AJ,

To me your attempt at camouflaging with an airbrush in this scale is both impressive and inspiring. You've done an incredible job and you should be very proud of your work and for sharing with all of us how you've gone about achieving your result. I have the same kit already built and ready for paint but I'll just be painting mine green to match a photo in a Verlinden Productions book.

Keep it coming,
-Eddy

Thank you Eddy for your kind words. I don't know if my technique for airbrushing the blotches would work quite the same with a larger scale. I used a lightened wash of the camouflage colours to do the outlines of each colour area. The idea was that the wash would be very thin, not really opaque but act as a guide for where to limit the spray. Several experiments on paper showed the necessity to keep the air pressure lower to avoid splatter or pooling. Despite that I found the coverage with the narrow stream of paint to be not the best. This required my having to go over some areas two or three times to make it look more uniform. My guess is that the original application method might work well at recreating the haphazard look of spraying that I have seen on some German WWII tanks.

Regards,
AJ

AJ ,what you said about beginners?
I never build a modern vehicle[not my favorite period],but you do a very good job on this kit...and is not finish yet...
Cheers,
Dani

You're not alone, I made exactly the same mistake a few years back on the Revell M1A1- at least you noticed while it was still relatively easy to fix. In my case it was only after the build was completed (yes actually totally complete - an ultra rare occurance for me) that I noticed. It's in a display case on my desk at work, next time I remember I'll take a camera in and get some shots of it.

It's a shame, it was a great kit to build and I was really pleased with the result until I noticed. I even bought a replacement so that I could build it correctly... yup, you've guessed, it very nearly, almost, not-quite finished. (maybe it could be an extra entry in the Braille Scale Battlefield if I have time after the SLT50 and Pzh 2000).

Cheers
John

Sorry to been absent for so long but the holidays and all had me distracted. I finally had some free time to work on the M1. Another fellows M1 in the Braille Battlefield Campaign made me think that mine looked a bit bare. I looked in the model railroad section for some appropriate stuff but they had nothing that would suit. I raided the medicine cabinet and found the smallest gauze that I could and decided to try and make some rolled up netting. I still need to do more to it and it is just placed in the baskets. The camouflage painting is now what I consider done. I went over the brown areas again and then used a dark grey wash to accent the grills. I have started the detail painting and the preliminary weathering. Still more to do but I felt an update was in order after all this time.







The Prime Portal inspiration for my build has virtually no markings, just a serial number near the rear hull. Unfortunately my numbers are all black and won't show up very well. I'll see if I can't beg, borrow, or something else, some alternatives.

Regards,
AJ

I have started the last of the detail painting (periscopes and such) and have begun the weathering. Still a bit more to do but I can see the finish approaching. After some fairly exhaustive Internet image searches I can fairly safely say that a large number of M1s with the three tone camouflage seem to lack any real noticeable markings. I have also not been able to beg, borrow or steal anything appropriate. So I guess it will just have to be like the majority and not have any.







I also managed to pick up an old AMT M1 at the local shop that was getting rid of "old" kits. The sale price was $5 and from what I can determine, it's an original M1 with a smaller main gun and originally made by ESCI and released by an ERTL Canada. It has some differences from my current M1 but still has those horrible one piece road wheels. A really amusing thing is that it has a one colour paint scheme and Canadian markings on the decals! From what I have found, Canada never had any M1 tanks but I might make it as a what-if.

Regards,
AJ

Those "Canadian" markings are on a US tank participating in the Canadian Army Trophy (CAT) competition. It was a gunnery exercise pitting the best of the Canadians, Germans, British and Americans. The flags are just to symbolize a tank competing.

Thanks for the information, Sabot. I was able to look the competition up and even found some videos about them on YouTube. I'd also like to thank you for your article on building the M1 here. I found it most helpful when I was doing mine.

Regards,
AJ

Looks good! Makes me want to build one. Looking forward to your next update.

Take care,
Austin

AJ,

Your Abrams looks really nice with the weathering.

Does your local HS have any more of the ESCI M1 kits for $5? Of course the Canadian shipping is usually around $10 - $12, so I won't actually get it for a bargain.

I am sorry to have taken so long for an update and to acknowledge comments. Some different hobby concerns have kept me distracted.

arkhunter - From what I have been reading here and in the Braille Battlefield thread, some of these old ESCI kits can be quite a nightmare. This one's main problem was the solid main road wheels and the incorrect afterthought of the turret back rack. I have also learnt from people here and my research that there are some fair inaccuracies about parts of this kit, like the number of panels on the turret roof.

majjanelson - I went back to the local shop where I got this kit about a week and a half after the sale. All the older modern stuff was gone except for one M1 I mentioned earlier. I did manage to find a place about 100 miles away that does mail order and they had a couple of M1's on sale for $8.99. They also had some other older ESCI, AMT, and Matchbox kits that they were liquidating as they are going to concentrate on Revell, Dragon and Trumpeter. Unfortunately their shipping costs were less than palatable. For one kit I was quoted $8.85 by regular post or $22.00 by FedEx next day. I would guess that your estimate of shipping cost to your location are pretty close to being correct.

As far as my M1A1 one goes, the final weathering touches were applied after I "enhanced" highlighted some of the panel details, The periscopes are done and I am pretty much satisfied that there isn't much more I can do. I'm thinking of getting some thin guitar string for antennas as someone in the BB campaign has suggested. From what I can gather, they should be about one inch or six scale feet long.

I tried to take some pictures today and wouldn't you know that my camera battery was near to exhausted as were the ones from the remote strobes. I really wanted to show the progress so with the remaining power I set the camera up in total manual mode. With the curtains open on a cloudy day and the camera on a tripod I tried some time exposures. I apologize for the quality of the pictures but I hope they show some of the work that's been done. When everything is charged up I'll take some more hopefully better final shots.









Regards,
AJ

AJ nice finish to this Abrams! I've been following just haven't commented. I like the finish the weathering is subtle but well done however I really feel that the kit could do with some TLC and home improvements.

Jaymes

Jaymes, glad that you have found the build interesting. This is only my third almost complete built since trying the hobby. What do you mean by the TLC and home improvements. If it is about a better picture setting then I am at a loss. Never done anything like trying to create a set or vignette or anything. I still haven't heard or found anything about antenna length/height so I am not decided if I want them on or not. The better pictures will follow after that is taken care of.

Regards,
AJ

Only your third build? I didnt realise that. Tlc I men't home improvements to the old kit as it seems dated so replacing some of the weak area's of the kit with sratch built replacements or possibly items from other kits. but I am not knocking your finish mate. I wouldn't worry too much. I can't wait to see what you are going to build next.


Jaymes

Hi AJB

I've been absent from this forum (and many other things) for a while, I should have checked in sooner. Great build and pics

cheers
Neil

AJB,

Suberb, just suburb! That finish looks excellent and the weathering looks the part! Great job on the build log with plenty of photos. You may want to think of putting together a build feature for those that have this kit in the stash and to build it?

As far as the antennas go I don't know the lentgh but I gusstimated on my build by using photos of the real vehicle and I think they look fine. You can see them on an earlier posting on the Braille Campaign forum.

Again, suburb!
-Eddy

AJ,

Please be forwarned that I could very easily have all of this totally wrong.

From what i can tell on the internet, the newer SINCGARs equipped Abrams should have two SINCGARs and two antennas of equal length, 113" from the antenna base to the ball tip. This appears to be the AS-3900/VRC & AS-3684 AS-3900A/VRC Broadband Vehicular Whip Antenna.

The older UHF radio systems used two radios, but one was a primary radio for transmit/recieve and the other was for listening only. Two antennas were used with this setup; the longer one appears to have been 10' long like the AS-3900/VRC, and the other was 75.75" from the antenna base to the ball tip. This appears to be the ASAS-3916/VRC Steel Whip Antenna AS-3916/VRC Antenna.

Again, I could have this totally wrong.

Jaymes, okay, I see what you were getting at but as you might guess, I'm not the most versed in these things. I have learned a lot from the people here and if I found and did another ESCI M1 I might make some changes. I guess the most glaring from what I have read are those panels on the back of the turret roof. There should be two larger ones, not three.

Neil, thanks very much as it means a lot getting encouragement from someone that builds as nicely as you do.

Eddy, I might think that your superlative for my build might be a bit extreme but I appreciate it. I have never thought of writing anything more than I have and certainly I have grave doubts about a feature. Now, if I could find someone willing to coach me, or better still, be a ghost writer!

The pictures of your Abrams and its antennas proved to be quite the scavenger hunt. Just for your and anyone else's interest, they are on page 10 of the Braille Battlefields Campaign thread, about half way down the page. So, the commanders side antenna is the shorter of the two length setup?

Jeff, to the rescue again and thanks. I checked out the links you provided and did some further searches based on the equipment designations. All the lengths that I found mentioned pretty much support, if not match, your guesstimates. IF I do the different height setup, then one antenna works out to about an inch while the other would be an inch and a half. The two longer antenna setup would each be around an inch and a half. I think that at this scale there won't be too many people with a ruler measuring to determine if the heights are equal to specifications. One interesting note that I read somewhere by a former Abrams commander stated that the ten foot antennas came in two five foot sections. He said that when going into an area with overhead obstructions they often just left the lower five foot section attached. So I guess that also might be an option.

Thanks again to all of you for your help.

Regards,
AJ

Very nice work, AJ. I am suprised it is only your third build, it really came out looking great I like how you posted this seperate from the campaign thread, now I can see how you did everything without searching 30 pages

Thanks for sharing!

A very nice build of an old kit.

Certainly looks like an Abrams!

Hello AJ,

For third model this is ecxellent work. Keep working, studying and trying new things with your models.

P.A.

hedorah59, Thanks and I can't take credit for posting this separately. I have seen others do this and always appreciated having everything in one place. The BB thread is just growing too fast and it can be a nightmare to find things that you want to see again. I spent a good 15 min. looking for Braille's M1 pictures just the other day.

sabredog, Always glad to hear that people think that a build is not too bad. Thanks.

PanzerAlexander, I must confess that it's only the third one that I have personally built but I have had some experience helping others with painting theirs. My callsign reflects what that those in my local club nicknamed me. I also rely a lot on helpful comments and suggestions from them and people here. Confession time, my first ever model build (a Spitfire) has been 98% complete and waiting for finishing for a little over a year.

Once I settle on the antenna problem I'll post new pictures. At the moment I am leaning towards the two longer versions.

Regards,
AJ

AJ,

Since your Abrams is a M1E1, might I suggest the older antenna setup of one short metal whip and one longer two-section (whip on Commander's side usually in the images I've seen).

Never the less, you could actually do whatever you want, due to the ESCI kit's inaccuracies. You could attempt to replicate the two section "10 feet" antenna with streched sprue (tube) that is spliced. You would just have to get the taper just right.

As far as the Abrams is concerned I am calling it done. I've spent several hours over the last two days trying to get it just right with the chance that I might enter it in a show. I want to thank everyone here for their encouragement and helpful hints and insights for getting it to the point that it got to. I feel it's a bit better than the Challenger I did in a previous campaign.

After tons and tons of looking at pictures and reading I settled on the two height antenna. Advice of many on Armorama was extremely helpful and I did't want to mention names but majjanelson you proved invaluable. Jeff, I took your last suggestion at heart and went with the two height antenna. I tried and tried to do a two step longer antenna like in some pictures but after attempts to stretch two long pieces of plastruct tubing, I had to give up. Anyway, here's the pictures.













Regards,
AJ

AJ, I've followed your progress in the BB Campaign thread and if I didn't mention there, you did a great job on this old beast.

Cheers,
Jan