Way back when I was a crewman on them , they opened 90 dgrees. I doubt if it has changed because it made it easy to open them and get in them while maintaining a toe hold on the skirt.

Also , I believe the door was kept from opening too far by a chain. I do not recall if there was a chain on each end.

Can anyone tell me the size of bolt head that holds down the rear engine deck and it's access hatches? The one you slide the latches under.

Rob

Howdy all,

Thx for the reply 19K, and thx also to Toad (via PM).

Next question. Could someone (preferably multiple 'someone's'), give me an idea of exactly what would be carried inside the left-side turret stowage box?
As you've probably all figured out by now, I'll be depicting my Abrams with a turret stowage box in the 'open' position. So any and all suggestions (short of getting 'stuffed' ) are appreciated.

Tread.

I would assume that this could change from unit to unit depending on SOP. The two units I was in were both pretty much the same stowage wise. (2nd ACR and 3rd ACR in case there are differences from other units). We put our tool bag, signal flags (red , yellow and green), extra cans of oil for the engine-usually at least 4 quarts. We would tend to hoard as much of this oil as we could. I think the cans were O.D. with black lettering. I could be wrong on that one. Cleaning supplies - rags, multi - purpose cleaner, break-free cleaning oil(black 1/2 gallon jug type plastic container).Grease gun. Possibly the bore cleaning brush for the main gun - but NOT the tubes for cleaning the gun tube. We also kept toilet paper in ours along with some of the personal gear we needed to keep more readily availble.( We usually kept our duffels, alice packs and sleeping bags covered with our tarp and strapped down into the rear bustle rack and on top of the turret. We stayed out of them as much as possible because if you didn't cover it up good , it all got extremely dusty/dirty and was a bear to get clean.) You could also sometimes find spare barrels for the M240's and .50 cal. Most of the time however, we kept the spares in the tank's turret. Any way I hope that helps. I'm sure I have forgotten a lot of it , but this is a start.

We tried to keep the TP , oil and tools fairly handy in there. You also might come across a field jacket, MOPP suit and kevlar in there too. Once again this pertains to the left side of the turret - the loaders side.

If I recall, the T.C.'s side had the bore sighting device, end connector puller, perhaps the tool we used to elevate a road wheel and perhaps a spare .50 cal barrel depending on what was going on in the tank- whether it was gunnery or a Reforger etc. The T.C.'s side was usually more organized because it was equipment that didn't need to be used as much.The T.C also kept his personal items in this box also. Every body else pretty much used the loader side.

I must also point out that this is 1984 - 1988 era. I doubt if it has changed much, but I don't think I've seen them carrying quite as much equipment on top of the tanks in Iraq lately.

This information pertains to the M1, M1 IP and M1A1's I was on.

I saw a picture of an A1 AIM stateside (may have been Germany with its camo), but it had left side stowage open. Was pretty full, but only with personal gear (packs, gloves, jackets) though there is a fire bottle too. That is the link to it as well as this link which shows the smoke grenade storage box open should you model that (that would be cool but a bit challenging) [url=http://tanxheaven.com/m1a1aim/DSC04148.JPG Also, the stowage box shows it open at 90 degrees without a chain (though there is a crew member holding? it.

As I try to recall I believe the turret boxes were kept from opening much beyond 90 degrees by the fact that as the cover opened, the outside edge of the cover came into contact with the side of the sponson box. Thus it could not open much past 90 degrees- which I am certain it did not. A safe estimate would be to model an open cover slightly past the 90 degree point.No chains on these covers.

The chains I recall were on the hull sponson boxes. The chains here kept the covers from falling to the ground when open. These covers slid out and were not hinged. There was a chain on each end. The M1A1 only had a hull box on the right side because the NBC system is in the place of the storage that would have been on that side.

Thank you for helping me try to get my memory back into shape. Has been a long time since I tried to recall such minutiae. Oddly enough this is stuff I never would have thought anybody cared about back then!

Hello Andy

I am also looking for Sinister Minister photos - as I am building that tank. Can you please email them to me as well?

Thanks in advance,

Buffie

In the near future I'm probably going the build an marine abrams. But i was wondering if they all used the 'dazzler' mounted on their turret.

greetz

Howdy USNavy2534,

I tried the link you provided....but it doesn't work. Could you possibly repost it.

TIA.

Tread.

Howdy fellas,

Just a quick update (if anyone cares). I sucessfully switch-fitted the HobbyCraft/Trumpeter M1A1 drive sprockets (with holes), to the Tamiya drive spindles.
It was a fairly simple proceedure, and works great!
And, at a fraction of the cost of AM replacements......... :-)

Tread.

Of course, I've since read that the USMC uses both types of drive sprockets..........

Now...if I can just acheive the same level of success with my Sherman wading trucks 'switch-fit' endeavor I'll be a grinnin' fool!

lets see if this works treadhead (EDIT - hey what do you know?)

Does anybody know what the these "plates" are on the front of the turret on many M1's?

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m1a1-980120-A-0000K-002.jpg

The tan plates in this photo with green corners

My understanding is that they are for front (?) recognition of Abrams in thermal sights. The corners are thermal tape designed to appear cool in the sights viewfinder. The "venitian blinds" are used for the sides and rear. But you'd have to ask a tanker for sure.

Navy is correct. They serve as recognition panels for thermal viewing. Good job!

Excellent. Thanks guys.

Hello!

I saw you talked about a video earlier, where an Abrams almost jumps of a tank transporter.

I've searched through the forum for this video of the tank, but I can't find it. Do you have a link or can you e-mail me the file?

thx
MLRS Gunner