Does anyone know of after market companies that have or are going to make an interior and/or engine set for the new Dragon M1A1 Aim? Or has anyone already built one with an existing set? Thanks.

I have used the CMK engine pack in a Dragon M1A2....it was a slightly loose fit and according to the instructiosn will fit all makes of Abrams. This came out before the new Dragon kit. So if possible i would suggest you check the dimensions of the two kits and see if they are the same. If so you would be most impressed by the CMK engine pack and it would add a lot to your M1A1.

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

hi Jeff,
the old dragon kit includes some interior parts, for the turret, and the drivers compartment, they look quite good, but don´t cover the complete turret interior.
If you need both, a interior and an engine, you should think about buying italeri´s m1a1 kit (the one with resin parts). The whole kit has some accuracy issues, but with some scratchbuilding, it could look quite fine...
hope this will help...

max

As stated above, there is no AM kit made specifically for the new Dragon AIM. The CMK engine will work for it though. I wouldn't go with Italeri's M1A1 with engine and interior. The interior is horrible and the engine is only so-so. The best bet for an interior is to use the older Dragon interior and add to it. It can come out quite nicely and is a great starting point. Check out my Angry American USMC M1A1HC to seee what can be done with it.

Good luck.

CMK engine, while it is probably the best out there right now, is a little tight fitting in the new AIM kit. I had to sand the sides down considerably to get it to this point, and the rear angles don't quite match up to the kit rear plate:




With a bit of work, should look good though.

Jim

Jim, that looks pretty good so far, can you keep us posted on the progress? I would like to see what else you do with it. Thanks.

gino, looks good!, What DML kit did you use for the interior? Do you have any other in progress photos so I can see what you did? Thanks JDM

Thanks. I don't remember exactly which DML M1A1 kit it was from, but all their earlier M1A1s come with the partial interior. I don't have any further pics with me (away from home this weekend), but I basically built everything below the turret ring from scratch. You can see it in the pics. The grey parts are from the DML kit, the rest are scratch.

Good luck.