I added a little something to my new Abrams, HL did not incorporate the folding stowage rack on the back of the turret that extends the regular basket so i made my own.

Very cool. I have one started for my M1A2, but it's not done yet. Yours came out nice.

Looks Great. have a HL M1A2 also, I like it. Where did you get the stowage (water cans, packs, ration boxes, etc.)?

I believe it is all forces of Valor 1:18 scale stuff I got with a bunch of modern infantry figures. I really cant remember the site's name that has all that 1:18 scale stuff but if you Google it I'm sure you will find it.
I always believed 1:18 figures and material fit these supposed 1:16 scale tanks better any way. To,me 1:16 scale figures look too big.

Thanks, much appreciated!

Probably http://www.build-a-rama.com/

Yes, thats it. Thanks for finding it. I couldn't remember the nameof the site to save my life and i needed it too. LOL,.

Got any pictures showing how you attached the rack you made to the HL one?

Well,since it is made of brass rod, angle and screen it really is not that heavy, so i simply removed any paint from the back of the original rack and used some thick CA. How i made the rack gave me very good mounting points to apply the glue since i tried to get very close to true scale with the basket. I thought of fabricating it with hooks at the upper corners to have it just hang fromthe basket but the HL plastic on the top rail is not very strong and i did not want to add too much extra weight to it. So when it was all said and done for me the best way was to just neatly glue it in places that had good structural points. This way when traveling over rough terrain i dont need to worry about the basket bouncing up and off of any hanging mounting points. I should have taken pictures as i was building the basket but never really gave it much thought until I was finished.
i just think it makes the model look much more current as compared to how HL represented it because it is actually an M1A2 not the A1 as advertised.

Thanks. It does improve the model.

Are you doing the periscopes too? I'm working on those right now, I shelved the stowage rack project for now cause I built the frame too big and need to cut it down. I'm pondering whether its more work to start over on a new rack, or cut this one down.

I would like to do the scopes but i havent been able to find a suitable material for the lenses. If you ever actually seen them the have almost a flip flop color between orange and purple and it is hard to find something that will have that effect when the light hits it the right way.
If you would like I could build a rack for you i have enough material for it. i woulld just need to get another section of Aber screen which is easy enough to get.

That is an attractive offer, thanks. Your rack came out nice, but I like to build stuff, so I will pass.

I went for mostly the red/orange color periscopes, but will do the drivers main one in the blue/purple color. I painted Tamiya clear red on a piece of clear plastic, then layered Tamiya chrome silver over the clear red to make a mirror effect with the red color. I did it with a blue color too. Put the un-painted side of the clear plastic to the outside and it looks like this...

They are not done yet, but add a lot to the look of the tank.

Yeah, we are thinking along the same lines. I was going to pretty much go about it the same way. I like it a little on the darker more purplish / blue color so im going to test a couple of different pieces. i have some orange clear plastic sheet that works well so i will try adding some blue tint on the back to see how that turns out.
and yeah i do like to build most of my own stuff too. i had Dan/ YHR build his battle system into my tank with the Benedinni sound card in it and this thing just roars. It sounds so good with the real turbine engine sound I love this tank.

Dan did mine too! I love it. I had him add "Charge of the Valkyries" as a sound file I can turn on from the controller. I like to start out with the music, then let the turbine startup sound drown it out.

Hi Guys
There was a posting on Armorama re Optics Coatings - http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?...=245244&page=1 - which might be of use?

Mal

That may be worth looking into if they sell in small enough sheets. If you need to buy a whole roll of film it might be a little overkill.