Here is what I’m thinking of cutting out of metal and forming into a tube to hold the tank periscope part:

Text for tank man piece

The letters would be cut out – I’ll need to add tabs, like in a stencil to keep the inside pieces from falling out.

It has two different quotes:

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions

The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage.

For esthetic reasons, I’m going to try giving a twist to the text, perhaps 90 degrees from top to bottom like this – I’ll print up some prototypes to see how it looks when wrapped around.

Confucius with a quarter twist