Here is the M88A1 that will pull the disabled M1A2 SEP. Thanks to Joe "Mother" Szczygielski for donating an old M88A1 kit that I recycled and fixed up. Here is the result. Hope you like it.





More here: M88A1

Here it is mated to the M1A2 SEP as well.

Gino, it is very difficult to see another one of your fantastic builds and not like it! Both the M1 and M88 look great and Joe should be proud to see his M88 put to good use.
Kyle

Fantastic job Gino…yes sir. I love all the little detail you added, you sure made it come alive. The gentleman your making it for will be in an ah. Will you be posting this once it’s finished!, I’ll be looking forward to seeing it.

Glad you like it Joe. Thanks again. I'me sure the new owner will like it as well. I will post some pics when it is all complete and on the base as well.

Gino:

Is the tow bar from Legend or some other source?

Tow bar is from the M88A1 kit. It is the one that stores over the tow pintle, horizontally. I cut it apart and rebuilt it in the open position. You can see the empty hangers for it in this pic.

Very nice, looks good, if anyone hasnt had a chance to see one of those upclose and personal, they're a monster of a machine, had the chance to see one when I took an AAV ride in Quantico

Gino,
I like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I like very much.

With all your go away presents, you got me motivated to go ahead and start that dio for my unit. I want to try and have it done by the time the guys get back from Iraq this Christmas and have it in the main hallway of the armory.

Oh, you know your a "LIFER" when you have your spares box labeled "TA-50!" I see it in the back ground!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you have a draw labeled Class VI or Class VIIII?

Looks good, again indeed. It's a nice idea to show it in a towing position, plenty of these about lifting engines, but not towing something. I have a question with regards the painting, I thought that the external stores where painted desert camo aswel, i.e. with the rest of the vehicle. And I noticed that the guards around the head lights are missing, is that for this specific vehicle or where they not fitted at the time?

The two together is an awesome sight, I like the detail of the Green (replacement?) wheel on the Abrahms with the Desert coloured bolts. Looking forward to the finished dio.

Cheers
Henk

Congrats Gino,
both are really great models. I'm sure the final owner will be proud to display them on his desk if it's large enough :-)

Your workshop and spare boxes system are impressive too. I hope I'll have one like this one day, perhaps when I retire

olivier

Thanks all.

Pete, Gotta keep the parts organized. TA-50 sounded like a good way to me. Guess I am a lifer then, that is what I call it anyways.

Henk, Sometimes the on board equipmet is painted the same color as the rest of the vehicle, sometimes they are left in the green color they come from the factory in. Depends on when the vehicle was painted last and if the crew removed it before painting. Also, some vehicles have the light guard removed or torn off. On this one, they were missing from the model I started with and I didn't feel like scratching them, so I left them off.

It's those little details that you capture that seem to me a hallmark of your work, Gino. The OD road wheel, the external stores that break up the overall color of the vehicle, or just a touch of color from the bottled water boxes...all these things add to the effect.

My only question now is 'What's next?'

TA-50... Man, that's like an old word. These days it's strange even now to say the word MOLLE. I remember when it was just a concept... Great build G.
Makes me wanna dust mine off.

OK, couldn't resist. We all know TA-50, right? But where does the term come from? (Gino, you have to give this one a 24- hour "head-start"!!!) :-)

Tom

O.K., I'll let it ride. Just a hint though, the full acronym is CTA-50.

Actually that's not QUITE the full acronym, but that ought to start leading people in the right direction. No loggie types out there??

Tom

great job. looks wonderful. I've been struggling with getting the proper color together for gulf war era kits as Im a tamiya paint guy and weary of trying something else (Id rather mix some tamiya) And thx for donating Mother. I'm actually a donor of yours as well. Hope to start getting some paint on the Paladin SPG you gave me I'll post pics soon.

Wow!! Talk about ancient history. This build was almost 13 years ago.

Glad you like it. Sorry, I can't help w/the Tamiya paint mix though as I still only use Testors Model Master paints. I find MM Sand (FS33531) to be the best out of bottle match for modern tan/sand US vehicles.

It also depends on what you mean by "gulf war era". If you mean Operation Desert Shield/Storm (ODS '90-'91), a.k.a. The Gulf War or Gulf War 1 (depending on which counrty is refering to it), just about any sand color will do. Most of these vehicles were quickly painted in Saudi Arabia as they camo off ships. The paint was a locally bought sand color and didn't last very long as it tended to chip and peal off quickly.

For more modern, post-ODS vehicles used in Iraq and Afghanistan that were painted CARC Tan by the US Military or at factories, the MM Sand is a very close match to my eye and what I used above.