I've built model cars as a kid and never really took the time to build them properly. It was more of a race to get it done so I could put it on the shelf in my bedroom.

I bought this Trumpeter kit roughly 10 years ago with the intention of taking my time and finish it properly. Well four moves later it ended up in a bin in the basement. I had bought all sorts of paints, air brush and compressor. So I finally took it out of the bin and started working on it recently. I scoured the web in search of tutorials and forums about armor kits and ended up here. What a great forum.

I decided to paint a NATO camo on my abrams, not exactly the easiest thing for a noob like me. I strictly used the airbrush with various results. I think some of my paint is going bad and/or I didn't thin it properly. I find that it's kinda dark and can't really see the NATO brown in the camo and the lines aren't very crisp.

I want to make it look better but I don't know enough about filters, washes and weathering.

So here are some pictures of what I've done so far. I know I screwed up during assembly...the tool boxes on each side of the turret for example are facing the wrong way. The camo on my soldiers is so so.

Any advice into which direction I should go from this point would be appreciated.....I have no clear on it or decals on it so far.

Alain

First off, welcome to Armorama. And great start, nice clean build, and great looking paint. It looks like you have the knack for this, stick around, there is lots to learn, and any time, ask a question or two. Lots of friendly people and helpful.

Kevin

ps. Nice to see another Ontario builder...

Hi Alain,

I must say I'm impressed with the results. I wish my first model looked like yours. Experience will bring better and better results in the future. In this great forum you'll find almost all the answers you need.

Good luck!

Thanks guys for the replies and encouragement. I had a lot of fun building it. I feel like my tank has no life...I want to do either a filter or wash or both....but not sure how to proceed.

P.S. I went out and bought two more kits. 1/72 scale this time. Italeri Kit No 7521 with 2 shermans and trumpeter no 072287 with a T26E4. Figured I'd practice my painting skills on a smaller tank and less expensive kit.

Alain

That is a good idea, sometimes it takes a little work to get the knack of a wash and/or filter. There are some good products out there with lots of tutorials.

http://www.true-earth.com/en-uk/index.html

These products I really like, easy to use, good results. I order them directly from the company in Italy, decent shipping prices, and there are some great tutorials on the website.

Alain, very nice work for a first attempt. If you're want to do a filter AK Interactive has a NATO specific filter; it shouldn't need thinning.

Your paint is fairly crisp, you just need a spare/junk piece of styrene to practice painting on. Maybe one of those old cars?

It looks pretty good for a first atempt. A couple pointers for you though. The box on the right rear of the hull (APU - extra generator) and the rings on the outside of the sprockets are older features not used on an M1A2 as you have modeled. These were features used on older M1A1 tanks up until about 1990. For your next NATO camo scheme, thry thinning the paint to the consistency of milk and using low pressure with the airbrush. This will give you a fine mist and not big drops as you have in some places. Also, the skate ring for the loader's MG should not be rusty. It is kept oiled and free of rust so the MG mount can rotate on it freely.

Pretty god job. A few tweaks and it will be great.

So I can technically remove the APU? I'll remove the rings on the sprocket, don't really like them anyway.




There were a couple times where I mixed the paint to the proper consistency without really knowing as it would spray very nicely. Then the next batch would come out blotchy. So would it be roughly 70% thinner 30% paint?




The instructions told me to paint the skate ring a Burnt Iron colour I had no clue what that was. So what colour would be better?

I will also add to antennas in the back of the turret. The left side has an antenna base but no antenna in the kit and the right side looks like there should be an antenna as well.

I appreciate all the feedback from everyone.

Yes, the APU on the rear of the hull needs to go. The box in the bustle rack is the APU that replaced the rear hull one.

I don't know of an exact ratio to mix the paint to. I just do it by eye, but 70/30 sounds about right. Like I said, I just go by the milk consistency rule of thumb.

For the loader's gun ring, I use a method that I use for all bare metal. I mix flat black and silver together to get a very dark graphite color. Again, I do this by eye and don't have an exact mix ratio.

Thanks for that link they do have a bunch of very good video tutorials on there.

Hi Alain,

Pretty good for your first attempt.
Be prepared to become addicted.I went through the "I need a hobby" thing about 15 years ago and my story is just like yours.Went through a lot of stuff I never stuck to,then remembered I liked building models as a kid.Bought a small,cheap Tamiya jeep,just to see if the attraction was still there.
Long story short,a house full of dioramas,armoured vehicles,figures and a small fortune spent.No regrets and the wife may complain,but she'll know were you are.
I have a ton of magazines I have collected I can send to you or anyone else who may want them.Welcome to Armorama.

Tom

Ok so I made some changes to it. Added 2 antenna at the back of the turret and removed the APU on the back of the hull.

Then I clear coated the whole thing and decided to play with pigments.

I think I over did it with the pigment. I did one pass on the turret and top of the hull then decided I wanted more on the sides and front.

Consider the pigments as they are as step #1. NOW take a wide brush and with vertical strokes remove some and soften the edges. It'll will look more like a dusty tank.

G

Because I didn't have any real pigment, I went to the Micheal's and bought some chalk pastels and used spirits to fix the pigment.

I was able to go over the pigment with just spirits once it was dry and remove and blend it in more. It came out way better then previous pictures.