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Building a NTC M1A1 Abrams!

LOWER HULL
Once again, I started with the Dragon lower hull. Model Valley's engine set comes with the bay and engine. I glued the bay in first before gluing the upper hull to the lower hull. Evergreen stock filled the open space underneath the upper hull. I replaced part number A24 (rear engine grill) from Dragon with part number C67 from the Trumpeter kit. Part C67 has separate engine grills, which helped display the engine deck open. The engine went together per instructions with extra wire and tubing to simulate plumbing on the real thing. Eduards photo etch set was used extensively on the hull. Screens, hinges, and locking handles where replaced. I added the two front-fender locking bars with copper wire and lead foil. The idler wheel and road wheels came from the Dragon kit. The drive sprocket and tracks came from the Trumpeter kit. Trumpeter includes two sets of tracks with their kit, vinyl and plastic tracks. The plastic tracks look like the same that come in the Dragon kit, so I went ahead and used the vinyl ones. The side skirts came from the Dragon kit, although the Trumpeter side skirts looked better because each panel was molded separate. The mine roller mount came from the Trumpeter kit.