not sure i have posted this yet

Finally some time spent and parts acquired

starting Hacking the lower hull around to get my idea of using a Kv 1 chassis well the arms and wheels

from this


to this





next job completely dremel out an old KV1 chassis and cut it to size so the arms line up





Hmmm Wheels these arent much cop



sooooo grab the old KV wheels hmmmm razor saw



cut out the silly abrams wheels and make the kv wheels sit nice and snug inside



this is what i have now spacing correct and the inner hub runs lovely on the kv arms

Getting round to attaching the new suspension in place



some more wheels made



the ally angle is to help keep things straight whilst the glue dries

im using some plumbing adhesive for plastic pipes on this seems to hold pretty good and sets pretty quick too :O

built the adjustable idler for it now



used an old Metal Tiger arm cut to size and some "BRASS" gearbox standoffs 3 in total for the wheel axle arm axle and the axle for the tensioning arm



Beefed up the inside wall with Brass plate to add strength

bit more done
all the wheels have been made finished and set on the arms
got some 80th plasti-card and started filling in the ermm large holes in the chassis



corrected the rear



another skim of plasti-card and some filler should be good to go

front was a bit of a pain with the angle but its better now some nuts and bolts added to aid the Gluing



still not sure what to do on the front end whether to adjust the frontal angle or just leave it as is?
(i should have enough Plasti-card '8 )



Right hand side idler to build and some more holes to fill and the lower should be ready for it's gearboxes :O

This is going to be sweet. Nice crisp build so far, looking forward to more.

Thanks Ausf
this sure is a labour of love

Quick play with some parts


pershing Return Rollers

Finishing up the outside filling all the holes etc

rear end now with the correct shape



yup it had to be done corrected the Front Armour





inside shot i also retained the front Screw holders 8O 8O



Started adding the Weldlines sorry about the picture not being to clear :{

right hand idler built and both sides Return rollers built and fixed on



Started Figuring out how to Get those K/tiger g/boxes in there



nice bit of 5mm ally plate held inplace with some ally angle bolt to the sides with M 2.5 screws captive nut serts fitted as i am not fiddling with nuts in there lol





how it looks in the lower hull









thats it for now more to follow

"Speaker box" added



this shows the "Tuned port" entering the baffle chamber



The tuned port lol



final Bass port

Gearboxes aligned better now and added a strengthening bar





started getting the leccies as well

looking good keep the pics coming
looks nice and clean inside

Looks like original Tiger gearboxes! You will like the scale ~32mph the TU's give for this model.

Also liked the strengthening bar you installed, I'm sure it will help.

Looks great! You are doing a super job turning a craptastic toy tank into something to envy. I dont know why someone cant produce a quality M1 from the factory (Come on Tamiya!!) for those of us who lack your skills...

i beleive they are the "Sports" version from the King tiger
and yes they do move it quite nicely big thanks to paul "Septon" for those

many thanks for the comments keep em coming this is a trial and error build

Really nice work. i would be happy if I could get my ElMod set up finished and working. Phil had it set up but when i installed it i'm ure i got something wrong. I probably should have sent him the whole tank and let him do it. Now it is a little late for that.<div>I guess one day i will just drag the tank and my butt up to my buddy Joe's house. Good ol'e yellowshaker will get it squared away for me. </div>

Cheers Greg go on pop it up to Joe's he'll sort it

Apple fitted


base primered





flash fitted and not seen is the emitter



headlights improved and you can just see the light bulb

Hard to tell that was an HE tank. It has come a long way. Just shows what goes into a "good" RC quality vehicle.

looks great...any in-progress photos of the upper hull?  Or, is it just minor tweaks?

Looking great here man. I had a HE Abrams, but decided to sell it...too lazy to do amll the work on it. You are certainly making it a hobby grade vehicle man. Keep up the great work on this thing.

Thanks Guys

@philipat

nothing major just a tidy up and a new .50 cal mount but its going back to an older marine version

ive started to detail the gun and then onto the cupola

took the abrams to our first Club meet at Wartime in the vale show and it went really well still had track throwing issues on the left but i think we figured that out

the plasticard spacers i put between the roadwheels have left no "Skew" on the tracks DOH so i removed a few and its better but another test is due and im thinking more need to come out
plus the kenny kongs may need a slight file down on the sprocket and end connecters

will report back with more soon

She certainly is a big improvement on the HE effort, you've done a cracking job, and thanks for letting me take her out for a spin..loved it

my pleasure Frank
just glad the bloomin tracks stayed on lol