Hi,
well, i'm hoping i've finally managed to find out how to post photos here, so i want to share some pics of my latest build with you.
It's basically a "build the kits you never wanted to build project", since i was just trying to recycle the tank that came with the mine plow i had in my stash...
Luckily i found some photos of a track in iraq which had the old style laser range finder and smoke grenade boxes, no EAPU, no CIP's and so on, so i could build that old kit without replacing and scratching too many parts...
Let me know what you think!

Here's a pic of the original:


Just prior to painting, as you can see i had to scratch some parts and use some lefovers of a dragon m1a1 aim:


And finally; camo on and most of the detail painting done:




As you can (hopefully) see it's still lacking the writing on the bore evac(and I can't proceed until it's on). At first i thought i'd make a mask to spray it on, but somehow those letters are a little to small to be cut out of masking tape, so i decided to go with single-letter-decals, but i don't want to buy a whole set with like 50 or 60 letters, when i only need 22...
Could anyone help me out with this?
Oh, and sorry for the blurry pictures...
Regards Max

Hi
Nice build.
Can you cut letters out of old decal sets.
I've done this when I want a number or name different from what comes with the kit.

hey shaun, thanks!
Have already tried it, I ended up with no more white decal sheet and about 10 I's, 4 brackets and 7 exlamation marks
no honestly i did the unit marking on the right front skirt and all the other markings that way, but those letters are simply too small for my shivering paws, or are there any tips and tricks to cutting tiny letters?

Regards max

Just a little update:
while searching my spare decals i found an old "Bundesgrenzschutz" (german boarder police) set, which i could take some "E's", "B's", "G's"and "R's" from.
All the other letters were "scratched" by cutting them out of other letters... I then applied the "ready to use" letters first, until it read: "B_REI_ - IEG_I"
btw.
It took me about three hours just to do the left side
Guess i'll start doing the other side tomorrow


comments as always appreciated

Barley Legal was LT Nick Moran's tank during OIF. He posts regularly on Tanknet.org and AR15.com. Well, he used to, now MAJ Moran is in Afghanistan so he posts less frequently. He has posted numerous pictures of his tank and his platoon's time in Iraq over on Tanknet.

Hey Folks,
after I had put this model away for several month I just found a some time to get some more work done. I added lots of filters, oil washes etc. so now I 'm just about to add some more lighter filters, pigments and finally put the stowage on
Here are some pictures, please feel free to tell me what you think!













Btw. sorry for the blurry pictures

Cheers Max

Nice one! I prefer the M1 in nato three tone myself.

You seem to be missing a MG barrel though...

Cheers!
Stefan

Thank you Stefan!


I know I know... it already broke off for the twobillionfivehundresixtyfourth time, so I decided to just glue it back on after the whole thing is finished

Cheers Max

alright folks,
I'm getting closer to cross the finishing line!
I applied some sand colores filters/washes (a mix of white and sienna to about 70-80 percent thinner) and different pigments today.
Next up I'll spray on some lightened NATO green, because the initial paint job seemed too dark to me. After that I'll take care of all the final details such as straps, MRE's and such. I'll apply further rust effects, oil and grease, dirt sprinkles and some schmier around the running gear, so next time you'll see it it's hopefully going to be finished!





cheers Max

Wow , Nice build Max , the weatherings coming on great , keep posting . I wanna see finished

That is very nice work indeed.

Thank you guys,
nice to hear you like it.
As for the model, I got the weathering done so far, so now I'm searching for some more stowage to add a little more life to the model.
In other words I'm 'bout 99.9% done with it, pictures coming soon!

Cheers Max

Max,

Your "Barely Legal" looks really good! You've caught many of the small details of LT Moran's Abrams.
For accuracy, did you put "Barely Legal" on the top of the Commander's hatch (you can barely see it in this picture from Prime Portal)?

Well done!

Hey Jeff,
Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately I didn't...
Either way I can't do it now , since I'm out of decals.
However I did a lot of other stuff since I postet the last pics, for example the "Y" shaped clean area on the fourth left side skirt and the rusty/brownish dirt right behind the front fenders... Hoping that will compensate for the missing lettering.

Cheers Max

Hey Folks,
just finished this model. More pics can be found here: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/154479&page=1#1294471



Cheers Max

Try "Truckline US Stencil Decals" for the bumper codes etc., I got mine from MAKO Modellbau, use them all the time and they work very nice.

Cheers
Christopher

Hey Christopher,
thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind for the next time I'll need some!

cheers Max