Hi all

At long last my 1st tank has been completed. Thanks for all the advice I received on the forums.

Here are the photos:









thanks for looking

Hi John
Nice looking tank.
A couple of pointers though: The wheel hubs should be painted black. They are acctually oil filled transparent plastic, but appear black. You should also add some radio antennas. Sorry, I don't remember the exact lenght of the antennas from the top of my head, but I think they will be approx 5 cm in 1:35 scale.

The sights and periscopes on the Abrams also appear "redish" due to the laser coating filter. Ginos (HeavyArty) methode of painting clear red over flat black and seal with a good coat of clear gloss works well. A final point is that it looks a bit to clean. Tanks get dirty rather quick, so I think you should drybrush it, add a wash and perhaps some pastels/pigment.

Cheers
Erik

looks way to clean... even for a vehicle just out of the factory...
use some pigment or pastels (like said above)
good luck

I think some of the fellas are jumping the gun a bit. First and foremost, learn the basic techniques of model tank building. Washes and pastels take a while to learn. I don't know your level of skills, so I won't condescend. Start working on the dry-brushing techniques first. Like the tracks. Highlighting the area where the metal end connectors rubs on the spocket, between the tracks For washes, you need to experiment a bit. Generally you want to takea dark color like black or a deep brown and put it in a solution. I use enamels, so I use thinner. Ratio is probably close to 20 to 1 solvent to paint. you can spray it, but I use a 1/4" brush and kind of slop it on allowing to run and cover the entire vehicle. After it dries, if you 've done it well, you have made the tank look dirty. The pastel method is good for showing dusts and the like, I don't do it and not real familiear with it so I won't advise.

Hey, nice looking Abrams. If this is your first tank ever, I would say its much better then the first one I ever built HAHA Anyway, Aside from what has been mentioned previously about washes, pastels and dry brushing, I wanted to tell you a bit about decals. I noticed a couple of your decals appear to be "silvering". To apply decals so they dont look like decals, first mask off all clear or reflective surfaces. Then, spray the model with clear gloss coat (model master has some inexpensive gloss coat). Once the gloss coat is dry, apply your decals. They stick much better to a glossy surface. After your decals have dried for a day or so, apply "dull coat" to the whole model. Once the dull coat is dry, you can peel off any masking tape you have on your clear or reflective surfaces. As well, this double coat of clear paint protects your base color for upcoming washes and drybrushing. Have fun and nice job!

Well done. It looks a lot better than my first tank did. Nice clean build. My advice is to read the articles on weathering here and on other sites. Try out different techniques to find out what you prefer. If you need any info on the M1 contact HeavyArty
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/613

Hi all

Firstly, thanks for all comments, advice and criticism (gladly accepted and required in the learning process)

Been building aircraft for the last two years (ok building aircraft very slowly) and decided to give armor a try.

The aim of this build was too see if I enjoyed building tanks etc. Therefore I did cut some corners. Didn't use the gloss coat since the paint used (TS-46) is laquer based and withstood my attempted wash.

Based on what Blaster76 mentioned, I made the mistake of using a "Panel Line Wash" approach and I used a colour that was far too light.

Was worried that brown or black would be to stark?

I applied too little pastel dust to the hull and the flatcoat got rid of almost all of it. Thats why the turret looks better since I learnt from my mistake.

Erik67, thanks for the technique on the sights, realised to late that Tamiya was wrong and wasn't sure how to make the correct colour.

Erik67, where or what is the wheel hub section? (forgive my ignorance)

Thanks again for all the comments and advice.

The Tamiya Challenger 2 and LeClerc are next.

John

Here, look at the road wheel centers.



Hope this helps.


BT6

Very nice! Did you by any chance use the Tamiya modern equipment set?

Lucas, thanks for the comment.

The Tamiya M1A2 kit ships with a one of the sprues from the modern accessories kit.

Regards
John

Hurray!!! First Armor!!! I think you did a fantastic job on your frist armor !!!

Don't worry about the weathering right now. Use the time to build a few more kits and see if you like building armor. You can always go back and improve your past work once you have few more armor experiences under your belt.

Exllent first armor!!!

WC

Hey John,

good first attempt, you have the basics pretty much covered there.




The best thing about washes is that if you are not happy with the way they look you can remove them using clean thinner, white spirits, turps and a cotton bud and some kitchen towel. Just "dampen" the cotton bud, do not flood it, and gently work over the area that has been washed. Obviously, before any wash you should apply a coat of varnish to protect the paint work from the thinners that the wash is contained in. Above all, experiment and learn from it. When i began to model i was afriad to try new techniques in case i messed up. Then i realised if i did not "push " my boundaries i would never get better...have fun and enjoy yourself

Regards from the Swamp

Ethelian

Not bad, to be your first AFV!
Let time pass and you will learn how to weather them realistically!