Treadhead, FYI:
Here are a few shots of the Abrams side skirts. You can see from the underside shots of the right side #2-4 skirts that they are much thicker than #5 and #6 skirts. Those steel plates are still thick enough to stop small arms fire up to about a .50 caliber round.

From the top side of the skirts in the second picture, you can tell a ballistic armored skirt because it has a pair of bolts along the top edge (also much thicker). The bolts are removed and eyebolts inserted so the skirts can be handled by some type of material handling device such as a wrecker crane or M88 boom.

I've got two M1IPs, an early and a late M1A1. All four vehicles have the same side skirt set up.

Rob is it possible for these skirts to get "torn" off by collision or are they basically too robust to sustain this type of damage.

The reason I'm asking is I recently saw an M1A1 pic with the last skirt, i.e. the rear one by the drive sprocket " manually removed"??? or "lost due to damage"??? These things look so solid it's almost hard to believe one could be torn off-so the removal must have been intentional??? I was thinking of doing this on my Abrams groupie build model so I was curious. Thanks.



I can find the pic and post if you like.

Steve

Howdy Rob!

Many thx Major 'G' for your photos. Your 'underneath' shot is especially demonstrative! Didn't you say (I think), that the thicker skirt count was different for each side?

Also, (and maybe I'm saying the already painfully obvious), wouldn't those bolt heads at the top edge of the side skirts be necessary to portray the Abrams accurately? Assuming the answer is 'Yes', my Tammy kit doesn't have them, do either the Trump or Dragon kit have these bolt heads? (my Dragon kit is at work so I can't check it at the moment).

And finally Sir. As I've already said in a previous post. I intend to show my Abrams with the left side #6 skirt pivoted into the 'open' position. This is possible...correct? Imean, you wouldn't need a handy and nearby M88 or anything would ya? :-)

Tread.

Steve,
The rear skirt over the drive sprocket is routinely removed to keep mud from building up around the drive sprocket. Not very likely that they are torn off, they are really robust.

We Will Hold,
It is not uncommon for tanks to lose any of the six skirt panels. Number seven is normally removed to prevent mud build-up. The main cause of shedding a skirt or six is mainly due to accidents where the crew was not paying attention to their surroundings, throw track or slide into holes & ditches... The tank is not mission capable (dead lined) if any of the ballistic skirts - 1-4 on the right or 1& 2 on the left side are missing. The skirts are somewhat robust but not totally "Joe proof"...

Tread,
All skirts are meant to be opened by the crew with little assistance, the possible exception is the #1 skirts which have the square tubing on the top to insert a handy tankers bar to assist in lifting the skirt onto the fitting at the end of the mysterious "I-Beam." To illustrate the point, I have seen tanks traveling down the roads in Korea with the # 5 & # 6 skirts flapping in traffic when the retaining pins suddenly disappeared... High Adventure

John

Thx tankrider for your input. Between the lot of you guys I'll understand the Abrams pretty well at the end of all this! :-)
But seriously, the explanations that you all are sharing with the crowd is extremely helpful and appreciated.

Tread.


.......LOL......."Joe Proof"......... :-) Love it!

The #7 skirt is just aluminum. They get ripped off fairly easily but are normally removed. Really don't know why they haven't been deleted entirely.

Whoo Hoo,
Another modern convert... Glad to be of assistance.

Joe Proof is just an update on the concept that tank's namesake had: You can drop a couple American soldiers, Joes or GIs, off in a desert with an anvil and nothing else. Come back in a couple hours and the anvil will be in two pieces... Soldiers will break anything that they put their minds to...

John

Tread, I think John answered most of your questions. The skirts can be opened quite easily by the removal of a skirt pin. Incidently, these are the same pins that are used to secure the bustle rack so if one skirt pin is missing, you can borrow one from the bustle rack. Most crews carry a few spare skirt pins in a sponson box somewhere. The skirt pins come in a couple of different lengths and the little locking clip that keeps them in place have an old style and new style.

Like John said, the ballistic skirts are right side #1 thru #4 and #1 & #2 on the left. Eduard does a PE set that adds the thin bolted rubber strip to the top of the side skirts for the kits that are missing them. It does not add the two bolt heads to each ballistic skirt. I'm sorry if I misled you, but those bolt heads are only used when dismounting the side skirts from the tank. Otherwise, they just swing open with very little effort. I've only seen one ballistic skirt ever removed, and it was dismounted to re-weld the hinge. Only the #1 skirt takes a little effort to open and close.

From Experience,
Anything can break, if you want it thoroughly tested give it to a Marine. I've seen a tank come back with its ballistic skirt in the Bustle rack.

Tank Out

I've seen a USMC M1A1 during the Thunder Runs into Bagdad with the entire side skirt removed from one side...