val this looks great!! i wish i could scratchbuild like this!! look forward to updates!!

Thanks Anthony!

Very nice build.
I have no words for that.
I will be a masterpiece like the others of your tanks.
But the nuts and bolts on the tank you scratch. How do you make them? Special the smaller one´s.

Greetings Daniel

Thanks Daniel. Nuts and bolts are done by slicing a thin stretch sprue. It should be sliced thinly to get a good result.

Bloody impressive!

Great display of extraordinary skill here...

A few figures would be great - have you considered adding some? I am currently painting some very good modern US soldiers by Elhiem and some great modern Brits by Under Fire Miniatures. These are 20mm and intended for wargaming, but they are much better than most of the plastic ones you can get in 1/72...
Since you always display your builds on a small base, why not bring some life to it and add some figs?

Cheers!

Thanks Grillmaster!

Yes I would love to add figures though I'm not familiar with all the choices around. Im looking for a tank crew and so far Preiser is readily available. Any more recommendation besides the ones you have mentioned?

Hmmmm.... everyone uses the Preiser figures - and they are nice - but I don´t like the soft detail on them. For my M1A1, I ordered a set of modern US AFV-Crew in 1/76 (actually they appear to be a tall 1/72...)from CMSC (now apparently under the Wee Friends Label...). These are superb (albeit a bit dated - the equipment does not conform zo the 2003+ timeframe) - easily the best heads I have seen in 1/72.
There is one pic in my M1A1 thread, the whole set can be seen here:

http://tinyurl.com/bl7s973

Take care!

Val,

Excellent work, sir!

I have the Preiser Abrams Crew set to go with my Abrams, and yes, the molding is a little soft, but I think they will be fine with a little work and good painting.

Here is an axample of my effort so far.

As always, excellent and clean work.

Regards.

Pedro.

Thanks Jeff, Pedro.

Jeff what kit is your Abrams? I this from Italeri? Looking good and your detailing are excellent. Is this kit done already?

A small updates, been out of action for a while but managed to sneak in a couple of hours work. This is the result while having shots of Baileys during the build.....

I have updated the CMDR cupola. Added a new mount for the 50 and started the left side protection.....









With a cocktail stick.....


On the tank... Note the completed side rails.










Still a long way to go.

Awesome job thus far! Looking forward to more...

Take care,
Austin

Val,

Yes, my Abrams is an Italeri / ESCI M1 kit. I'm converting it into an M1A1 by replacing the double-wide road wheels along with the main gun, Gunner's Primary Site, Storage Bins, smoke dischargers & bins, etc. from a DML M1A1 kit, and will use a PE set from PART to replace the turret bustle rack and other details.

Your scratchbuilding skills are SUPERB, especially in Braille Scale!

Please remember that the Track Commander's Cupola and hatch do not rotate on the M1A2s like the powered cupola on the M1s and M1A1s. The M2 HB rotates around the hatch and periscopes on a bolted ring assembly and gets "locked" by the two vertical handles with the round knobs on top that stickup from the base of the MG bracket. From what I understand, the two handle "locks" actually create rotation limits to a smaller arc for the TC to swing the M2 HB for firing(image from Prime Portal):





But you probably know all this from how well you are doing on your scratchbuilt details!

Thanks Jeff, yes I have known about the fixed CMDR's hatch and the external ring that carries the 50 rotates instead. The added armour protection on the left that I did is fixed and the right side freely rotates together with the outside ring and the 50 cal. I have to scratchbuild the two handles also as what you have mentioned.
I would like to see your build also, do you have a link for this? What you have done for the kit is fantastic and looking at your detailing it would be awesome.

Hi val.

Nice build. Your scratchbuild is awesome.
But why you don´t use clear polystrol for the angel mirror on this part? It looks very good if you use it with brown window colour. Looks realistic.

Cheers Daniel

Val, you have fairy fingers as we say in French! I just can't imagine how you manage to create so tiny parts with all the details you put in them.

Olivier

Thanks Daniel. What do you mean by angled mirror? Do you mean the vision scopes? Thickness is the key here. If the clear plastic is to thick its difficult to get a very clean and precise cuts.


Thanks Olivier. Its a tough job but going small to save space is the only way I can think of.

Excellent work with the cupola Val. Fine, very fine.

Regards.

Pedro.

Thanks Pedro!

Its been awhile since i last worked with this project but will update soon.

Jeff, or anybody can shed light to the specs of the belly armour? Does it covers the whole lenght?

Thanks in advance.

Val,

I cannot give you dimensions, but the belly armor doesn't cover the entire belly of an Abrams. As I understand it, the intent of the armor protection on an Abrams is to protect the crew, so to keep the weight down, there is thinner armor around the engine/transmission compartment area.

Thefollowing images are from PrimePortal.

The Add-On Belly Armor under the bow:


An underneath shot taken from the REAR. Note that the armor appears to not have a straight edge but is "stepped":


A side image that shows a sliver of the Belly Armor below the torsion bar arms between the road wheels. Note that the Belly armor stops somewhere behind the #5 Road Wheel station:



I hope this helps.

No,the belly armor goes to about the 4th road wheel axis, it only covers/protects the crew area. Jeff can probably give you better details on this. There were some pictures on grillmaster's M1 build that show it as well. HTH! Haha! Jeff got there a second before me!!!

Val, You're in your possessed mode again.

Mabuhay ka kaibigan!

It may just be that he's allergic to the white styrene?

Excellent scratch made parts, it's starting to take on a new form. And Jeff's - 'majjanelson' chassis looks killer too!

~ Eddy

Hahaha A styrene junkie...

Thank you, Eddy. I just need to somehow get back to working on it soon. Hopefully, I can complete my tiny 1:144 scale Tigers and get down the road.