Hey guys!

I am looking to throw my hat into the ring and build an Abrams. Being a beginner, which of Dragon's M1 kits is easier? I'm assuming the SEP kit will be slightly less complex since it has "rubber band" tracks.

M1A1 AIM M1A2 SEP

Thanks!

Samuel

I am almost done with the AIM,lots of parts,small really small metal and PE parts I had trouble with.I used AFV Club workable links only $12.00 and they were easier for me then the magic tracks.Also for the life of me i couldn't handle the Extra PE bustle rack,so I had to leave it off.But for a beginner which I consider myself ,it requires a lot of patience and attention.dragon directions are a bit sketchy.but overall I am pleased with the build,I probably will post it in about a week.It is only my 2nd 1/35 build

Hope this helped

Samuel,
They are basicly the same kits with just the parts to make the A2 SEP in one. I'd say you're right in that the biggest difference will be the tracks.

Mike

The A2 kit is the AIM kit with a few parts added. For example the A2 comes with two M2 machine guns, because the gun mount on the A2 is different than on the AIM. As far as the A2 tracks being easier because they are vinyl, I'm not sure that is the case. The Tracks in the A2 are the new glueable vinyl. They also have seperate styrene guide horns, that have to be installed between each link.

Thanks for the replies.

Anthony: I saw your pictures of your M1. It is quite good, especially for your second model, so don't worry about missing some of the PE parts.

Jerry: I don't understand what you mean with the tracks. Are the indy link, just made of rubber instead of plastic, or are they the "rubber band" type (like Tamiya's Shemans) with pieces you glue on? I'll take a look at the reviews on the site and see if I can figure it out.

Again, thanks for all the tips!
Samuel

Sam,
The A2 SEP kit has rubber band tracks like traditional Tamiya kits have. The guide horns that run down the center of thew track is what you have to glue on and are made of styrene plastic.

Thanks Pete, that explains it!

When I opened mine up and saw that, I thought it was going to be a pain, but they went on pretty quick. I laid out the track flat and slaped some super glue on a peice of crad board and took some tweezers and just went to town on them. It took me about 30 minutes to do one track and that is with cutting the guide horns off the sprue and glueing them on.

Quote
{Jerry: I don't understand what you mean with the tracks. Are the indy link, just made of rubber instead of plastic, or are they the "rubber band" type (like Tamiya's Shemans) with pieces you glue on? I'll take a look at the reviews on the site and see if I can figure it out.}

Sorry Sam, I wasn't clear. Pete said it better. When I built my AIM, I made a jig out of evergreen .080 x .188 strip and laid the individual links in it to hold them streight until the glue dried. This made the task a lot more tolerable. Sanding off the ejector pin marks was the worst part. At least they were raised so there was no filling. I've looked at my SEP, but that's about it. (actually I have 3 more AIM's and 2 SEP's still in the boxes)

The DS (dragon Styrene) Tracks are not to be rated with the likes of tamiya styrene tracks.
They are worlds apart.
The DS tracks actually offer more detail in some cases.
i rate them 10/10 for ease and quality.

Pete & Samuel,
Just a quick note, the DS tracks don't require you to use super glue to attach the styrene guide horns on them. They are glueable, so you can use regular model glue, ie. Tamiya, Testors, etc. just like for the rest of the plastic in the kit. In fact, the styrene glue will probably work better since it will "weld" the parts together.

Mike