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Armor/AFV: Modern Armor
Modern armor in general.
Hosted by Darren Baker
M1A1 Abrams
Sherman_67
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: May 08, 2005
KitMaker: 265 posts
Armorama: 203 posts
Posted: Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 09:14 AM UTC
Hi I am looking for a 1/35th scale M1A1 Abrams and I am also looking for the speckx on it like range ect. also looking for history of this tank
HeavyArty
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Florida, United States
Joined: May 16, 2002
KitMaker: 17,694 posts
Armorama: 13,742 posts
Posted: Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 10:00 AM UTC
Academy, Trumpeter, Tamiya and Dragon all do M1A1s. Tamiya's is currently the best on the market, followed closely by Dragon and Trumpeter. Dragon is also soon to release a whole new tooled M1A1 kit that is supposed to be really nice. Academy's is a copy of an older Tamiya M1 and still has the incorrect M1 turret, I don't recommend it. Here is a side-by-side review of Abrams kits by our own Vodnik.

M1A1 review.

Here is an article I did on the evolution of the Abrams tanks. M1 Article

Here is Tech Data on the M1A1.
char11
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: June 15, 2003
KitMaker: 10 posts
Armorama: 0 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 12:20 AM UTC
with a little work you can convert italeri's m1a2 in to a very nice mia1 heavy aromor all that is needed is a few parts from trumpeter's m1a1 heavy armor kit like the tracks if you dont like the individal tracks offered by italeri. two other parts you will need is the cover for it commanders independent thermal viewer and the commanders weapon station then you have a accurate m1a1 heavy aromor varient of the m1a1 also to note the turrent on the italeri m1a2 is the most accurate due to the fact that it overhangs the drivers position
jazza
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Singapore / 新加坡
Joined: August 03, 2005
KitMaker: 2,709 posts
Armorama: 1,818 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 12:51 AM UTC
I built the Tamiya M1A2 OIF version and would thoroughly recommend it. You have the choice of converting the kit into an M1A1 so you can change your mind on which one you want even after buying the kit.

I enjoyed building it as the instructions were superb and easy to understand.

Feel free to check out my photos on how it turned out.
HeavyArty
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Florida, United States
Joined: May 16, 2002
KitMaker: 17,694 posts
Armorama: 13,742 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 03:05 AM UTC

Quoted Text

with a little work you can convert italeri's m1a2 in to a very nice mia1 heavy aromor all that is needed is a few parts from trumpeter's m1a1 heavy armor kit like the tracks if you dont like the individal tracks offered by italeri. two other parts you will need is the cover for it commanders independent thermal viewer and the commanders weapon station then you have a accurate m1a1 heavy aromor varient of the m1a1 also to note the turrent on the italeri m1a2 is the most accurate due to the fact that it overhangs the drivers position


Why would you want to take the Italeri M1A2 and combine parts from a Trumpeter M1A1 to build an M1A1? You would actually be working with the same basic kit. Italeri's M1A2 is a slightly improved copy of the Trumpeter M1A2 kit, which is the same as their M1A1 kit with A2 parts added.

Best bet is to get the new Tamiya kit. If the price of it is cost prohibitive, the Dragon kits are next best and are only about $15-20. Next is Trumpeter, for about the same price as Dragon's.
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