Academy decided to do a face lifting to their old M1A1 Abrams kit and released Iraq 2003 version.

A couple of months ago Academy announced this new kit and back then they wrote on their website that the kit will allow for building both US Army and US Marines variants of the Abrams. The kit has just been released in Korea as kit number 13202 and first pictures of it were published on Academy website. Shown on these pictures is only USMC variant - it remains to be seen if US Army option was abandoned, or is it still posible to build it from parts actually found in the box.

Examination of photos reveals one big and unpleasent surprise - the model still has old T-156 tracks on it! In real world they were replaced by so called "bigfoot" T-158 tracks some ten years ago and all other model manufacturers now include newer tracks in their latest Abrams kits. It is obvious that the upper hull of the model was reworked. It now has access hatches on the engine deck, which were missing from old Academy M1A1. Front track guards / fenders however still lack the "X"-shaped embossings. This is not exactly error, as such old flat track guards are still in use, but they are rare. Sprocket wheels are new parts and Academy added mud relief holes to them.

One thing I'm glad to see is that Academy reworked the main gun barrel. The fume extractor now looks quite correctly, while it was much overscale and wrong shape in old model. It is difficult to tell whether the turret was reworked and enlarged, or is it still too small as it was in old kit. Picture showing the left side of the turret shows that is is very "crowded" around smoke grenade boxes, what suggests that it is still old too small turret. Some parts were however added to it, like "mushroom" covers on blast panels, new grenade boxes and new gunner's sight housing ("dog house"). There is also new turret mounted APU included.

The model unfortunately does not have non-slip coating on the hull and turret.

The kit shown on photos has some USMC specific parts attached: Marine style grenade launchers, MCD (dazzler) device, troop telephone box, fording kit mounting frame, and additional turret rack. This rack is correct USMC type, unlike the one included in Dragon model, which was US Army 3rd ID type.

Some extra stowage added to the kit includes water cans, ammo cans, spare wheels etc. Of course Academy didn't forget about Combat Identification Panels (CIPs).

It is nice to see that Academy corrected at least some errors present in their older Abrams kit, but it is a pity that they missed opportunity to correct others. Old tracks seem to be the biggest disappoinment of this new kit. Now we need to see what the price of this new kit will be - but I'm afraid they will have really hard time competing with cheap Trumpeter Abrams models. Of course there is still a chance that in the kit box we will find correct tracks and incorrect ones were only used for display model, but we need to wait a few more weeks to be sure.