Once again, I want to thank Dragon and Pawel for the oppertunity you all gave me to help out!

What can I say about this kit? SIMPLY WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has been going together well. The detail is number one and like everyone else said, this will be the number one M1A1 Abrams kit on the market.

Besides the handles I mention below, I won't change much to this one. I am thinking about adding at least the battery box, but I might wait and add to one of the other ones I have on order.

Rather than go into what I found wrong or didn't like, I'll just open it up to any questions you all have.





I cheated a little bit here and scavanged the photo etch handles form the Voyager M1A2 photo etch set.











Here is the photo etch extended bustle rack. A Hold Fold or something of that matter would come in handy here. Unfortunately I don't have one and it was a pain to fold this thing.





Rob went with the metal barrel and I opted for the plastic one. Here you can see that the detail in my opinion is a lot better than the metall one.

Pete,

The kit looks great! I just wish my Hobby Shop gets them in soon...the only place with a release date is HLJ and they already pushed it back to August 31!

Looks great Pete.
Will be fun to see it with some paint.

Erik

There lies the problem Erik. With such a nice decal sheet inlcluded in the kit and 3 Echalon decal sheets, I am finding it hard to decide how to paint it and what markings to use. I even have a Trumpeter and Dragon mine plow sitting on the bench.

That is not a problem Pete... That is pure luxury... :-)

Looking great Pete. I can't wait to get one.

Okay, I have a couple of VERY MINOR things to point out. Most may not to want to even bother with these "corrections" but for those who wish to:

The hangers for the jerrycan racks should be on the ends and not the middle. See here:



The PE for the extended bustle rack is VERY good, but has one minor shortcoming. As a result of the one piece of the PE, it bends into the correct shape, but does not leave the tell-tell seam between the square tubing and the flat pieces of the real thing. The seam is fairly noticeable in real life, so those who wish to depict this may want to try and paint a chocolate brown line or somehow score the PE to make that line before bending. I'm betting that what I describe is too difficult and not worth the effort, but it is a thought.





Bob

From what i can see here it certainly looks like the most detailed OOB Abrams around!!!
Hope this isn't too daft a question but, what is AIM, is this an uncommon Abrams varient, or is this the standard one today?
Cheers

Here's some info about the Abrams Integrated Management process :

"AIM is a joint effort to refurbish M1A1 main battle tanks involving the U.S. Army Project Manager for Heavy Brigade Combat Team, the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command, the Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Alabama, and General Dynamics Land Systems. Under the AIM program, M1A1 Abrams tanks are completely disassembled and overhauled to a like-new, zero-mile condition. Refurbished tanks incur lower operational and support costs and report higher operational readiness rates.

These tanks will be the first M1A1s configured with additional mission-critical technologies to bolster crew situational awareness (SA). The SA package improvements include second-generation Forward-Looking Infrared, Far Target Locate, Blue Force Tracking (BFT)/Force Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), a tank-infantry phone, a .50 caliber thermal sight, a power distribution box, a rear slave receptacle, an eye-safe laser rangefinder, and driver’s vision enhancement. This situational awareness package increases the M1A1 Abrams tank’s fighting capability by providing soldiers an electronic graphic of the battlefield with icons for friendly and enemy forces, and increasing the accuracy of the tank commander’s .50 caliber machine gun.

Work will be performed by existing General Dynamics employees in Lima, Ohio, and Eynon, Pennsylvania. These M1A1 tanks are slated for delivery to U.S. Army units beginning in July 2007. "

from http://www.deagel.com/

HTH
Frenchy

Burik if you blow up the rack pic in the review the seam is there. Some guys mat not realise and assemble it wrong side out

Exactly. The seam is etched in the part, but indeed it is important to bend the part in the right direction to have these seams on the outside of rack. The problem with DML photoetched parts is that they are etched on one side only, so bend lines and the seams are on the same side of part. And this also means that bend lines on rack parts have to be OUTSIDE of the bend, not inside as usual.

Pawel

Makes my mouth water just lookin at the pics. Can't wait to get one and start building.
Jerry

And I thought I was crazy!!!! Yup, Bob, I folded the rack wrong. When I finished bending the darn thing, I cursed myself becuase the etched lines where inside. Oh well, I will get it right on the next two when I get them.

Oh, and thanks for the picture on the jerry can racks. I haven't glued the rack on perminately yet, so that will be an easy fix.

Just to let you all know, the same thing that Pawel explained about the extended bustle rack go for the jerry can rack. There is some etched lines locating where the locking bar goes and they end up on the inside.

Waitaminute, previous Abrams didnt have a slave receptacle? Or was it not mounted in the rear? Thats pretty sweet that the TC's will now have a thermal sight for thier 50s also. Sorry about my ingnorance when it comes to M1's, I happen to not be a DAT lol.

Slave cable receptacle was in the driver' shatch. On teh latest AIMs, there is an external one on the rear hull.

Just a question, the Abrams version depicted in Dragon´s new release it´s the most advaced version of this tank? More than the M1A2?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

PS: Great build Pete, mine arrives next month keep us posted of your progress

M1A1AIM is not really a new version. This is just M1A1HC rebuilt at the factory to the "like new" status. So it is not more advanced than M1A2.

Pawel

What Frenchy posted is half true for this model. The first half about the AIM is correct, in the second paragraph though is the newer model they are getting ready to produce called the M1A1 SA (situational awareness). I read an article about it earlier this week. Sounds like the tankers are gonna get a bunch of new stuff to play with.

Ric

Thanks Pawel

crap, figures those kits would hit the selves once I hit boots on teh ground in Kuwait

I wonder if Great Models ships to APO's......

Yes they do. As do most other major on-line hobby suppliers.

Yup yup. I can vouch for that as well. Nothing like getting a fresh model to work on in the sand.

sweet, that means big trouble for my hostile pay :-)

Great build!
I went to the Dragon site to have a look at the parts. It looks like both the US Army 3 ID and USMC bustle rack extensions are provided, could you confirm?

Looking forward to seeing it painted.

No, USMC BRE is not included. What made you think that it is?...

Pawel