Here is my latest project. Base kit is obviously DML's marvelous M1A2SEP plus M151 by AFV Club. I've used promotional poster from internet to construct most of scratch built detail, but it offers very little insight about details on turret roof and loader's machine gun thermal sight. I would appreciate it very much if someone would point out flaws I might have done, CA fog is already removed though, and provide a good shot of turret roof, especially the area around M151 support Also does anyone know a good and reasonably priced stowage set, appropriate for M1s? I was looking for Tamiya US stowage set by my LHS is all sold out on those.

I´m no expert George but it´s looking good,very good. A daring attempt because I can´t find much reference material either. Congratulations, so far so good . I look forward to seeing more.

Your TUSK looks fantastic so far....I especially like your shield work for the loader's station. Great job.

Top notch man. The torsion springs on the fenders are a nice touch. Yours, or part of the kit?

ETA:

After looking again, you may want to fix the spades grips on the .50 cal. The top of the grip support is slightly lower than the top of the receiver. In fact, the piece as a whole, supports and grips, is way too thick. There are some nice PE fixes for this, ie. Lion Roar. I wouldn't want such a minor thing to detract from an otherwise great build.

[quote]Top notch man. The torsion springs on the fenders are a nice touch. Yours, or part of the kit?

ETA:

After looking again, you may want to fix the spades grips on the .50 cal. The top of the grip support is slightly lower than the top of the receiver. In fact, the piece as a whole, supports and grips, is way too thick. There are some nice PE fixes for this, ie. Lion Roar. I wouldn't want such a minor thing to detract from an otherwise great build.
/[quote]
The springs and all other metal items you might see are all supplied in the kit. I really wish DML would do M-60 line in similar manner someday. Today I have found some very detailed pictures of TUSK package on this site , however, have your internet security on if you wish to view it or
you'll get ad worm Finally some small progress on tracks today. After having enamel paint taking literally week to dry on DS tracks material, I've decided to play safe and prime them with Tamiya super fine spray primer:

I like the look of those DS tracks. Especially around the drive sprocket. All of the TUSK add ons certainly look the part too. If this were a movie I'd give it two thumbs way up.

-Matt

Well sir, if it wasn't due to your Boom Stick build I would probably opt for another T-XX I'm glad you like it. I decided to go all the way and do diorama for this one using altered Miniart street corner, but for now I just need to get my had straight after imitating six pins on one ERA block, for all 62 of them

George,
I have the Voyager RWS and I used it for my Trumpeter Stryker. It came with mounts for the Stryker and the Abrams. If you want and if not to much trouble to change, I can send you the mount. Let me scan in the instructions and show you what it looks like here in a second. If you want it, PM me your address and I will put it in the mail Monday.

Very nice. We had a member working on a TUSK as part of a master for resin but I don't know what happened to him. If your LHS doesn't have the Tamiya set, if you have a Hobby Lobby nearby, it may have it (ours does, but I'm a long ways from California). Also internet shops have it relatively cheap. The Tamiya stowage is a pretty good start but most Soldiers I know are using MOLLE gear, so the ALICE packs may be a little outdated - though I can't speak for the units that have TUSK vehicles, so some may still be using them. There are no MOLLE packs in plastic that I know of (if there are, I'd love to know who makes them) so its resin only (read: not cheap). A great choice for MOLLE packs will be Hobby Fan but you are going to pay for it. Though if you want only one or two packs, I think I have some spares, so send me a PM with your address and what you are looking for and I'll see what I can find.

A good alternative is any nearby model shows. They'll have both Tamiya's set for sure and probably some Hobby Fan stuff.

Also, as a model representing the promotional poster, the anti-RPG grille over the engine exhaust is spot on, however if you are doing a production vehicle my understanding - though I haven't 100% confirmed it - is that that grille was deleted from production models due to complications in accessing the engine for maintenance. I think Gino (HeavyArty) may be able to shed some light on this as well as some of the other active duty/prior-service guys.

Again, this is a great model and you are in pretty uncharted territory - something I'm glad to see. Keep up the good work and keep us updated.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

If the member you're referring to is me..when I posted on the TAGS,CSAMM,make-shift gunshield,etc...well yes the projects for the Abrams upgrades have NOT been shelved...just put on a really terribly slow working pace.

I've had some personal issues to take care of during the past year or so and had only time enough to work on my commission work , with just very little time to put into my masters.

I've however since completed majority of the masters for the TAGS, CSAMM,shields and tow bar variants. BUT am slowly working on the decals and other necessities..among other issues to sort out before the actual production run.

My fellow armorama members, especially the guys who've been a huge help with information and photos,please do accept my apologies to have disappeared from my post until now.. I do hope all will go well the next months-and I can finally get the kits boxed and ready for sale.


BTW, Nice piece of work you got going there George.

Yep Nick I was thinking of you, but it was like 6:30 in the morning and my mind wasn't working. I'm glad you haven't shelved your projects and hope to see some renewed stuff soon.

Jeff

Georges
Really nice piece of work
Congrats
Seb

PS More pics please

Very nice indeed. Can you provide some details on how you made the ERA? What you made it out of, that sort of thing.

Thank you.

Sorry for not responding to all of you, but there was quite some work to do in school and for couple of course projects last week. Moving on, I'm updating RWS stand right now all thanks to you Pete. I was going to ask you just to take shot of instructions, but you outran my by whole hour . After viewing Gary's link it looks like the site I referred to previously has pictures from Toadman's collection without any credit due. As for RPG cage it's not attached to hull so no problem there.
To GaryGore
For simplification purposes I used 2 mm, 1mm strip for sides, styrene sheet to simulate all ERA blocks, which I just scribed with MM Scriber. Pins were made with 0.5mm styrene rod. Forward skirt components were sanded down to about .7 mm with a power tool.



Hmm, problem is that there are no hobby lobbies around here and out of 4 hobby shops within reasonable range 3 have closed for good in less than a year, Mission Models no longer hold retail store. Most people opt for radio controlled stuff and places that specialize in it are useful just don't sell plastic, let alone resin, kits. I will try to swing by remaining one and see if they something similar
tomorrow

if you look at those pictures, there are 2 different sets of ERA. the promo and the last pic has the same. the middle pictures show the ERA stops short on the #1 skirt, i was told by a dirty nasty tanker friend that was to facilitate tha skirt opening up for maintenance.

very nie by the way, i am working on a TUSK but am waiting for the next armor conference as they are supposed to have the production version there

Reworked RWS base

It's coming along nicely, and the fix on the .50 looks much better. I reread your post and see that you're looking for info on the thermal sight for the loader. If you're refering to the AN/PAS 13, I have pics of it mounted on my "home defense" weapon.

Looks cool, George. I am no expert on the modern US stuff, but it looks accurate to me.

Thanks for sharing - looking forward to see more

Not sure if you have seen this yet. Probobly have, but it's worth a shot...

http://www.answers.com/topic/ocpa-2005-03-09-165522-jpg-1

Thanks,
Mike

George, really nicely coming along, inspired by your build -I'd definately do such a version for my Abrams collection as well.. The deployed TUSK version is certainly something I would like to get into work on for production in resin..once my other masters are complete.

Jeff, I'll be posting on this site my first "Catwalk" Abrams with my masters.. in due time..

great job you did on the TUSK

here are some intresting picture's, specialy the under belly armor
M1A2 TUSK

,Gijs