Did all of the abrams with the extended rack have exhaust deflectors, and what would they look like, and how would I build one to add it on my build?
Exhaust deflectors have been around since the Xm1. Ours bolted to the air straightener studs on the right grille door and were home made. Just a big radius to vent the turbine exhaust straight up to alleviate blowing dust in the motorpool and we used them in the shop so we could run up engines without frying the mechanics behind us.
Steve
Most M1A1HCs in 3ID in OIF did have some version of th exhaust deflectors. The Extended racks had nothing to do with them having them or not. There are a few different patters, most of these are locally made. Someone posted a pic here recently that showed the deflecor well. Of course, I can’t find it now. It can be easilt built out of sheet syrene. It is mostly flat plates welded together with a couple handles and hangers on it.
I don’t think I’ve any closeups. We had two deflectors in the platoon.
Here it’s visible on the right side of the turret.
On my tank, I preferred to have it on the left.
Here’s another shot of us.
It has two little ‘hooks’ on the inside that hook onto the rail of the bustle rack. Some people preferred to have it on the rear and not on the side, though that was usually dependent on 20mm ammo cans, spare wheels, and the like.
This head-on shot will show you the side profile for his particular (Home-made) design.
Same tank, same crew, different side.
NTM
So when would they have this on the back of the exhaust, and why would you use it?
The deflector is usually used when towing another tank or a trailer. It blows the hot exhaust (up to 1500 degrees) up and away from the towed vehicle. It can also be used during maintenance, or any other time you want to blow the exhaust up and away from the rear of the tank.
Here is a good example of when it would be used.
When I google for “m1a1 deflector” the first hit is this PDF…
https://www.logsa.army.mil/WEB-PAGE/1999/562/12-13.pdf
It has a drawing of a deflector and explains it’s usage. As a bonus, the page also explains the proper way to install a firing pin.
Thrasher:
It seems to me by reading your original post that you mean to model a 3rd ID tank from the initial invasion. Not all 3rd ID tanks had extended bustle racks. Only tanks from 1-64 and 4-64 did. These tanks also had two jerrycan racks made by the same local vendor. And of course they had the deflector shield as discussed above.
The deflector shield is not too difficult to make, but the extended bustle rack is a pain due to all the measuring and test fitting of long, fiddly parts. I can send you my in-progress photos of all of these items if you wish.
Here is my finished version of a 1-64 tank with all the above attached (I hope this works):
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=646
Nowadays there are plenty of decals available of 1-64 tanks and maybe 4-64 tanks. These units were part of the 2nd Brigade that ended up in Baghdad during the thunder run attacks.
Bob