Erik,

Nice Braille Scale M1A1 Abrams!

The resin spare road wheel from CMK is incorrect in that it should not have the center bearing hub and the bolts (picture from Prime Portal):



I have this DML kit, or at least the USMC vesion with the mine plow. Overall, it's a nice kit with some good detail, but I was unhappy with the modifications for motorizing it, the wrong guide horns on the vinyl tracks (which otherwise have excellent detail - if they were link and length plastic, this could easily be fixed!), and the side skirts molded as one piece with the upper hull.

I REALLY wish DML would release a new 1/72 scale abrams to the level they have achieved with the latest Armor Pro and scaling down the AIM/SEP kits!

Hi folks,
I've been away from building (and Armorama) for a couple years and recently restarted. To get me to finish something, I'm enlisting w/ a Tamiya M1A1, mostly OOB, with the exception of some Armor Track T156 tracks and some Eduard screens. Still have to decide on paint scheme and markings.

i'm done! had a great time, cheers!

pictures:












see you next campaign

Here are some in-progress pics of my M1A2






What you all think?

Herky

Hey Jeremy! looks very nice indeed. the metal gun adds a lot, and having the mine clearance apparatus in the "up" position adds even more "threat" to the tank

Matan,



What about the roadwheel hub caps?

Otherwise, really nice paint and weathering!

Jeremy,



The Tow cable mostly follows the bottom edge of the turret (picture from Prime Portal):



But, as Matan said, your M1A2 does look quite "intimidating" with the TWMP!

Hey thanks for the pointer. I will have to correct that!!


Herky

I don't understand aren't the hubcaps the round things in the middle of the road wheels? what about them?

Matan,

In your pictures, the road wheel hubs appear to look like this:


But should have the clear hubs installed (with black or dark gray paint on the inside for the lubricant):


This shows the real thing (image from Prime Portal):


I hope this helps...

oh, guess I just skipped them by accident. thanks for the heads up!

Awesome Abrams you got there Matan.

Great work again Jeremy. Did you mask on that anti-skid? Your a patient man. Oh yeah, thanks to you and that Humvee blog you did I went on E-Bay and bid on the Humvee with the Bushmaster cannon as well as the one like you did. Now working on getting some aftermarket stuff for them. Thanks!

Yea I masked the Anti-Skid off. Didn't take that much time really. You are welcome for the Humvee flu. Glad so see I can still infect others. LOL. Don't worry I just keep on Buying them too, there will be more of them being posted soon I hope . Back on topic though, I can't believe after the model you put on display in January's Contest, Matan, that you would do something like that to an Abram's.... What were you thinking!!! Stop Sniffing the glue and put the glue on the plastic.. Then you wouldn't have missed the caps. So dissipointed in you man.....

Just messin man Looks Good!
herky

I finally had time to take a WIP photo. I also got the white balance figured out on this camera.

Tamiya M1A1 w/ ArmorTrack T156 tracks, the small Eduard set that has just the grills and a couple other doodads, and found a Legends stowage set in the back of the cabinet too. I'm thinking either a just arrived in Saudi OpDesShield or NATO circa 1989. Which scheme do you guys think I should do?



Oh, and the Humvee Flu is highly contagious, 9 done with 9 more in the stash.

Just wanted to post an update. I made some serious progress on my kit yesterday. My daughter had her new boyfriend with her down in the basement and building the kit was a perfect way to keep an eye on them.

Tony

Nothing like dragging up the rear and starting out late; going to be doing the DML M1A1 AIM that my wonderful wife bought me lat week. Also have Concord's "Iraq Insurgency : US Army Armored Vehicle in Action Part 2" and "Thunder Run" books on order for reference, as well as Tankograd's "TUSK" book. Still debating between a 3rd ID "Thunder Run" Heavy Common ( I live close to Ft Stewart) or a TUSK upgraded M1A1. We'll see what inspiration the books provide. Have done the preliminary construction on the tracks and running gear today; will post photos soon.

Jeff, thanks for posting the close-up photo of the 1:1 clear hub, which leads me to a follow-up question: in the picture it looks like the oil level behind the hub is at about the "half" mark; does anyone know if this is the normal operating level, or should it be full? Just curious so i can get it right when I paint mine...

The level in the picture is correct.

Thanks Epi

As Epi stated, the normal lubricant level is half way or so, but if the Abrams was "moving" or recently stopped, the entire hub should have black on the inside since the oil would flow round and round kinda like a dryer.
Besides, if you make the hubs with half black on the inside, then you have to make EVERY hub all straight like a bubble level!

Text update, no time for pics last night.

Major construction is completed. I had already assembled the drive sprockets previous to last night and was not planning on drilling in the lightening/ mud channeling holes. When I started going through the Legends update set I found that there was a set of outer drive sprockets. I was able to separate the assembled Tamiya ones and clean the Legends one last night. I drilled out the mounting hole with a 1/8" bit. They look much better now.

Started the ArmorTrack T156 tracks last night, these things are fiddly to work with (six pieces to each link: main track block, two side detail pieces, guide tooth, two end connectors). I came up with a system that works by the end of the third set of eight links. They're time consuming, but the detail and strength is worth it. For the record, the links fit perfectly to both the unmodified Tamiya drive sprocket and the Legend/Tamiya one as well.

This was going to me a mostly OOB build, but AMS is kicking in. I found the old Missing-Lynx Tweeks List file on my PC, bad mistake. I'm trying to restrain myself....

Pics tonight, I hope.

Pics tonight

The Armor Track T156 sprue and 6 assembled sprue runs. Looks like there are going to be a few extra links. There are 11 sprues in each bag and it looks like it will only take 10 to do each side. It is taking me about 20-25 minutes per run of 8 links.





The Tamiya/Legend drive sprockets




Overall, most of the subs are done. Going to start detail modifications as soon as one side of the tracks are done.

@ Mike: thanks, shame on the caps though.
@ Jeremy: thanks, that very kind. I'll try to avoid the glue
shame I can't find the sprue with the caps though. seems like when i "thought" i have finished I just cleared the bench

Ok, I have a pretty silly noob question regarding tracks: what is the proper color to paint the track links for an in-theatre OIF tank? I have a friend who was an Abrams crewman "between the wars" who said he recalls the links on INCONUS tanks being pretty much rust colored, but looking at OIF reference pics the links look to be a darker color to me ( under the dusty weathering of course ) , and I have seen where other modelers have mentioned using black, steel, and even olive drab. just wondering what is the best choice, and also if it really matters once it's covered in MIG Pigments Gulf War Sand anyway, LOL