1/35 AM parts for M1 Abrams

My experience is mostly with Bradleys and HMMWVs.  I worked around M1s, but spent little to no time actually inside of one.  Had a chance to work with 3rd ACR and 1st AD in Iraq a few years back, and want to build a couple of M1s that I actually served with.....only wish I had taken more pictures!  I think the 3rd ACR had M1A2 TUSKs and the 1st AD had M1A1s.  

Thanks again for the info!

DW

Tal Afar Dave

Collecting my own small hoard of M1s from various model companies; want to start building kits of M1s I have served with in the past.  Which kits do you think are the most accurate, or is this covered in another forum somewhere else??  

Thanks guys,

Dave

Gino listed the best, most up to date current Abrams, but the answer depends on when you served on the tank and which version(s). If it was an M1 or M1IP from the 1980s, then the original Tamiya M1 Abrams is the kit to start with. If you served on the original M1A1s from the late 80s to early 90s, again Tamiya's M1A1 might be a better place to start. It had the early features of my Abrams tank from 1989.

There were a lot of detail changes from the brand new original M1A1 I used as a platoon leader and the brand new M1A1 heavy I used as a company XO a year later. I wish I had taken more/better photos, but taking detail shots was frowned upon back in the day.

Dragon's original M1A1 best represents the heavy tank I got in 1990 and the one I took down range in 1991.

I haven't tried replicating the one I had while in command in 1994. It went through a couple of MWOs between 1993-94, but I don't remember which ones occurred while I was the BMO and which ones occurred when I was the company commander. I know we exchanged the doghouse (I think that happened before I took command), and added some IFF items while I was in command.

I rounded out my command by going through M1A2 NET training. I'm leaning towards the Italeri M1A2 to represent that straight M1A2 with a lot of borrowed parts from better Abrams kits.

Collecting my own small hoard of M1s from various model companies; want to start building kits of M1s I have served with in the past.  Which kits do you think are the most accurate, or is this covered in another forum somewhere else??  

Thanks guys,

Dave

well to clarify both Legend sets are Tusk I and Tusk II and both sets are available for Tamiya and Dragon. And both sets could be used with the available M1A1HA, M1A1HC, M1A1 AIM, M1A1 SEP, M1A2 and M1A2 SEP.

HeavyArty

There are a lot of companies that do AM for Abrams exteriors; Verlinden, Voyager, Lion Roar, Legend, etc.  The only interior set is the old Verlinden set.  It is pretty bad and not close to reality.

I have built 3 full interior Abrams.  For mine, I started with partial interiors from the old Dragon Abrams kits.  They included a pretty nice driver's area and upper turret.  I scratch built the lower turret baskets.  The kits can still be found on eBay for a relatively good price.  You can probably get a few of the interior sprues if you ask around on the forums too.  Many people dindn't use the interiors.

Most of the gray parts are from the Dragon M1A1 kits.

Hereare a few more examples:

 

CMK does a full engine and compartment too.

Legend does a couple nice TUSK sets for a modern tank in Iraq over the last few years.  Voyager has a good USMC A'stan Hog set too for an up to date model.

Perfect Scale Modelbau (PSM) just came out with a couple good USMC conversion sets too. 

AFV Club, Trumpeter, and Bronco all do track sets as well.

If you narrow down when/what type of Abrams you want to build, we can direct yo to the best kits and AM sets for it.

There are a lot of companies that do AM for Abrams exteriors; Verlinden, Voyager, Lion Roar, Legend, etc.  The only interior set is the old Verlinden set.  It is pretty bad and not close to reality.

I have built 3 full interior Abrams.  For mine, I started with partial interiors from the old Dragon Abrams kits.  They included a pretty nice driver's area and upper turret.  I scratch built the lower turret baskets.  The kits can still be found on eBay for a relatively good price.  You can probably get a few of the interior sprues if you ask around on the forums too.  Many people dindn't use the interiors.

Most of the gray parts are from the Dragon M1A1 kits.

Hereare a few more examples:

CMK does a full engine and compartment too.

Legend does a couple nice TUSK sets for a modern tank in Iraq over the last few years.  Voyager has a good USMC A'stan Hog set too for an up to date model.

Perfect Scale Modelbau (PSM) just came out with a couple good USMC conversion sets too. 

AFV Club, Trumpeter, and Bronco all do track sets as well.

If you narrow down when/what type of Abrams you want to build, we can direct yo to the best kits and AM sets for it.