I had an M1 Abrams kit (Dragon) missing a few pieces and slightly damaged. I had never attempted to do burnt out hulls and always wanted to do a destroyed tank scene....so heres the end result.
I think theres only ever been a handful of Abrams tanks that have suffered this fate...if any?? The scene is visullay impacting to me and others who have seen it...it makes me think of the war and what we all have at stake. Its not not fully complete....but i've kinda ran out of gas with this one and have lost inspiration. maybe because it kind of makes me sad to look at it... I may just scrap this idea altogether. I mainly just want to see if i got the burnt-out look right or not. What do you guy think?

Cheers!

a few M1s have been lost in action in Iraq believe, so it is an appropriate and timely diorama in my view.

and nice first effort at a burned out tank, even if you haven't finished. I'd encourage you to find enough creativity to finish it.

That looks very good indeed and very effective, my only critiscm would be the tracks-they look too stiff.

There is a KO'ed M1 in the concord Thunder run book, it was damaged and put out of service, and in order to prevent the Iraqis getting hold it or anything from it, the airforce blew it up.

So all it takes to knock out an M1 is a roll of aluminun foil eh? :-) :-)
The burnt effect looks good. Keep going.

As far as a burnt out tank you have a fine start. I probably would have put it in an urban settig rather than the desert. In the open field the M1 probably would own the surroundings and defeat any enemy threat. In the urban setting they were prone to ambush.

I actually think you did a pretty damn good job of it.

Definitely do put some slack in those tracks as once it comes off those idler wheels, it will fall like a chain.

This would be a perfect build for the purple heart campaign Jesse. Ever considered enlisting for it?

The last pic in Steve's post is of the semi-famous Charlie 1-2 of TF 4-64 (1-64?) from 2nd BGE, 3ID in the first Thunder Run on April 5th, 2003. It was hit in the engine pack, severing fuel lines which continually respawned fires after constantly being put out. The tank was abandoned, with the brigade commander intending to retreived it later. In essentially a radio foul-up and misinterpretation of SOP, it was hit with a HEAT round, (an unusual experience for the gunner) and later hit with a couple Mavericks and I think a Mk-something. The propaganda victory of "destroying" it lasted a good 24 hours where the second Thunder Run ran into Baghdad itself for good.


I think this is really good. I really like the blast effect on the rear. I can't tell from the pictures, but do you have any entry holes? They'd be pretty small and thats probably why I can't see them. Also, and for future reference, given how destroyed the turret is, the blast panels would have bolown out as the ammunition explosion is directed through these panels and away from the crew compartment.

Really good model. I don't think it is out of place. Alan is right that the Abrams owns in the open, but with IEDs and the since size of the base doesn't tell too much of the surroundings(close to a town, road, or if it truely is out in the open), I don't think this would be truely out of the open. It just depends if you are going for hypothetical or realism or a variation of both.


Jeff

WoW, i didnt think i'd recieve this much response from so many people! Thankyou all for your input and your tips. I feel much better about this project now. And those pics are awesome! I wish i could have found those while I was making the scene. I might be able to do some re-working of it though. I wish i could have gotten the individual track links to give a more realistic effect...but I had to use what I had. Next time I attempt this type of scene i'll use them, definately.

Great joke about the aluminum foil in the last pic by the way.... I lmao when i read it.

Thanks again to all of you. :-)
You're advice and encouragement keep me going with this hobby.

Oh, about the Purple Heart campaign...i'm not sure what these campaigns really are? I've been apart of this site for awhile..but have just recently began with the forums and exploring other parts of the site. From what i can tell the campaigns are "group builds" of which I have no clue what they are about. I've only ever worked on my own... They sure sound fun and interesting though. I'll read more about it.

Cheers!

Jesse,
Great attempt at a very hard subject to model. Another point besides the already mentioned track is that the tank's suspension normally collapses in the fire and the roadwheels melt into puddles of aluminum with only the steel wearplates remaining intact. Check out the bottom picture of the burnt out Marine tank. Keep after the subject and add to it as the inspiration hits you. As a soon to be retired tanker, burnt out vehicles does depress me but I keep in mind the the Abrams was built to let the crew survive the hit. The burning of the vehicle is the price of doing business and gives guys like LTC Rob something to do in all of that free time that the Ordnance types have in a combat zone... Just kidding Rob. Like I said a tough subject to model correctly.
John