I am really happy to see how to tackle the hub.
They are really convincing
i hope to see more of your work soon and the painting stage will be really interesting
Cheers
Seb

Hi, it's me again. I've started the painting,Turret only. I wanted to start with the barrel to get a feel of using the salt and HS technique. OK here we go with a sneak peak of how it's progressing.



A primer coat using Wal Mart gray primer.



Next came my usual dark under coat I use on all my wrecks.


I applied a heavy coat of HS followed by some salt.

I then applied some green and brown, just to see what will happen.

The desert sand color was sprayed next.


Here is how it turned out. I still have to work on this new (to me) technique. in the future I'll let the paint dry a bit longer because it came too easy. Also the HS I used isn't the greatest so I'll buy a different one along with a larger grain type of salt. I'll continue with the barrel with some mapping(?), brush and sponge painting.
The turret willl be the fun part to paint. Any tips or suggestions are most welcome.

Rob

Hi mate nice work, How do you get the salt off?

Yeah I want to hear how he got the salt off. I have been putting it on top, then using hot water to take it off.

How common would it be to have an Abrams knocked out due to enemy fire?

I am pretty sure no Abrams have been lost due to enemy fire.

As far as a tank being lost to enemy fire, most were lost due to on board fires that got out of control.

Just a little up date, I started work on the front of the turret and am getting the hang of this slowly. The salt gets washed off with water after the paint has been applied.




Here is a pic that I used as a ref.


That's about as far as I've gotten, new pics to follow soon.

Rob

superb work Rob great start to the painting !

Isn't it amazing that the above Abrams was damaged by a catastrophic fire which melted/burned the pads off of the treads and melted the aluminum road wheels, but the cardboard MRE cases on the bustle rack are undamaged!?!?!

Rob - Excellent work so far! Keep going...

Awesome replication of the damage..it looks awesome and the weathering is going good...cant wait to see this thing done

There would be nothing left of that stowage if the fire would have reached it...they got lucky

Evan

Great work Mate, thanks for explaining..

What we don't see, is the cheese tortellini MRE meals in those boxes, no self-respecting vehicle fire could ever bring itself to destroy such a masterpiece of pre-packaged food!

On to the build, I'm really enjoying seeing your work with the salt on this vehicle, its making me want to retry that method!

Hi guys , just a quick update.
I did notice in quite a few pics that the storage in the bustle rack has not burned even though the tanks were burnt out.There are also plenty of pics were the storage is completely burnt or melted, that's the look i'm going to depict.
Cheese Tortellini???? Sounds a lot better then what we had in the 80's.
Ok, here are a few pics of the turret and where I'm at at the moment.











There is a bit of color on the turret but it's not showing up in the pics!! I'll try to finish the turret of this evening and start on the hull. I'm trying to stay on this model, I'm very tempted to start one of the T55's.

Rob

Now that looks so effective I can almost smell burning!!! thanx again.

Outstanding work Rob!

the gilmer of pint showing through makes it look something special!

Great stuff Rob!

looks great, keep up the great work, i like the idea your used on the barrel with the salt, clever. i have a question , in those reference pics, i think it was 332 with the tank so badly burned up, how come the tarps and personal equipment never got touched in the back rack? i mean with all the he, ap rounds inside?
oh well but your project looks great like a said above cant wait to see more

though I'm looking for pics of the relatively intact M1 series this build has really caught my eye,fantastic work Rob and looking forward to its completion

Thanks guys, glad to hear you like how it looks.
I'm not to happy with the look of the turret so I skipped on to the skirts to practice a little more. The following pics show the steps I took in painting the skirts. I'm trying to get the look of the skirts on "322" but not exactly the same. Since my tank is to be a complete burn out I want it to be more burnt.


Here is 322


The base coat was applied first.

I then applied HS and while still wet I sprinkled some salt onto the skirt.

Ithen sprayed the white areas.

Using tap water I removed the salt.

I then masked the white area with masking fluid.



After the desert tan was sprayed on, the masking fluid was then removed.






I then painted the remaining skirts a dark gray/black with some white in areas. A light over spray with black finished them off. I still have to do the weathering to them, then they should be done. I'll keep practicing and trying new things for different results. I should have the technique down some what by the time I start my T55's.

Rob

WOW!

This may become even more realistic then Per's one!

Lars

Hi rob
This looks really good, i'm looking forward to more pictures.
neil..........

Amazing work Rob, thanks for sharing the technique!

Great progress Rob, the turret's looking very good.

David, Martyn and Neil thanks for the kind words and I'm glad your enjoying this build.
Lars thanks, I chose not to go with the NATO camo under the desert color, instead I wanted a tank that was factory painted after an overhaul. Also I didn't want mine compared to Pers, his is definitely a masterpiece. I enjoy building and painting and trying new things, so for me this is fun and I'm glad you guys are coming along for a wreck ride.
Ok..I had a lot of fun with the skirts so I went ahead and started the hull, I'll get back to the turret later.The pics are pretty much the same as the skirts as far as the painting.












The last two pics show the dirty hull, the dark areas are oil paints, and this is what it looks like right now. I'm letting the oils sit a bit so I figured I would post the progress while I'm waiting.
Time to go wash those oils off and spray some black on the rear area of the tank.
Sorry for all the pics, I thought maybe they could help some one who wants to try this out.


Rob

Rob-
You work fast! It is looking phenomenal ---the only thing more impressive is your modesty.

For those of you following this- I had the good fortune to watch Rob using some of his techniques. What amazed me was that Rob has developed the ability to control the adhesion of his paint.

I think that is a big factor and something I am going to have learn.

Brilliant Rob!!!

Oh- and I wanted to point out one interesting thing about your pic of '222'. Looks as though the fuel for the fire was the flammable parts of the right side suspension. Roadwheel rubber, track pads etc. Anyway- the interesting part is the way the smoke and soot rising from the forward end of the fender produced a soot streak on the underside of the turret overhang. IMHO the stuff in the turret bustle probably would have burned- the fire must have been extinguished. Looks to me like some of the items did begin to burn.

Steve