That is screwed into this
The drawing clearely shows that there is no material in there, just a howllow cavity.
Tbh I want to say that piece pictured above is not the same as the cutaway, although it does exist in the circled volume and is not the trunnion or armor set.
Looks like a good, 3 to 4 inches of extra material ontop of the trunnion, but not the whole volume in the cutaway.
Given too that the edge plates seem to be cast from the same piece, I’m thinking that might be a spacer for the 120mm.
You can’t have a hollow cavity with counterbored bolts
The bolts are circled
(again a very rushed cad drawing)
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Again in the cutaway doesn show any material, anything this thick would have a proper delimitation and a proper shadowing, again im not saying that it has or doesnt irl, just that this cutaway that you’re using shows the same layout that is in game.
Looking at the M1E1’s setup vs the base M1, the armor set does seem more recessed compared to the M68’s mount, which would lend credence to a different spacer being used to mount the XM256.
Further bit for this - M1E1 TANK PROGRAM
Specifies between the M1 and M1E1 the gun shield was modified.
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The cutaway might not show it for ease of understanding but when paired with the first and second photos in the initial post, there is no denying that that piece is an additional piece of armor.
It still doesnt show it and it clearely delimitate the hollow space if it was an homogeneus piece it woulnt have interior lines so… this would be just speculation on your behalf
The first two photos with and without the additional armor confirm the existence of said armor. I already explained that you need material in order to machine counter bored holes into. I am a machinist by trade and I could physically make that piece. I don’t recall saying it was homogeneous
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You could easily weld some threded sleaves to the back side, again even with the irl image you cant confirm if it is hollow or not, specially using a cutaway that doesnt show that.
That’s a silly thought.
Even if it is silly It is completely possible, even if you dont like it.
Bolt heads have to have something to sit on to tighten down to, so realistically from what’s being said from him being a machinist it’s more than realistically possible. You don’t seat bolts into a hollow cavity.
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That would be way less possible.
You would need to machine each individual sleeve to the exact length, then machine off each individual sleeve to the correct angle since it varies depending where it would be. Then have a welder sit there and weld each sleeve individually into the base plate hoping that he is more accurate that a cnc machine.
That versus.
You stick the cast piece into 2 vises and press the green start button.
Just because it is harder doesnt make it less possible, specially being a piece attached to the pivoting point, there mass is also a considieration, and since youre a machinist it would safe to assume that you can easily see that the cutaway shows a hollow cavity not a homogeneus one and for several reasons.
In all honesty, not just saying that to prove my point but that’s a practice never done on anything that is of anything remotely structurally important. Those bolts are the only thing holding everything in front of the breach together. That secures down the nera plates and the whole gunshield. They would not use sleeves to secure a piece that is designed to take sabot fire
Look at this photo again. You have those bolts securing everything in front of the breach.
Well the sleves would only be holding on the weight of the nera package and not much else, there isnt and by the desing of it they would work at tension there the sleves would do just fine at that job, for the possible compression forces that they can experimet when they hit, you also have the perimeter that is resting on the gun trunnion, strucutally sleves are “weak” at shearing they do just fine at tension and compression, again you can easily enginier a hollow piece using sleves that could easily work with the hollow layout which would work and would be far closer to what the cutaway is showing.
The issue with most if not all modern tanks is we don’t have all the information (blueprints, manuals, etc) to use as a reference when implementing them in game. So what we have to do is make an educated guess/assumption.
We truly don’t know if it’s actually hollow or not however, @ileaveuptiers makes a compelling argument on why it’s not hollow (assuming what he says about being a machinist is true). I think it would be fair for those who think it is hollow, to make an argument that supports their assumption.
My point is this, Gaijin doesn’t have any secret documents that proves if it’s hollow or not. They made an educated guess just like you and @ileaveuptiers have. The argument I’ve seen from a lot of people when it’s about MBTs is “We don’t know if it’s there thus we don’t model it at all”.
I hope that makes sense. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with either of you
edit: forgot to press the reply button 🤦, talking to @Nowel
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