I recieved a used 1:16 Hobby Zone M1A1 tank in the mail today and the size does look very close to that of my Tamiya Leopard. I have a new Leopard kit on the way (Woo Hoo!!!), so I plan to convert my current Leo lower hull (gearboxes, road wheels/sprockets, tracks etc.) along with the electronics, for use with this upper hull. The details are not spectacular on this tank, but it was cheap and is certainly easier than a scratch build. I think that if the conversion is a success, a decent paint job will take this Abrams from toy to treasure.

This will give you an idea of what I'm starting with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wtX2DOAQVY

....can't start until after Christmas, but wish me luck!!!

wow that is close in size. buddy of mine has a very old one of those, barrel is kinda broke to... I keep trying to buy it off him but no luck...

lets see what you can do with this!

That will be a nice model to see on the battlefield.

Let the conversions begin!

i am making one of 1/8...now~[:'(]

I spent an hour or so today trying to decide how to make the upper and lower hulls fit together and I wound up having to cut both in order to get close. For the Abrams upper hull, I removed everything that was sticking down with my trusty Dremel, replaced the fellow in the turret with an Elite Forces soldier and cut and labeled the wires.

I hated to have to chop up the lower hull of the Leo, but it had to be done. All of the cuts were made with a cutting disc, so I will need to go back and even everything up and make it all smooth, later. Now, I need to start cutting some sections of Plastruct to make the coupling of the two hulls more believable. I have a long way to go and gaps to fill, but I think that I will be able to pull this off, even with my mediocre skills. [sm=thumbup.gif]

I have seen this kind of conversion before. I think Tom of Toms RC Tanks did one. get with him for tips on how he got the hulls to mate together. Theres also a complete replacement lower hull and running gear for sale for it. just add leopard internals.

Leo2AOwner:

Those replacement chassis, apart from the AFV-Model ones, are LONG gone. You see the odd one on eBay from time to time, but they tend to go as high as a full Leopard kit.

You know of another maker, let us know... lot of us want those chassis...

i can have a hunt round. Might be a bit though
I believe i saw some in my travels for sale not too long ago

Well, I disassembled everything and got the base coat of paint sprayed on. I actually attempted a wash with flat black, brown and thinner (1:1:10), but it was a fiasco! [:'(] I had to sand and scrape and then repaint. I think I will just try to dry-brush some of the details after the tank is put together and just leave it alone.

The next step (maybe tonight) will be to install the gearbox and speakers and then solder the wires for the elevation, traverse, recoil and lights to the proper connectors for the Leopard DMD/MFU. Once the tank is fully functional (fingers crossed), I still have to decide how to mate the upper and lower hull together. They will probably have to be screwed together in some way, so I may just add thick Plastruct card to the upper section that I will screw to the lower section. That should be an interesting task. [sm=tired.gif]

I should have my head examined for trying this stupid conversion idea. [sm=tired.gif] This has turned out to be nothing but a big, fat headache and I'm having serious doubts as to whether I will be able to make it work. So far, the wires for the existing mechanisms (elevation, rotation, recoil etc.) have all been converted to the correct plugs for the DMD/MFU, but two of the three do not work properly. The elevation raises and lowers continuously from the moment I turn on the power switch and the recoil goes back, but tries to keep on going back. On top of that, there is no way to make the electronics, battery and speaker fit into the lower hull with the gear box (should have known since the Leo is the same way), so I have to try to set the turret up to hold some stuff and still have them accessible. Of course, I still have to figure out how I'm going to keep the two hull sections together without compromising the "scale" appearance with a bunch of screw heads showing. The worst part is that I cut up a good Leopard in the process. [sm=stupid.gif]

Maybe someone out there can tell me why CA will not glue the plastic of this upper hull!!! I may tear out all of my hair before it is all finished. [:@]



On a happier note, the tank seems like it will look the part if it all works out.

Dear StoneColdfreak,

I like what you've done with the M1A1/Ex-Leo2, Its very seldom to see a proper RC M1 Abrams in 1/16 scale
Where did you bought your Hobby zone tank and how much? Hows the accuracy of the tank details? I see the smoke
dischargers are quite smaller than actual. Can you comment on this.

I saw Tankzone.com in the UK is selling them, now in Iraqi freedom Camo, for 129 pounds.
I would like to weather mine M1s like this (I have 1/24 & 1/12 scale).

Best regards,

Patrick C.

the top your using there is the same one as buddy has. noted the "rim" looking thing on top. most visible in the picture close to the commander dude.

I bought my tank used from a guy on Ebay, but here it is (just a little different): http://www.hobbytron.com/RCTankM1A1A...TRJHC0817.html As you noted with the smoke dischargers, the details on the tank are not great, but look okay from a distance if you don't know what you are looking for. The tank itself does not move realistically and has rubber tracks, which is why I wanted to install Tamiya electronics and lower hull.

I would never buy one to use "as is" since they are very toy-like.

I hate that wheel (spare?), but I'm not going to remove it and do any body work untill I get it working correctly. Maybe then I will make a better set of rails for the turret, too.

Use the Leo elevation, recoil and rotation with the turret ring. The elevation is a digital servo so will not work with a standard motor. The recoil uses resistors to sense 'cocked' and 'recoiled' positions so again standard limit switches will not work.

Use mechanical fastners wherever possible, the toy-like plastic is virtually impervious to most glue types!

Looking good!

Thanks, Eric! You just solved two of my biggest worries with a few words.

M1A1 had a blank plate, often covered by a spare wheel, M1A2 has the CITV (Commanders Independant Thermal Viewer)

The big bulge on the rear corner is the APU (Auxillary Power Unit) - I hate them in this position, and usually put them in the bustle rack (more often found there)

Well, I guess I will leave the spare on the tank. I don't care for the location of the APU (nice to know what it is called) either, but I dislike trying to relocate it even more.

Thanks, Wackywheels. [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Forget it, man. [:@] I'm not going to waste another minute on this thing when I have three other tanks waiting. I will just part out the electronics on Ebay.

To come so far and then stop!! noooooooooooooessss

Someone told me that Tamiya's next tank kit will be an Abrams....strictly a rumor at this point. I HOPE so.