The very first M1 fielded were put out without the M10 charger just the same as the M60 was fielded without the M85 cupola machine gun. The TC cupola was a compromise during development and was very much a work in progress. A lot of M60 TC who transitioned to M1 hated that seemingly half finished cupola.

Do you have an image Bravo? First I have heard of this.

I'm interested to see what this kit is like, been waiting for one for a long time.

On the large scale plane end of the business Kitty Hawk is known for producing planes that have been long waited for. Most aircraft modelers deal with the assembly issues and end up with a gorgeous model of a subject they never dreamed would come out. Panda is there armor division and is improving with each kit just like there Aero line. I believe as modelers we have become conditioned by shake and bake kits. Me I am just happy that someone is producing a M1 early. It will with work and maybe some aftermarket be a nice model.

I transitioned from a M60A3 to the M1IP in Germany. No one liked the M60 cupola-- rumor was that a main gun hit would sheer it off, taking the TC with it. The M1 cupola was a great improvement, particular the M2. The M85 was hard to service, or preform immediate action if you had a stoppage, and loading the belts of ammo was a pain in the butt because it would fall out when partly done.

It's one of those things that you have to look for in the Hunnicutt Abrams book with a magnifying glass. Most pictures are also from the wrong side. Remember also the cupola was designed to originally take either the M2 or M85. It uncommon and it was only for a very brief time but it happened. The tank went to first unit field tests with M2 machine guns without the M10 chargers. It looks like Panda is going with a very early production if not pre-production M1 so the CAD could be a confusion. Or, the designer used an off the shelf machine gun render that has the charging handle and over looked it. And the guy on the design team who does know it hasn't noticed the handle and thinks it is part of the mount like I originally did.

It is a physical impossibility to use a regular charging handle due to the right side oval mount (Inside the cover is a band type adjustment if sight and CWS mount are too far out of alignment). I do know the M-1 was considering the M85 mounted at one point but even the low rate initial production (LRIP) versions had the original M-2 mounting arrangement. There were changes in the initial ammunition feed if you look at some really old images. I have Hunnicutt's Abrams if you could give me a page number. I believe you are right about the CAD confusion though and do not want to derail this topic too far. It is just a CAD depiction after all.

I never said they used the machine gun, just that the first few had M2 without the m10 charger and with the old handle in place. And there's the fact that the original Tamiya kit had the charging handle in place and one set of drawings circa 1978 had it. It's the trusting drawings without reference to pictures or any other source material. Model designers are known to rigidly adhere to one prototype when they don't know that prototype is atypical. Every service vehicle was one way, but the one they based the kit on is the only one ever to be another way... and the modeler gets stuck. The US Army correspondence course on the M1 commanders weapons station included directions on how to mount the M2, M240 and M85.

Sprue Brothers is showing "In Stock" on this item. **edited to correct the dang auto correct.**