"A bit" is a bit of an understatement...

"A bit" is a bit of an understatement...[/quote] Nah, what's re-sculpting the entire torso? And that's only the beginning.

That is exactly what they are. The crew are too late for all the decal options. Wrong uniform for the Iraq Army 2015 option as well.

I often wonder about these periodic re-releases that seem to be merely there to acquaint a new batch on their long-of-tooth kits. They have their place but I'd buy something a wee bit more recent in terms of moldings as the manufacturers' -and our expectations- have dramatically increased.

Wouldn't say worst. The original Dragon M1A1, old Academy M1A1, Tamiya and Trumpeter kits are all still out there and are all worse. It has plenty of company of inferior M1A1 kits to commune with. [/quote] Kinda agree but the old Dragon M1A1's weren't as bad. Academy one was the most awful but then there is AMT/ERTL one. Haha! I'm surprised that Italeri has not gone out of business yet.

Your perception of the expectations of you and your peers have changed. Not the expectations of the majority of casual model builders (many exist but seemingly not among the acquaintances of many people on this board) Demographically they are a larger group who just want an M1A1 and not the bestest and neatest and don't go asking what's the most accurate. They just want a model and will happily assemble it blissfully unaware of all its flaws. There's a whole world out there that happily buys Italeri. So much so that several other companies repackage Italeri kits for their home consumers. In case it matters, the basic cut of the nomex coverall hasn't changed much since its introduction back in the early 1990s. The camouflage has changed, but rescuplt the torsos down to a bare nomex and the figures would mostly work for 1991. Just have to paint them green and forget about camouflage. But why bother with all that grinding? Sheesh. Might as well convert WW2 tankers in the jackets with new heads and the additional pockets.

That is exactly what they are. The crew are too late for all the decal options. Wrong uniform for the Iraq Army 2015 option as well. [/quote] OK, thank you for pointing this. So it needs to change figures. What about Miniart 37049 or 37008 ? Could they match the USMC decal option ?

From Miniart 37049, 3 of the 4 would work. The standing figure with crossed legs has too new of a body armor for '03. The three others would be fine since they have no body armor on. Those in set 37008 would not work as thier body armor is too new as well. In '03, the USMC (and US Army) tankers wore Interceptor Body Armor Systems (IBAS) vests. Or they wore the CVC (Combat Vehicel Crewman) spall vest. Any other figures wearing these two vests types would be fine for Marine tankers in Iraq '03.

OK, thank you Gino, Spall vest is present in Masterbox 35131, and Djiti's Production has one figure with this body armor too. It seems there are several versions of IBAS vest. Some with 4 MOLLE lines distant to the edge, like your photo, and others with 6 MOLLE lines without distance with the edge.