Mr Terminator

Thats exactly what mine does so it will have it,you'll love that it looks cool.If you dont mind me asking,where did you buy it from,was it from the UK..?

BarkingSquirrel

Yeah it was a UK shop called PodiumRC. They completely suck at informing you of whats going on, but their shipping is freaking awesome. I payed 11GBP for shipping, they shipped it at 4pm Wednesday and UPS attemped to deliver it while I was at work at 10am Friday of the same week.

Oh, and that rear mounted APU would be easy to remove. On mine it fits in a small slot built into the rear of the hull. All that would be required is to remove the single screw securing it, unhook the wires going to the light and to simply push it out of the groove. Then all ya gotta do is fill the hole with sheet plastic, drill a hole in the plastic sheet for the light wires, remove the lightguard from the apu and glue it on the plastic sheet.

I still don't understand the 1/8" pegs behind the lights and on the right side of the top of the hull under the turret. You can see one good in my picture showing the light and the peg.

Anyways, when I'm done she's going to be finished in the desert tan scheme. I decided to name her Pale Horse. I'm unable to find ID numbers for the real Pale Horse so I'll probably use ID numbers from elsewhere, like the tanks that participated in the first two Thunder Runs into Baghdad.

uhu

The "weird pegs" and the left headlight.
Regards
Jose

uhu

Oh! and the other "mistery" HE peg, wrong, of course....
Cheers
Jose

BarkingSquirrel

Ah, ok that explains them. Thanks Uhu.

Also I just discovered that the front lights in mine are clear instead of red. I found out the battery had just enough juice to drive the tank for ten seconds and you're right Mr Terminator - that recoil is awesome

Mr Terminator

That sucks,my front lights are red,no bother I have some clear and some blue LED's around somewhere.The recoiling cannon is the coolest thing on the tank in my opinion,I cant wait to get started but i've got a 1/8 twin engined truck to get up and running and I'm waiting for a new cylinder head button for it and then I can finish it off and clear the bench.I'll be happy as long as it has smooth propulsion,do you know if the board on the HL tanks are all one sound and movement and then a seperate receiver section?? I can live with the HE sounds and just have the HL movement from the S+S,the 10 step one would be cool.It'll be a lot quieter with metal gears too I should imagine.The El mod stuff is pretty expensive then is it?? I think its worth putting in the effort with it personally,once completed it should be a fine model...I think i'll rename mine,"Absoute Death" or "Apophis" after 2 that i've seen photos of,i'm sure there'll be more than one called Collateral Damage floating around...

BarkingSquirrel

If you didn't care about the sounds and didn't mind it having diesel sounds, then just using HL electronics would be the best and cheapest route. I tend to go all out on stuff and the sound is very important to me so I'll be going the Elmod route. Yeah its more expensive but they're generally reguarded as the best electronics you can get from what I understand.

In my journey to decide what to name mine, I collected a ton of real names from tanks in pictures. I'll list them for ya:

Regular Abrams

Hephaestus
Dysfunctional
Bunny Club(W/ Playboy Logo on evacuator)
Cant Get Right
Camel Tow
Barely Legal
Lunchbox
Valhalla
Spicoli
Jail Bait
Busta Nut
Disturbed Individuals
Attitude Adjustment
Boom Stick
Collateral Damage
Dubya's Peacemaker
Bearded Clam
Angry American
Angry Beaver
Unforgiven
Buzzkill
Acid Trip
Angel Of Death
Protest This
Absolute Death
And Still
Hustler
Sinister Minister
Ancient One
Pale Horse
Mostly Broken

Abrams fitted with MCBS
-
Stinkfist
At Ease
Armor Ghetto
C-1 Order II
Answer To This

Mr Terminator

Great list dude,I like Stinkfist but it has the MCBS like you said and I saw the picture.Absolute Death is a cool one too.Apophis is the G'ould alien baddy dude in Stargate SG1 from what I remember,also an Eygyptin God like Anubis.I also saw Bunny Club,Cant Get right and Camel Tow and as for Collateral Damage,I didn't even think about it being the name of a real Abrams.I'd like the real Turbine startup sound and the real running sound too but if it gets too expensive then I may just do HL inards for now,the mobility is the most important part for me.They already have an engine running sound but its very queit and diesel too by the sounds of it.God this stuff is fun.I'll decide nearer the time of completion.When do you plan on starting your mods Fella..?

BarkingSquirrel

I plan to start in the next 2-3 weeks. I had some unforseen events happen and need to give my bank account time to accumalate some more money.

You could use Stinkfist as its my understanding that after major combat operations ended, its MCBS was removed. Infact I don't remember any pictures of Abrams on street patrol fitted with a MCBS in the last couple of years. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to fudge things just a little bit. Like Pale Horse was painted in woodland colors but I'm going to paint mine desert tan. I hear its been repainted desert tan but I've seen no such photos, so its only confirmed paint scheme is woodland. I also believe it was a Marine Abrams. I may scratch build Marine smoke grenade launchers, or just buy AFV Clubs Army launchers. I don't know yet but either way its still going to be named Pale Horse.

However if I do decide down the road to make the Marine launchers, I could make a set for you while I was at it if you'd like.

I'm debating whether or not to write up a proper review this weekend as there's very little information about these things and of what little there is, some of it is wrong/out of date.

Mr Terminator

Yeah mate,that'd be good about the smoke launchers but i'd like to stay US Army if there is too much change involved for US Marine Corps,i'm unsure of my skills yet.It'd be good to have a review on the model because as you say a lot of the info is outdated and it should be considered when buying an Abrams model as for me its the only one i've seen in 1/16 scale and its got bags of potential.My bank account is a bit worse for wear at the moment,i''m hoping to flog off one of my nitro trucks so that I can fund the conversion comfortably instead of doing bit at a time....

BarkingSquirrel

Well really the only visual difference between Army and Marines M1A2 is the smoke grenade launchers, so it'd be easy to do. The Marine launchers are basically a block and some tubes, so they'd be easy to build some. The beehive type that the Army uses however, you'd be better off buying AFV Clubs set.

The M1A1 version for each service would be a little more different. Not only are the launchers different but the Marine version has a anti-missile system installed where the CITV is on the M1A2 which is often confused for a CITV.

I found an old 7.2v charger I had but it was the wrong connector. So I simply spliced the connecter from the M1's charger onto the old one. Charged up nicely got about 20 minutes out of the 600mah pack. Ran it through short and long carpet, grass 1 inch tall and 6 inches tall, gravel, thich cut mulch, and on a road. Zero thrown tracks.

wackywheelz

Thats why Hobby Engine opted for the unscale big roadwheels, bigger teeth on tracks and round inner-driven sprocket. Stock-setup would de-rail quick as, because it lacks the weight (especially turning on grippy surfaces) to keep the roadwheels firmly down on the tracks.

Mr Terminator

Mine struggles on the long grass and I think it's down to the battery but I do get around the same runtime of 20 mins,a 7.4v LiPo would be good,I have a decent LiPo balance charger and just need to get a battery,that would give great runtimes between charges and the .2 of a volt wont make any difference.So there's not much difference then,in that case i'll do some research into the Marine Abrams as it will be different but its just replicating the US Marines writing were the US Army is as its very small and precise.I'm sure you'll have a solution though dude.I've had no derail of the tracks either,they seem pretty good at that but not too realistic.Would be nice if Tamiya drivewheels and tracks can be incorporated with the HL shafts,i'm not sure what is compatible with what but I can improvise...

BarkingSquirrel

For the ID writing I just made a stencil set(A-Z 0-9 in multiple sizes) using photoshop and a Army font. Printed onto paper, used as a stencil itself to cut out the numbers/letters on some thin sheet plastic. I could send you a set in a week or two(Busy work the few weeks) if you'd like, would only require the address in a PM, no charge or anything.

Mr Terminator

That'd be great buddy,thanks.It seems thats the hardest part,the writing because thats where i'll struggle with the finer detail.