Hi again all..

Ok...Im sorry if this is getting redundant, but id rather have my own thread here and i didnt think it fits in any other thread..

I recently purchased an Academy M1A1 "Iraq 2003" at a hobby lobby half price sale. The M1 has always been one of my favorite tanks...I saw it on the shelf and at $18 USD... i couldnt resist it.

Now, after getting the kit home, cracking open the box and fondling the parts...I went on the net to research the kit a little by reading some kit reviews.

Well, to keep it short and sweet, the kit isnt terrible...but it does need a bit of work to it.

Anyways..the point of my rant here is this...

After reading the kit reviews of various M1 Abrams kits...not one of them is 100 percent accurate. Now I know no kit is 100 percent accurate, but I want to try and make a model that comes as close to 100 percent as possible. Yes I know im being a bit anal here, but its my favorite tank and i would like to do a model that does justice to the beast. (Another reason is that I know any contest I take it to, there will be some yo-yo there who knows the tank rivet for rivet and say this that and the other thing on the model is wrong.)

So..Ive heard that people have combined the best parts of M1 kits from various manufactures and come up with a decent model. And Im wondering if i should go that route...

Or wait for a new kit to come along....

Any advice on this matter would be appreciated, and I just would like to hear what you all would have to say about this.

Thank you

Apparently, Dragon is coming out with THE M1 kit sometime this year. We shall see. They over-engineered their past M1 kits and a bunch of detail was too soft for my liking.

I prefer the latest Tamiya kit, for the moment, even though it relies on old molds for the hull, and has no anti-slip texture. I added the anti-slip texture to my first Abrams, but it was too heavy. I have sinced purchased the Cast-A-Coat system and I love it. It is perfectly to scale and it is easy to apply.

Here is a shot of my first Abrams. Even though the texture was heavy, I still think it captures the look of the tank during OIF 1.

Personally, I think the kit you bought to make into "as close to 100 percent as possible" to be the worse choice of all Abrams on the market. In the long run it would have been cheaper and easier to start with a better kit and go from there.

While I believe the Academy M1A1 looks "good enough" to the casual observer, if you want to satisfy the rivet counters or even the self-proclaimed experts you should have started with a better kit.

You say the Academy kit cost you $18, add to that the cost of a set of updated tracks for another $15 or so and you are already at $33. The kit tracks represent T-156 tracks which were being phased out in the early 90s. Additionally, the tracks are copies of the old Tamiya tracks that molded the center guides in the wrong place.

I'm unsure what the Tamiya M1A2 goes for retail, but I've found one for a very reasonable price online at the various buy/sell forums (I think around $25-30 not including shipping).

So for marginally more money you could have had a kit that OOB will build into a better kit than trying to accurize the Academy kit.

But I'd just enjoy myself and build it.

Thank you for the replies

I may just go ahead and build the kit as is...


But can anyone here give me a rundown of what should be done to the Academy kit to spruce it up...
Sorry to ask this question..but im looking for one singular source for answers here.

Considering the combining parts from all manufacturers route...man it sound like that could get expensive. Combining parts from Italeri, Academy ,Tamiya and Dragon kits will make it look like a Frankenstines monster of a tank.

Thanks again folks.

The most important thing is to replace tracks. As Rob wrote above the tracks included in the kit are inaccurate representation of T-156 tracks, which are no longer in use. You need a set of T-158 tracks and you can get e.g. a set of AFV Club individual link ones.

Another big problem of Academy kit is the turret, which is simply much too small. The width is OK, but turret is too short.

There is no non-slip coating on the turret and hull upper surfaces.

There are some other problems,, which I described in my comparison article here: http://vodnik2.republika.pl/pages/m1-comparison/m1comp1.htm.
Please note that I used old Academy kit for the comparison and the one you have has some errors fixed, like new gun barrel and small hatches added to engine deck. Many of original problems are however still there...

Pawel

My PM offer still stands, but if you do decide to build it, here are a couple of reviews that may help. The first is Vodnik's side-by-side review of most of the M1 kits on the market. This will let you see what is lacking in the kit and what needs to be fixed.

M1A1/A2 Comparison

Next is a review of just the Academy kit on Perth Military Modeller's Site. This gives a good rundown of the Academy M1A1 OIF and some things that need to be fixed.

Academy M1A1 OIF at PMMS

Good luck and let me know what you decide.