My current project I just started is the Trumpeter M1A2. My first question is on the suspension. I plan on the model being on a flat surface when it is complete so I will want them to all be even. My question is how do you guys do suspensions on your models. I figured I could put the body up on some type of block and glue them on and that way they would all be even. My biggest worry is setting them to high or to low for the M1A2. Please let me know some good ways to do suspension and how I can set them the righ hight for the abrams.

Haven't built the Trump M1A2 but have built the Trump M1s. Assuming the bottom hull is the same as the M1A2 kit, IIRC the suspension has those little blocks the purpose of which is to make the suspension as level as possible. Generally, what I do is assemble the suspension and place it on the desk. If one of them is a wee bit higher, I correct it by either lowering it or pressing the entire model lightly so the others align with it.

When I have models with fully adjustable independant suspension system, I symply do the following: measure a picture of a side view of the model (or a drawing from the instruction sheet if no other reference is used) and figure the right measures comparing the measurig from the actual model. Then if you want to have them straight, just position the lower hull of your model on something that will give you the right distance from the hull to the ground and position your suspension.

I'd suggest that the most important pieces are the front and rear roadwheels or arms Get them where you want them and the rest will fall right in place (with a straight edge and a little tweaking). When building my S-Tank in a nose down position, I positioned the front and rear ones and the position of the others became obvious. For anything other than the "stock" position, you'll have to snip off the locating tabs.

One thing to be safe about is to make sure that the road wheels and sprocket all are along the same centerline. Meaning that no road wheel sticks out further than the others (or not as far). I learned this while doing my first DML kit with individual links (BMP-2). I also learned not to glue the road wheels to the road wheel arms until I had the track runs done. This gives you a little room to play with.

I haven't built the Trumpter M1A2 yet, but it is the only Trumpter Abrams kit I have. As far as propping up the kit, maybe use stacks of pennies after supergluing them together?

Drew,
Tamiya's Leapord KWS kit came with a nice little jig for aligning there road wheel arms. Maybe someone still has there's and can give you a hand with that. I think I threw mine away by accident. The jigs where nothing fancy, they had pre drilled slots and the jig slipped over the arm and aligned all the arms the same.