road wheels i think it should be easy enough, and i will have to narrow the road wheels as they are too far apart because of the existing track design. this should give me plenty of room. it will just be a case of shimming things into alignment. all i need now is to find a supplier who can supply metal bulldog suspension if any are made.

Ian