On holiday shopping and in a quick visit to a friends hobby shop, he had just unpacked a full load of Trumpeter stuff. The first that i saw interesting i grabbed em. The M1 Abrams and The Challenger. I believe theyre rec ent releases. i ve just opened the boxes and closed em again but i saw good texture and details and in general a good effort. I have never build anything from Trumpeter, but after i bought them i saw that the same models in other brands costed twice as them !!!!! , and i thought that something is going wrong. So i would be very thankfull to any fellow modeller that has build these two kits to give me a hand , on how good they really are , and what to take care on building them. Thanks a lot

Mjr Goose,
here for a look at the tumpeter kit I think there is a bit of filling and sanding to do on the
side bins on the turret and some other little bits the abrams is supposed to be one of the best kits of the tank out there of course you can go down the AM route for the chally 2 as AA have an update kit for it bit costsa about 3x the kit price! there are 2 new kits one for telic and one for kosovo I'd just build them the AS-90 is quite nice too

Trumpeter M1A1HA Abrams looks great when opening the box... Nice little details like tow-shackles, CIP panels (5), APU (bustle and rear) and stuff like that...
BUT if you start with it, you'll have to have your Putty ready cause it's gonna be a lot of filling and sanding...
I'm going to build the Trumpeter M1A1HA for Operation Abrams ID so I was dryfitting and stuff, but I think it's gonna give me hard times when it's Februari 14th....
#:-)
Check out the Trumpeter Tweaks list
(You'll need Adobe to read it)

Hi Major Goose,

I haven't seen the Abrams kit but the Missing Links Tweak List mentioned above will give you the pointers.

I have 2 of the Challenger 2 kits, 1 is 2/3 built, they build very well out of the box, with the exception of the turret side bins, they need filling to blend in with the rest of the turret

There are supposedly several different versions, when first released there were a number of errors, these may have been corrected in subsequent releases. Trumpeter are just about to release 2 new versions including new sprues including Kosovo and Iraq modifications see below for a review :

http://pmms.webace.com.au/reviews/vehicles/trumpeter/tr00323-45.htm

As a fan of British armour all I can say is build it & then buy and build another. That way Trumpeter may well be tempted to do more British armour:-)--<

Happy modelling.

The biggest criticism there is about the trumpeter Abrams is the shape of the frontal armor on the turret. Even a quick comparison between a pic and the hull top in the kit will show what I mean. The Tweaks list shows how to correct it.

As an update to those who follow this, my article for the tweaks list is nearing completeion and you might see a little of it in the future.

Rob

Tweaks list??? Ther is a new Tweaks list for the M1-series coming out??? Just kidding. Rob, I am looking forward to seeing your comments as i think that it is safe to say that you are the ultimate M1 bolt counter...

MAJ Goose,
If you are looking for a sweet Trumpter build, get the STRV 103B or C models. Great easy builds that are fun to slap together.

John

High praise coming from one of the original authors, hehe.

Well I have built 3 Trumpeter M1s ( M1A2 - M1A1 with roller and M1A1 with mine plow ) I have another M1A2 in the wings for the group build . Just go with the tweaks list and you can't go wrong . For the price these kits are hard to beat , with a little work they go a long way . The only (small ) gripe I have on the Trump. is the left front turret with a bit of plastic card and putty it is all better . I'll be doing a show and tell on how this goes once the group build starts . Good luck with your Abrams !