Here are some new pics from the Abrams I am doing. I just finished scratchbuilding the turret bustle rack and I surprised myself how good it looks (of course I suprise myself how good I look). I used the kit angle supports and hinge supports. I used bass wire for the rods and added strip styrene and some AM grating. There's also a mineplow I am going to add.

Let me know what you guys think.

http://community.webshots.com/album/62297765ZSjHDF

Rob

Lookin' good Rob!!! How are you going to finish it? I just finished a huge M1A1 project myself, however, I lack the scratchbuilding skills you have, keep it up!!!

I don't know how "good you look" but the bustle rack is top notch. Which kit are you working with?

Looking damn good, Robert, as I said in the chat, you are very talented modeller.

WOW! Sergeant Major... looks great! Good and sturdy too for stuffin' all kinds of stowage in too I bet.

Jeff, it will be done as an M1A1-HA from Desert storm with a ton of stowage (thank you legends). This is from the Dragon kit, Keenan.

thanks for the kind words.

rob

Nice one Rob, although one point.....
I think that the IFF grills you put on the sides of the turret are upside down. The slats should be angled down not up! Where did you get these from or are they scratch built too?
HTH
Impressive so far. Is this the A2?
Cheers

Nice work Rob! I've been looking for some "inspiration" to do an Abrams in the near future. Your model is getting me pretty interested. I'll be cheering you on too.

Gunnie

Wow! Impressive workmanship.
Well done
DJ

:-) Verrrrrrry nice work :-)
Mal

I don't think the IFF IR panels were used in Desert Storm. I don't remember seeing any in the footage, NEVER saw any on any kit and was intrigued by what they were when I saw them on vehicles on TV last week.

Update, I was down at a national guard armory this morning and took 560 pictures of the interior and various exterior details of an M1A1 from C co. 1st of the 635th Armor. Gary, my guy on the inside, says the IFF panels were not used in Desert Storm, so I am no longer doing DS. Not sure of what exactly I am doing right now, but I will let you know. It will be in desert tan and it will have tons of stowage.

To add to my earlier comments: This is the Dragon M1A1-HA with crew and some parts from Tamiya (In brown). I also have an accessory set from Legends and a track set from AFV club, both of which I love. I will be tearing out the interior as it is because with the new references I have I will be doing a more accurate one.

I am so dirty and smelly right now but I am on cloud nine. This is the closest I have ever been to any tank and it's one of my favorites, to boot. I crawled all over that thing and just had a blast. I will try and post a few pics here and at the new Jeds site. Right now I have to upload 60 discs worth of pics into my 'puter, then I will get a bath.

Rob

that's looking good mate. Nice to see some scratch brass add ons

wow very nice work, that thing is gonna be awesome when finished, those abrams do have a mean look to them

Bender

Don't know much about the modern equipment. but I know enough that I like your work..

I have posted about 25 pics at webshots for now to whet your appetites. Click below to see them. I would like to find someplace to host all of them. Any ideas?

Rob

some real first class bending...wish I could get my ship railings to bend and stay in shape like that you've definitely got a great start on that tank

I for one, did not realise that u were planning a desert storm version. The IFF are a new "Attempt" to combat the frienly fire incidents (of which there are too many!)
They were not used in 1991.
Glad you found out, that could have been embarrasing #:-)

I do not usually comment on the infidel modern armour but I will make an exception her, NICE WORK!!

Andrew

Why don't you create your own website/domain?

GunTruck Studios (my domain and website) is coming up on its Fifth Anniversary on August 2nd. It has surpassed all I ever dreamed it would five years ago. I'm going to have a party just to celebrate it here at home

It wasn't hard to do - nor has it been difficult to manage over the years. I was able to do it all myself - and I still can't spell "html". You can create a permanent home for your photos and projects to come this way...

Gunnie

Because it's probably too expensive, as I am a student and my wife is a teacher. We have little left over for hobbies at the end of the month. Why do you think I scratchbuild so much? #:-) How much does yours run Gunnie?

Rob

It cost me about $280 dollars to register my domains "www.guntruck.com" and "www.guntruck.us" over this five year period. This isn't too bad spread across five years. It will cost roughly the same again for another 5 years. The registry is staggered, so I don't get hit with renewing both at the same time.

I'm paying $40 bucks a month for Earthlink to host my website - 300MB. I maintain them with a DSL link - so add another $40 bucks to the other $40 dollar monthly webhosting charge. That's what I see all of the time. I also get hit with an excess bandwidth charge - which only recently I've had to start monitoring. Not used to "popularity" with a small site like mine - but linking photos does eventually catch up with you sometime . I can see why some sites prohibit that practice. So, my monthly average has been about $100 dollars to maintain my Internet presence. Spread over five years - $1200 dollars each year potentially sounds like a lot - but I easily make that up in my hobby business - usually in the first month of the year, every year. If I didn't have the business income, then the idea might be less appealing.

I started out dialup like everyone else, but quickly went to DSL as soon as it became available. Like Jim considers for this site, I've been considering purchasing my own dedicated server at home - though that's not a high-priority performance upgrade for me as it is for Armorama. With the amount of material I upload - can't imagine not having a DSL service.

Initially, I went through 50megs.com to use "free" website space. That's another option I forgot to mention. I quickly left that site because of all the annoying pop-ups that come hand-in-hand with "free" website hosting. If that doesn't bug you - it's another option that fits the budget. To get "rid" of the pop-ups - you'll begin to pay for that "service".

All in all, for a modest-sized site like mine - I think it's worth it - for what I use it for. There are always cheaper outfits out there that you can look into, but what I use has served me very well for a long time. I pay a little more not to have to worry about outages and downtime, and I also made the decision from the start not to host forums and chat rooms, and the like because that's not what I wanted the site to be about.

Gunnie

Rob,

You do such incredible work, that you should build your own website!

If you're not all that much in to html code, there are many web development tools out there that can do it for you (for the most part). I use Frontpage to create and maintain mine, and being the old fert that I am, it is quite easy for me to use. It does help to have the basic knowledge of html. I am no computer whiz by any means. (Ya, I draw on them all day long, but don't ask me what makes them tick.)

Basically, having your own site cranks your hobby up a full notch!! It is fun, it is rewarding and it is entirely yours to share!! Mine is just over two years old and it is just as much fun today (for me anyway) as it was back on day one. Yep... and I did it all by myself too! (insert pat on the back here) I am thrilled by the comments that have come in... from all over the world, but I am especially proud of the guys and the one gal that have contributed to the Honor Roll Page . I am honored that they would even take a look! Many, many contributors have corrected me, or just sent along information just for the hell of it, and I have provided info to others. It's just a ton of fun!

I host mine through addr.com and have had no problems with them what so ever. No Pop-Ups either!

Shop around for a WSP. They vary in price and service. I don't recall off the top of my head what it costs me, but I want to say somewhere around $250 per year to host, with enough space to last me for quite awhile yet.

Definately one of my better ideas for sure, and well worth the effort!

HTH....

One thing with using Frontpage is to make sure that whatever WSP you go with has the FP Extensions in place.

Ok, I'm down off of my cloud now.... :-)

Thanks guys, I would like to, but that is still a lot of money right now. As for 50megs.com, well I have 65 megs of pics that I took yesterday, and I would hate to edit any out. It will have to be put on my wants list for now. I have front page and am currently creating indexes as we speak, but it will have to wait a while. I am just hoping someone will post them for the guys who are inspired by CNN to do an Abrams.

Rob