just started building this last night as a quick project now any little niggles I need to know about and also should I texture the turret sides with mr gunze if so were/how and what one 500/1000
cheers
mike

I would not texture the turret sides with anything. Like all of these new generation composite armor vehicles, it's smooth. you may, however, need to add a non-skid texture to the upper hull and turret areas. Consult a good reference.

I've got TM scans of where the non-slip coating goes on the M1 tank. The actual coating varies from semi rough to bed-of-nails

2 most needed details are the hinged cover onthe upper mantlet and the fire extinguisher onthe left sid eof the upper hull.

A maybe is to add the circular objects onthe blow off panels. I ain't calling them pressure relieve valves or anything as it will only start another debate...

so were should I add the surfacer any advice which parts of the top of the turret has it or
should I used italeris new turret as a reference if you have any picutes that'd be great
only building it up for a quick build but I noticed last night that both parts which make up
bins/blow off pannels? onthe side of the turret were warped a bit so a little work is
needed to fix it but in all things seems to be going together well and quickly not bad for
21 year old kit

My .2-cents: You might be able to use the appropriate grade of sandpaper, mounted with double-sided tape, or (as used by Shiryon I think in his Merkava I - please correct me if I mis-attributed the model to a wrong builder sorry in advance), elmer's white glue then sprinkled with fine sand.

Sabot, I'm interested in that TM scans. Haven't really checked the Gallery, but is it perchance there?

Re: the blowout panels with the "mushrooms" (as they're called IIRC by some troops), it depends on the version you're going to build. If you're planning to replace the Tamiya's "smiley" tracks with the "big foot" tracks currently in use, then the mushrooms would be appropriate (IIRC, not all current or new build M1s have this - M1A2 SEPs included they say). If you're going to build an early M1A1, leaving them mushrooms off would be ok.

Hope this helps.

cheers for the reply,
BTW I'm going to replace the kit tracks with the AFV workable ones so would these tracks give me a late or early version I think late am I right? I thought about using sandpaper 600 or 1000 grit but were on the turret would the anti-slip be placed?

The AFV Club after-market tracks is the newer "Big Foot" type (forgot the exact designation - M-xxx). The larger rubber pads were replaceable, so longer track like, unlike the older smiley ones where the rubber was not replaceable and was easy to wear out. The rubber tracks are appropriate for the HA series. The newer tracks were used primarily to extend track life when the M1 series became heavier with the incorporation of DU armor IIRC. IIRC, some M1A1s in ODS already had these newer tracks.

With regard to the anti-slip surface, looking at my Trumpeter M1 turret, the anti-slip surface is all around the turret roof, sans the hatches and the thermal viewer's top. Even the blast panels have them. However, better and more accurate reference would be Sabot's TM scans he mentioned earlier in his post.

Oh yeah, it was a common "feature" to have the last panel of the skirt (the one over the sprocket wheel) removed. IIRC, this was so because (as I've heard) it was easily damaged when the track slipped (hence the retainer ring on old M1s - but USMC M1s still have this retainer ring in the sprocket even until now as evidenced in OIF - unless I saw ODS footage hehehe). However, newer tanks would have the skirt whole, though again, in OIF, some - if not many - had that last part of the skirt removed (maybe it was a maintenance thing).

I posted on Missing Links, the TM parts manual scans to prove those things aren't "pressure relief valves". They are access covers for disconnecting the ammo racks froms the blow off panels. Newer tanks have a variant of the "mushrooms", where it is just plated over. This is part of an ammo reloading system that I have never seen done. You can remove the entire ammo rack/blow off panel to reload ammo.

Since Tamiya's kit is an original straight M1A1, the access covers are not necessary. My first brand new M1A1 did not have these access covers, nor does one of my tanks at work. One does though, but it is a later M1A1 variant.

I'll look for the post I mentioned at ML and put a link here later.

New style tracks are T158, older style are T156. I'm looking for an affordable set of the older type (Tamiya's tracks are done wrong). I've seen the Armour Tracks ones, but they run $30.

As far as using the T158 ("Bigfoot") tracks on an earlier M1A1, that is OK. As the track is worn out, it is replaced and sometimes it is the newer stuff as older stocks are depleted.

I know there are still tanks with T156 around, but I do not think you can still get T156 in the supply system. So if one of my tanks with T156 has a few bad track blocks, I'll have to buy a complete set of T158 for the tank. Fortunately, we don't drive them too much or too far.

Here is a scan of the "pressure relief valves". I've always thought it funny that this myth has carried on for over a decade (we picked up M1A1HAs in June 1990 and they had these). We were taught that they are for the proposed ammo reloading system that has not been used operationally as far as I know.

You can see that these three covers are used to attach the blow off panel to the ammo rack assembly. Later versions of this system have the blow off panels remain attached to the racks when the tank is reloaded. These tanks have the access covers plated over, but the three circles are still visable.



P.S. I'll look for the TM scans on the anti-slip coating tonight.

thx everybody so far who has answered my questions now did any early m1's like tamiya's sserve in the gw2 or only in gw1 and how would I scratch build these "valves" and were would they go? and should I leave the back skirt pannel off?

Stateside units did deploy with M1IPs and as far as I know, no straight M1s made it to SWA for Desert Storm. There is talk that the M1IPs were all upgunned to 120mm prior to the ground war (I read this in LTG Pagonis' book Moving Mountains), but I find this difficult to believe and have seen no evidence of old M1IPs with 120mm guns when I returned to the Gulf in 1992. All tanks there were M1A1/M1A1HA.

As far as creating the access covers, just punch some sheet styrene with a paper hole punch and scratch build some detail using the above scan as a guide. Or just make a standard M1A1. This was the most common tank used during the first Gulf War and the type of tank that the Tamiya kit represents OOB.

The last sand skirt can be left on or off. This was more of a crew action, some crews took them off and some left them on. If a vehicle ever threw track (very easy to do in sand), the last skirt would get trashed by the track and then removed any way.

Howdy All,

Somewhat related to this thread, but not quite... I just stopped by my local Hobby Lobby and they have put some Tamiya M1A1's out on clearance. Normally priced at (I believe) $33.99, on sale for $17.99.......the question to the group is; Should I snag these? I have read that the Tam version of the Abrahm's isn't the best out there........just want to know if it's a good deal.

Thx,

Tread.

Tread,

I did. Clean easy build and although it may not be up to rivet counting standards I thought it was a good kit. I have a whole pile of Abrams tanks, Trumpeter with mine roller, Tamiya with and without plow, Italeria M1A2, etc. Don't know which one to build first but I did order a whole bunch of Tesors Acryl "US Modern Desert Sand."

HTH

Shaun

Thanx for the reply Keenan. I can't imagine it wouldn't be worth the 17 or 18 sheckles. I let my mind wander a wee bit when I saw how cheap they were. I was thinking of a Desert Storm diorama. Something including maybe a night lager in the desert with multiple tanks (M1A1's) and maybe a Bradley as well. With the price of the Tamiya M1's so low, I could actually afford the multi kit dio and not go broke!

Tread.

BTW anybody. Does anyone know #1; if Bradley's were used as C&C vehicles in Desert Storm? And #2; Does anyone know where I might find some pics of one?
Thx all.

Mike , i dont know how much of a detail guy you are . One more thing that tamiya missed was the inboard ( the one to the right in the pic ) screen over the engine air intake is flat , it is supposed to be raised . The DML and Trumpter kits are molded right .