But enough carping - I'm still excited. It's a massive improvement on Tamiya's previous Abrams kits with most of the errors fixed, after Dragon's AIM and SEP this should be the next best Abrams, it'll have Tamiya's legendary sharp detail and fit, and its a TUSK in plastic.

But why in the heck did they skip the top row of tiles on the turret????

Anybody know if the USMC is using Tusk I or II?

Hi all

Scans of the instructions of Tamiya's M1A2 TUSK are available at Hobby Search.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10199445

Going through the instructions here is a list of changed parts/new parts that I noticed.


Rear Panel:
Infranty Phone, Exhaust Deflector? and something else that I can't identify on the left of the rear hull

Lower Hull:
Under belly armour
Plugs for the motorisation holes
Return rollers have new parts when attaching to the hull
2x rods that join side skirts to lower hull - same as Dragon kits

Upper Hull:
Loads of holes are called out that need to be drilled
Drivers hatch clear parts still need to be cut manually (boo!)
Drivers hatch seems to have new raised lip?
Draw bars/Tow bars have been added
Power unit for mine plow next to drivers hatch
Left rear hull has been changed

Side Skirts:
Has all the vertical connections pre-molded for ERA panels to be attached to
Era panels for TUSK I/II
Can't tell if front of skirts have been made thinner or not in the images.

Turret:
New holes requiring drilling are called out
All the tusk parts are added
TUSK shield glass panels are moulded in clear styrene
The bustle rack and bustle rack extension requires cutting of tamiya's mesh - no PE
The VCS unit and all is related parts are there too.

Markings:

TUSK II - 1st Battalion, 22nd Infranty Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infrantry Division, Baghdad July 2008

TUSK I - 68th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4 ID
- 1st Battalion, 22nd Infrantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4 ID

In terms of TUSK accuracy I cannot comment as I'm no expert but it looks the part based on instructions and built kits used for marketing.

Pity that all the old periscopes have to be cut from clear styrene yourself and no PE for the bustle racks.

Tamiya does have PE set for their previous M1A2 kit which has PE mesh for the bustle rack, so perhaps another one is on the way to address the BRE?

I've ordered 2x kits so maybe I will do a build log when they arrive.

It does look nice and I will more than likely get at least two. I already have the Legends Tusk II conversion mostly done and built onto the Dragon M1A2. The armored windows around the commander and loaders stations are making me nuts but I’m almost there. I would like the Tamiya kit to make a Tusk I tank and another just to have and make something else with later. Anybody know if the USMC is using Tusk I or II?

Thanks for the link John! I've also asked Santa (well, HLJ) for a couple because I've been good this year.

I think everything is new-tool apart from the lower hull, wheels, tracks, accessories and the sprue with the commander's cupola. However, a lot of the new parts look familiar because Tamiya seems to have 'copied' the old ones, so the turret and rear hull may look the same, but I don't think they're the same moldings as before.

Looks like the new-tool upper hull still has the same raised ridge around the driver's hatch opening, and the loader's hatch still has the same duff detail as before. It looks like no anti-slip. Agree that the mesh and the cut-out optics look crap

But enough carping - I'm still excited. It's a massive improvement on Tamiya's previous Abrams kits with most of the errors fixed, after Dragon's AIM and SEP this should be the next best Abrams, it'll have Tamiya's legendary sharp detail and fit, and its a TUSK in plastic.

Hi everyone. Just replying to a comment made about the new tamiya M1A2 tusk2 which I have seen and feel that it is a wonderful kit as it's all in plastic. I have in my collection 5 Dragon Abram kits, 3 of which are M1A2 sep, 2 M1A1 aim kits. From what i have read, heard and seen about the dragon kits, they are very accurate and I also have the legend tusk1, which I'm building at the moment and the legend tusk2 which is a much more complex kit to build. In saying that, everyone makes there own choice on what they want to buy and build. And that everyone is entitled to there own opion. No matter how complex or easy a kit is to build or how accurate you want it to be, it is always a joy when someone sees your work and gives good feed back how good it is.