Just finished and have to edit the review build of the Flyhawk 1/72 M1A2, so now it's on the this beauty! Another build feature for the sight thanks to Darren and Jim. I will try and catch all the corrections(if needed) to the instructions and short comings to the kit, but what has been requested is a build feature.

Differences between the Army and Marine versions will be called out where needed in the build.

2 figures from Minart's USMC Tank Crew will be used in the build also.

I added weld beads that you can see on the real thing. I used plastic rod and softened it with a soldering iron.



In order for Part H110 to fit properly, you need to leave off parts G27, G20, and L2 till after H110 i installed. So I removed the locating pins on the back of Parts N97 to ease in placing on Part G8.



I drilled out the cable conduits for thr cameras/sensors.





I added the anti-slip coating with Mr. Surfacer 500.





Last thing added for Step 1 is the cables for the cameras/sensors.

Nice job on this small model, congratulations!

And the build continues!!!!!!!!! Step 2........
Attaching the rest of the turret cameras/sensors and cables.

I added the camera platform, Part H110, before attaching the front tiles in Step 1.



Added the cables for all the rest of the cameras/sensors.




Last thing in this update was I jumped to Step 4 and added the cable cover, Part H73.







I worked on these last week while waiting for the ABV to arrive. These 3 came from Miniart's USMC Tank Crew set. Very nice and well detailed for plastic figures.

***NOTE: They can't be used for US Army tankers because the Marines use a different body armor than the Army.***

If I make a diorama with this, the Marine Infantry guy will be in the rear on the squad phone.

Very nice job on those figures!
Tha ABV is a quite interesting vehicle and i´m sure to watch this build

Big update guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I skipped step 3 which consist of the TC's weapon station and went on to Step 4A where you install the Part G10 (the wall that holds the smoke grenades) to the rear of the turret.

These punch marks need to be filled and sanded:



The shelves on the real thing DO NOT attach to the back wall. Instead they are bolted down to the turret roof.



So the locating points for the plastic part, Part N80x2, need to be filled and sanded:





I left off the Marine style smoke grenade launchers till later because I needed to cable them up but I still installed the back wall and DUKE antenna mount, Part G18, to the turret. And with the DUKE antenna mount, I didn't want to add the actual antenna, so I shaved off the antenna mounting "disk" and drilled the hole where the bolts would be.

***NOTE: THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GAP BETWEEN PART G10 AND THE REAR OF THE TURRET.***













Next where the photo etch shelves. I used small plastic square stock for the mounting points. I glued the square bars to the bottom of the shelf aligning them with the inner 3 sets of pre-drilled hole in the photo etch.Then I glued the shelf to the turret roof leaving the gap between the shelf and the wall. I also added the missing tie down loops on the left and right side of the shelf.















That's it for now. Tomorrow I will show what I added extra to the TC's weapons station and the rear of the turret.

Sorry for the very late update. School is about to start for my boys and we've been getting them ready.
Lets get started!

Got the smoke launchers done and cabled up. If you want to make an Army M1 ABV, omit parts H103, H21, H21, H22, H15, N35 and use parts E101, E103, and E105. Parts E102, E104, and E106 are for the other side.










Here is the TC's weapon station. I added the retaining chains to the cradle and the cables that come from the inside. I also added the missing locking handle that is mounted on the left of the TC hatch. Also missing are handles on the TC hatch. I used the handles form the Engine Smoke Deflector, Parts C41x2, instead of making them from brass wire. Last thing missing was the strap located on the inside, top, of hatch. I made that from Tamiya tape and added two styrene bolts.





Locking handle to hatch:




Handles added to hatch:














Now to the turret rear.........
I started with filling the dimple found on the inside of the rear swing doors.



On the real vehicle, part L6 is attached to the door and not to the MICLIC frame. So when adding the parts to the doors in step 4G, just add the part instead of adding it step 4H.


Add missing hinges to smoke grenade boxes. These are very prominent on the real vehicle. Speaking of smoke grenade boxes? Again, if you want to make an Army version. leave off parts N81 and N82 and attache part C18 instead.


I built the rear turret frame and attached it now instead of in Step 7. But before attaching, I made some corrections, filled punch marks and added cables.





Punch marks to be filled:


Holes to be drilled out for cables:






Here are the cables I added.

DUKE Antenna cable:




Added GPS antenna and cable:


More cables:









Well, that it for now. As of right now, the turret is finished minus the MICLIC's themselves. I will cover the MICLIC's later. I went ahead and jumped to the front of the hull where the mounting equipment for the plow is located and added all the hydraulic hoses. So in my next update, I will have pictures of finished turret and the front of the hull.

Looking real good! Love the details.

Another big update!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rather than bore you with all the building of the hull, I am just going to cover the ABV stuff. A majority of the hull goes together like the hulls in the other RFM Abrams kit minus the ABV parts.

***NOTE*** Remember to fill and sand flush the fuel plate to the hull on the left rear side.



As I stated in my previous post, I started with the mounting plate that the plow attaches to and then attaches to the front of the hull.



On the back of the main plate, it is open and on the real thing it is not. So I used some thin Evergreen plastic sheet to cover up the open back. On the back is also a hydraulic relay block that supplies the hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic arms on the plow. This was made from thin lead wire and plastic stock.







Next is the hydraulics that are mounted to the front of the hull.
Another relay block is mounted to the front to supply fluid to the arms that lift the plow off the front of the hull. Same wire and plastic stock was used here also.









And this is where the two hydraulic hoses from the plow attach to. Also, two hydraulic hoses that run to the front of the hull run under the connection point of the plows hoses.







Plow mount attached to the front of the hull temporarily.









Last added addition to the hull is a conduit located on the right rear engine deck/battery access cover. This conduit has the power cable from the batteries via the rear, to the Mine Marking System. I used Evergreen round stock drilled out for this. Wire will be added right before I mount the marking system.





Next update will be of the Mine Marking System. I'm certain I have missed a lot. Once the whole build is finished, I will edit and put anything I missed in the final write up.

Just finished this kit. I will post the last update tomorrow then send the completed write up to Darren for uploading, but here is a teaser of the completed vehicle.



See you all tomorrow.

Impressive build, Pete! Looking forward to all the pictures of the completed beast!

There was an issue with the tracks. The top length was to long.The easiest fix is to just leave off the top length since it won't be seen behind the skirts. But I choe to fix the issue rather than hide it.



What I did was cut the two middle tracks and glued the two lengths to the drive sprocket and idler wheel.



Worked out perfect and you can't even see the cut behind the skirts.



I really didn't follow the number sequence in the instructions, so this time I jumped to the bins attached the "Lane Marking" frame. The connection points that bolt down the bins to the frame and connect them together are ok, but I wanted them to be well defined. I removed them and replaced them with angled plastic stock, rod, and hex rod for the bolt heads.







Next, I jumped to the plow itself. I apologize for not taking to many in-progress pictures of the plow. I don't know what I was thinking and went ahead and painted it right after building it. The whole plow and blade can be movable if you take your time and watch you glue placement.

I started with the center arm first and attached it the the main plate. The only thing I added to the center arm was a bar to help turn the retaining bar.











I found it easier to build the main part of the left and right arms. It was also easier to attach the "hoses" to the hydraulic arm.







Here is where I stopped taking pictures of the plow build. Sorry again for that. The blades, part P7(P8) and plow face, part P9(P10) and P11(P12) where attached after the main arm where attached the the main plate. I used the diagram in the instruction to mark the placement of photo etch parts V40 - V48. After gluing those parts, I then glued the brass rods to them.

Here is the completed plow:



















Next are the MICLIC's themselves. Missing hoses and panels where added with lead wire and plastic stock.







One of the MICLIC pods was modeled as if just being loaded.



The hydraulic arm on the left was replaced with plastic rod and the arm on the right was replaced with plastic square rod to show the lid opened higher.



The missing rings on the pods where added using brass wire.





The rockets had the missing power cable and wire cable added using lead wire and thin string.



The point where the wire cable of the the rocket is attached to was replaced with plastic stock and the cable for the line charge added.



The completed "just loaded" MICLIC pod:





Black smoke Mig Pigment added to simulate burnt area from the rocket:





Tamiya Clear Orange was used here to simulate to rust found on the real thing:











Last was the assembly of the Lane Marking System. Hoses for the hydraulic arm and cables where added using lead wire and thin plastic rod. After the cables and hoses where added, I attached the spikes, painted and weathered the system and bins and then attached it to the rear deck of the hull.















Final build pictures will be shown in the final write up, along with painting and weathering. STAY TUNED!