so I bought this "open box" HL M1A2 Abrams on ebay...

[Ziptar]

It was suggested I share my experience in another thread.. So here goes..

First... A little background. This past fall the Mrs. and I downsized and sold our house. We didn't find anything to our liking before closing on our house, most were not worth the asking price. I work 100% remotely and our daughters are grown and left the nest, for the first time in our lives our home purchase wouldn't have job proximity and school districts as driving factors. We decided to take our time, so everything went into storage and we've been wandering around, checking out different areas of the North Eastern U.S. and just trying places on. Currently we've leased a house on the coast of Delaware that's usually vacant in the winter and are here until May. A couple of weeks ago I went and got all my tank stuff out of storage and took over the Ping-Pong table in the basement and repurposed it for tank production.

It ain't much but it'll do.

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Week before last while perusing ebay I stumbled across an "open Box" offering from toucanhobby for a Heng Long M1A2 Abrams. It was an "upgraded" model with metal tracks, suspension, road wheels, sprockets, idlers, steel geared gear box and 360 degree turret. The description stated: "Note: This item is open. It was returned because its tracks, speaker, BB shooting unit, turret have problem. However, after you get it, free technical and help will be offered. Please rest assured.". I wasn't really in the market for an Abrams but was mulling over an idea that might use Abrams parts and the price was about if not a little less than buying the upgraded parts separately would be. I added it to my watch list and moved on. A few hours later an offer was made, it wasn't bad either. I'd previously purchased an open box M4 Sherman from toucanhobby and it was as new aside from having to get the barrel elevator back in it track after it had been jostled loose somewhere in shipping, a 15 minute job so I figured I knew what I was getting into. I sent a message inquiring if the "free technical and help will be offered" also included any parts that might need to be replaced. The response confirmed that "Yes" replacement parts would be sent on the condition I provided pictures and explanations. With that, I bit and was now a heavy bottomed M1A2 Abrams owner, looking forward to that new tank smell!

3 days later the UPS driver rang my doorbell and there it was on my doorstep... The shipping box did not look good, it was beat up , there were several small holes punched in it and a gash in one side that appeared to have been taped up in transit. Picking up the box caused a small cacophony of loose things rattling and banging together and it was I also when I noticed about 3/4" of the end of a 1/16 scale 120mm cannon sticking out of the other end. At this point I suspected that there might be problems with contents of the box and this is where the fun begins.

The Boxes:

The boxes...

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Undeterred I brought the noisy and badly bruised grapefruit of a box down to the Tank-Pong Table™ and proceeded to open it. At this point I noticed that the box had two address labels on it one with my address and another for an individual in Fort Collins Colorado which was interesting because the tracking number had shown the shipment originated in Colorado. Opening the box I instantly noticed something missing.

Inside the box

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No Not the tank, it was there, I'd already pulled it out when I took this picture. The missing thing was the the foam insert that keeps everything separate and in place, the critical component that keeps 20 lbs of metal upgraded tank from beating the box and everything it including itself to smithereens. While the foam insert was missing the box did contain bonus items:

• An amazon return slip, not from the customer but something generated as part of Amazon's return process as near as I could tell.

• A generous amount of dirt and dried grass.

Contents of the box

Contents

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As I unloaded and inspected the contents it was pretty clear that someone had purchased the tank on Amazon. Removed just about every accessory from the sprues and attached them to the tank used it (a lot). Cursory inventory and exam indicated 90% of accessories were either broken or missing entirely, later detailed inventory confirmed this. The battery door for the transmitter was MIA as were most of the metal hubs for the road wheels and both sprockets.

I decided I'd better look the tank over thoroughly before having a test run.

Initial examination.

More String!

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Broken rear panel and Mystery Substance

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Overall Condition

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With that out of the way it was time to get to work.

FixingAllTheThings!

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This might have something to do with the "tracks problem" listed in the description.

WTH!?!?!!?

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Suddenly it hit me! The string tied to the broken rear panel and wrapped around the axles and the mystery substance all over the upper hull.... The previous owner had been had been tying dog toys?, sticks?, and who knows what else to the back of the tank and dragging them around to entertain their dog(s) who in turn had been drooling all over the tank. Then either because the tank had stopped working or they were bored with it, just dumped the whole filthy broken, parts missing, dog drool coated mess with the battery still in the tank into the box and sent it back. Almost all of it anyway, although I suppose parts could have gone missing out of one of the many holes in the boxes. That part wasn't so surprising some people wouldn't have a problem with it I guess, that Amazon would accepted it like this was, that they accepted the return and noted it's condition as "New Open box" was very. I kinda felt bad for toucanhobby that they had to take the thing back. It was really a mess, there was grass and dirt inside the hull even.

After thoroughly checking it out and documenting it's issues I set about cleaning, lubricating, and repairing. Of the original issues listed in the ebay description.
Tracks: Copious amounts of string, grass, and a wire tie wrapped around the axles under the sprockets.
Speaker: Volume was turned all the way down.
BB shooting unit: Doesn't seem to have a problem.
Turret: Motor and gear checked out, worked when it was reassembled, might have been but it isn't now.

I'm happy to report the poor Abrams has made a complete recovery.
[media]https://youtu.be/pfE8N1l-e6g[/media]

I've contacted toucanhobby and shared all of this with them and list of broken and missing things that need replacing. They were shocked to see the condition it was in and that Amazon listed it's condition as otherwise, thanked me for the time and effort to straighten it out, and have replacement parts on the way. Yeah, I could have made a big stink and demand they take it back but where's the fun in that? It actually wound up with the right person, when I saw how bad off it was, I couldn't help but make it right. I love tinkering with these tanks and I bought it based on it being cheaper than the upgrade parts individually and so am completely happy it.

All of that metal though... She's heavy! It's got the standard 380 motors and they struggle when turning on carpet. It'll need 390 motors for sure, or I may swap out some or all of the metal stuff for plastic parts. For now I need to get used to driving the behemoth boat, it's a different experience my M4 Sherman or M41 Bulldog.

[tankme]

Nice recovery there. They are heavy tanks. Mine also has the full metal HL chassis and TUSK 2 add on armor. Now there is a chonky tank.

Situations like this and all the theft in retail stores are the reason why things keep going up in price. The people that bought this used and abused it. Then they took advantage of a good return policy. I lose more an more faith in people the older I get. *soapbox off*

[Herr Dr. Professor]

It's Zippy' to the Rescue! Your video suggests that it now runs fine, despite abuse. I would not ditch any of the metal, but I agree with the idea to upgrade the motors. Then you have a "clean palate" on which to do weathering, detailing, etc. Good work!

[ColemanCollector]

The proverbial "rid hard 'n' puttaway wet!"

I wonder what the actual production cost of a HL tank is? Maybe $30USD even with all the potmetal upgrades? I guess Amazon financially risk manages the whole situation figuring only 1 in 5000 people will have the attitude of these slugs who take advantage of their returns policy, so they can take a $30 hit.

Here's hoping that it really is only dog drool coating your Abrams. Ick.

And a nice save, Ziptar!

Mike.

[Ziptar]

Thanks for the feedback. I really enjoy working on my tanks, reclaiming the Abrams from it's sad state was fun.

Not to worry ColemenColllector, I didn't take pictures of it but the plastic got a nice hot soap and water bath!

[MrChef]

Ziptar, right guy for the job

I'm glad shes back up and running and I look forward to see what you may do for her next.

Now, maybe I'm a special kind of weird but yours is one of the funnier posts I've read recently, likely not meant to be, but you've got a way with entertaining writing. May I ask, are you a fan of Hunter Thompson?

My favorite take away with your thread is seeing the poor crumpled box the BB's once nested in. Methinks someone rescued that box (and likely other items) from the trash bin before slapping it all back in the box you received for the Amazon refund. I must agree about your creative idea that the previous owner had it tasked with.

And, Hot soapy bath? Nahhh... More like a gallon of bleach, rubber gloves, wire brush, and boiling water would be my introduction to the icky Abrams...

[Ziptar]

Double post...

[Ziptar]

Thanks for the compliment MrChef. I don't know that I'd say I'm a fan of Hunter Thompson, I've read some of his work, long ago, a little in a course in college but mostly his articles published in Rolling Stone.

There's always some level of brevity, tongue and cheek, and / or self deprecation in both my written and verbal communication, it is intentional for for both offensive and defensive purposes. It stems from childhood and has been long in the making, forged in the fires of the U.S. educational system of the 1970's. Add in a predilection for Borscht Belt comedians and some parochial school education in my early years and much reading of National Lampoon Magazine beginning in my adolescence.

None of that diminishes your being a special kind of weird MrChef. After all, aren't we all a special kind of weird in own ways?

[Son of a gun-ner]

After all, aren't we all a special kind of weird in own ways?

That's only Americans

Great find and restoration Ziptar

[Meter rat]

My kind of work. Fixing up a beaten up old dog.