Here are a bunch of pictures of my finished Tamiya M1A2 in OIF markings. I made this one for the Paint Me Yellow campaing, and didn't quite finish in time--I need an extension. So, after six months of off-and-on building, here it is!

The stowage mostly came from the kit, with the exception of the water boxes (courtesy of Marcelo here on Armorama), the Mountain Dew case (courtesy of Gino), and the straps, which I made from Tamiya masking tape cut to size and painted. Let me know what you guys think!

WARNING--17 large images follow, so if you're using a slow connection this may take a while!!!

Lucas:

Very nice. The color of the stowage breaks up all that sand color nicely. You could still add the grab handle and strap for the sides of the CIP if you wish. That's how they hang on the Abrams. I think with the M113 and Bradley they use Velcro but there is not that opportunity with the Abrams.

Bob

Congrats with a very nice build Lucas. Your Abrams turned out great. If I should change anything it might be the fuel can which is placed between the water cans. Diesel infected water taste like... well... diesel...

Erik

If Im not mistaken, the PMY campaign had been extended to today... Might be worth a quick look at the offical thread... Mighty nice looking M1 there....


Dave

Lucas,

looks great! Well done!

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Bob--Thanks for the tip--I'll use it on my next Abrams. I've decided to leave this one as is (six months of working on it is enough for me!). What would you use for the grab handles? I don't think I've got wire thin enough for them.

Erik-- The only reason I put that jerry can there was to break up the monotone sand water cans. I guess I've got some careless tankers on hand.

Dave--I submitted the required pics for the PMY campaign on Wednesday, so I hope I made the cut!

Very nice, excellent job, very good sand color.
miloslav

Great job Lucas a fine build.

Everything came out great.

So now on to the Sep.

Top notch Lucas, really nice build. A little bit clean for my taste, but that´s just me

Cheers

Thanks, Klaus! I'll dirty up one of my models at some point, I promise!

Great looking M1!!

How did you get the periscopes to reflect that color?

I used mylar confetti from Michael's. Here is a link to the thread I posted laying out how I did it. Hope this helps!

Hi Lucas,
great looking tank, well done. Who's tank is it? Tamiya/Academy? Look forward to seeing more of your builds,
Kenny.

Thanks, Kenny! It's Tamiya's M1A2 kit. I've also got a Tamiya M113 in progress.

Hello Lucas.


Did you have to use Gloss coat under them Decals.

I tried Tamiya gloss first time and where it was sprayed around a corner turned a bit white,so back out with the Darn Sand paint.

Back to future which I should of used in the first place and have also.

But using them echelon ones just the front boards and ammo cans get the Tamiya ones.

Thanks Lucas

Jeff--Yes, I had to apply a gloss coat underneath the decals. I used Future (way cheaper and just as good as Testors Gloss Coat). I airbrushed it straight from the bottle, then flushed the airbrush with Windex to clean it. Works very well.

Thank you.

Excellent job on that one!

Thanks for sharing

nice job and well done
yufkey70

Lucas, nice job on your Abrams. I saw this tank alot as it was parked one row behind me in our motor pool, then again, they all look about the same with the exception of the markings Look very nice. I think the guys who crewed her would be happy with the way she came out. Thanks for sharing. "Q"

Thanks guys!

The cleanest build. Looks great.

Thanks for the link. I think I will give that a try.... Those vision blocks look great.

very nice build lucas! is this completely built out of the box? was there any PE parts included?

im in the process of building mine.. also an M1A2 from tamiya but i havent started it yet.. im thinking of adding an Eduard exhaust cover for the rear end.. i dont know if any M1A2s were actually fitted with exhaust covers in iraq but it looks kinda nice with them..

Fantastic build. Thank you for sharing.