I was at my local Hobby Town a couple of days ago (picked up the Italeri 1/72 M1 Abrams just for something quick to do) and I happend to notice the Italeri 1/35 M1-A2 Abrams, Too any one whose bulit it (or seen it) Is this a decent kit OOB? or does it really need after-market parts to make it decent? Are there any major problems such as fit problems?

Thanks.

I haven't built it, but I have one and have examined it fairly thoroughly. It has jumped to the top of my Abrams build pile.

As far as aftermarket, it will require some new decals to build an operational M1A2. It comes with the now defunct 194th Armor Brigade decals. This was a unit that was stationed at Ft. Knox and specialized in supporting the US Army Armor School. The markings were demo markings.

There are some manageable problems with the mud holes in the drive sprocket as well as the ficticious engine bay. The latter is not a problem if you do not plan to build the kit with an engine.

The kit also builds into an M1A2 and not the M1A2SEP. It looks to be a decent build.

I personnally thought it was a very good kit OOB. The rear hull vents may need some PE (they're not as well defined as the Tamiya M1), but the kits parts certainly get the job done.
As far as problems, I only had problems with the rear stowage, but maybe that's just me Oh yeah, replace the road wheels and machine guns. The detail on those is a little underwhelming.

Thanks guys. I think I'll pick one up, and scrounge some better road wheels and decals.

military in scale done a good build/paint of it ootb just added some extra plasti-card and stuff has the usual italeri sink mark problem were the dont need to be but its a lot of kit for not much money the turret has also got the non slip texturing on it too :-)

I have recently finished building this one, I won't repeat what has already been said except to echo Rob in that I think it has jumped to the top of the pack as far as M1 models go. The only thing I would say was a pain is building the hull bottom which is 3 piece assembly. It required some filling and sanding.

Mike

I also feel I need to add that there is nothing really wrong with the DML Abrams kits. The bustle rack is a little trying to build, but it can be done. I have seen someone build it using copper wire instead of the plastic parts.

Another benefit the of the Italeri kit is that the track adjusting link is present on the idler wheel mounting arm. I believe this is the first Abrams kit to include this piece and thus you can display the #1 side skirt open and actually have all the stuff underneath it that belongs there. I only wish that they included parts to make an A2SEP and parts to make a late A1.

BTW, the 1/72 scale Italeri M1 Abrams kit is an old Esci kit that is about 20 years old. It is the best straight M1 Abrams kit available. I built one last fall with only my travel modeling tool box and no airbrush. It came out pretty well and I even won a trophy (3rd place) with it earlier this year. The accurizing build I did to it is located here: Building a Bantam Abrams.

Hi all tankers.
If I want to build a M1A2 in Irak wwhat i have exactly to do with this italeri kits?
And what kind of cammo Ihave to apply?
Thanks for your Info.
Bat-21

I built one and it turned out very well. My Italeri M1 A2 won "Best fo Show" for August at OCIPMS. You can check it out at www.ocipms.org. Click on Meetings and look for August. There is a front and rear shot of the Abrams on the site. Enjoy your Abrams...

Bat-21, you'll probably have to change it into a M1A2 SEP as that's what three of 4ID's armor battalions are using (the rest seem to use M1A1 variants). There's an excellent M1A2 to SEP article on the Full Metal Jacket page.

Rob, I understand the Trumpeter kit comes with individual road arms, but according to your posts it desn't have the tensioner? Does the Italeri kit have indy road arms?

Rob

Howdy,

My Farthing's worth....I just bought the kit this past weekend, and simply browsed through the box.
IMHO it looks to be a pretty nice collection of mouldings. I must agree with Kelley on the lower hull tub....3 piece's?.....Why? They do provide somewhat handy mating guide tabs, but again......why?
The turret looks excellent to the eye, not sure about fit yet. Not being an M1A1 'expert' I'll venture no more......

Does bring up a question though.......correct me if I'm wrong (silly statement here huh? ) but, I didn't think any M1A2's served in OIF.....apparently a SEP version did?

Tread.

P.S. I planned to build this Italeri kit in OIF colours until I did the research.................darn.

Can anyone fill me in on the differences between an M1A2 and the SEP version?

Can anyone fill me in on the differences between an M1A2 and the SEP version?
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Webfoots,
The easiest thing to do is to check out the article at the link below, it explains the differences between the M1A2, and the SEP. see next post below

Does bring up a question though.......correct me if I'm wrong (silly statement here huh? ) but, I didn't think any M1A2's served in OIF.....apparently a SEP version did?


Tread,
After major combat was over the 4th ID was brought in, they are equipped with the M1A2SEP. They were the division that we were hoping to send in to Iraq through Turkey. When that didn't pan out they were brought in through Kuwait. The 3rd ID, and USMC had already reached Baghdad by the time they got into action, so they were not involved in the initial drive or battles.

Does the Italeri kit have indy road arms?

Rob,
No

Mike

OK, once again I forgot the link to the article, here it is:

http://fullmetaljacket.tanxheaven.com/m1a2separticle/m1a2separticle.html

Mike

Correct, the Trumpeter kit is lacking the track adjusting link. That kit does have individual road wheel arms. They aren't keyed so they are more of a pain than any real benefit unless you desire to display the tank going over some very rough terrain.

The Trumpeter kit is a decent M1A1/A2, but the DML M1A1/A2 is better and the Italeri is slightly better, but not 10+ years better. DML's Abrams came out in 1992-93, I'd have expected Italeri's to blow it out of the water after 10-11 years.