I bought Trumpeters M1A1 purely to experiement with rust weathering having seen a few pics of a US Marine Abrams in desperate need of love. Other than decals (and one track link) kit was built OTB and was a nice lesson on breaking up mono colour build using weathering with no pre/post shading used.

Looks like you've decided to give it more ground clearance

H.P.

Way too unrealistically rusty for my tastes. Other than the added clearance, it also has two APUs, one in the turret bustle rack, and the older (no really effective) rear hull mounted version. Where is the TC's .50 cal mount? It is a part of the tank and not removed when the gun is removed.

Looks like you used this picture for reference.

Wow! That one has certainly seen some better days!

Frenchy, Doh yeah just noticed when you pointed it out. Mabe thats why the tracks were so tight. I'll have to go over the destructions later and see where I buggered it up.

Gino, Unrealistically rusty? Usually I'd say yes but from photo evidence as supplied below by Dustin its accurate, though some of the rust should of been a darker. APU's built per Trumpeters instructions. TC's 50 mount? Pardon my ignorance on that one and thanks as always for the correction and information

Dustin, yes thats the one. Wiki has more pictures of it thier image section.

Richard, agreed.

All up I could of added some sand wash to the tracks and darker rust to both the tracks and the drive wheel but in natural lighting its not as light as it shows in the photos. I think I'd like to revisit the same subject with RFM's upcomming Abrams with interior to really do it justice.

I knew this pic was going to come up. Yes, one tank that was severely neglected has looked like that. It is not the norm and though. If I was the NCO in charge of it, someone would be getting a good talking to about maintaining their equipment.

I know this particular tank is out of the norms which is part of the appeal and considering the price of the kit (it was only $13 AUD ($10 US) I thought them a good pairing for experimentation. From oberservation and resarch for my TUSK kits, especially the Tusk 2 I know they are kept in much better condition, almost pristine (for the TUSK 2) in some pics.

Pitty some can't read your OP... As for your test bed and what you wanted to do, it looks great mate! Well done!