This is an old academy M1A1 I had home for many years from when i was younger.It was missing some parts and was originally green with mud all over it . I tried adding some dents and metal damage to it as well back then. So I turned it into a M1A2 (kinda) for fun with some styrene i had home. Im useing it as a practice build for some wheathering practice i need very much. So far I mixed my own color with some MM sand mixed with a few drops of brown and MM Armor sand, not sure if the color is good enough though?? I tried adding some paint chips with a brush and some green paint, added a turpentine brown wash. Did a few rust spots on the sides, wheels, and tracks. The tracks were painted flat black followed by a wash of sand and rust, I still have to go back and paint the pads black again. I was wondering how its looking to you guys before i go further. Should I apply a few filters then use some dust pigments after i flat clear it? Or should i do some other things first or maybe fix some other things??

Doctor we have lost the patient...........flat line. Now the color it's easy testors makes a sand color that is dead bang for the sand #1963

But honestly this is how you learn grab a test bed and try new skills but with this old dog i wouldn't go to far trying to save it build your skills and move up kit wise. Get yourself a newer kit from academy or early tamiya kit and carry your new skills over but don't jump right into the aim or sep kit you will drown in those right now. If you want to do rust find your way to Michaels arts and crafts and get some two part rust it's for antiquing and work great because it s a metal based paint that rusts. There are a lot of great tutorials here and on the web that will give some great step by step methods of detailing. I wish i could be more help but i tend to stay away from weathering my builds i only do very low end stuff mainly only using polly scale paint to do dusting with my air brush no pigment work from me.


This site has some great tips and how to on weathering
http://swannysmodels.com/

If there is a Hobby Lobby near you, they have the Academy kit for only $24 if you use the bi-weekly 40% coupon
http://www.academy.co.kr/eng/ssCartimate/itemDetail.jsp?cid=9&iid=383&orderBy=iid%20DESC&imgMode=N#
Most of their kits are for the beginer/intermediate modeler so try some of their models first
Evan

Cut sling load on this one. Its pretty bad.

First off, the old Academy M1A1 is messed up from the start. The barrel is way too big and short. The turret is an M1 turret, which is 5mm too short for an M1A1. Sorry, but your additions to make it an M1A2 don't look right either. Half the things you have added aren't there. You missed other key components as well. The whole commander's cupola is different for one. Tracks are on backwards too. The paint is thick and the "damage" looks like you melted it with a lighter. Not too convincing.

I recommend you get the newer Tamiya M1A1/A2 kit. It can be built as either a US Army or USMC M1A1, or an Army M1A2. It is a pretty easy build and is fairly accurate. The newer Academy kit still has the short turret and the tracks are wrong for Iraq as well.

I have this kit bud and after I looked at it I will never ever build it, so you have got one up on me. Use this as a test bed to practice on, and invest in a better kit at a later time.

please stop spammin, do uhave any issues or anything???

spamming ?????

Who Calvin was saying that to was a troll who has since been deleted from the forum.

I think I heard about that
makes sense now
Evan

Im just haveing fun with this old as dirt build for the heck of it. When I get my mig pigments and washes im gonna play around some more with this build for funs sake. This is a hobby and to me not to be serious in any way. I build just to build and learn new things. All you comments are appreciated and taken in good use for later projects. I have a new kit on the way soon to try out. A British Army Chieftain Mk5.

Why is it "melted" in some areas?

Methinks he's oversprayed it.

I built it and dont know where its melted at Its some beat up armor i did on it when i was younger. And i already know its a crapy build and im horrible at military modeling but im still gonna build it and finish this one as well.

Go for it Chris as every kit you build will better your efforts.

Chris, no one said you were horrible at military modeling. The other builds you posted in the In Progress Forum looked really good and you improved them to make them even better. This one is just really old and pretty bad. Sometimes its better to just look at the ones you did a long time ago to see how much you have improved.

There are some areas that are just not right on this one and it shows. The damaged armor doesn't look like damaged armor, it looks like plastic melted with a lighter. Armor doesn't melt like that when it gets damaged. The armor on a tank is thick and tends to still maintain sharp edges and corners when damaged. It doesn't just bend in like on a car.

If you want to continue on this one as painting and weathering practice; go for it. Just know it will not look like an accurate nor great model of an M1A2 when done. If you want a good M1A2, get the Tamiya kit and use your skills you have learned and honed to make it great.

Yup.... Practice, practice.... & practice...
I've got an old 'hulk' i use to practice on,
Spray practice...
Mr Muscle oven clean to strip...
'Sand-tex' for anti-slip....
Mr muscle... again...
Spraying future...
Mr Surfacer for anti-slip...better...
next up some weld-beading coming up!
yet to do pin-washing & pastels... lets's see what Santa's little helpers bring in the sales, assuming my kids leave anything in the wallet...