M1a1 with mine roller marines

That must have been one unhappy Park Groundskeeper.

Excellent thread.

Rob Gronovius

... there's also an attachment on the grill doors that's not appropriate for a borrowed Army tank either.

As usual, Rob is spot on here.  On post-ODS tanks, there is a flange that goes around the center rear grill; exhaust outlet.  It is a square lip with holes to mount the USMC fording equipment to.  It is a new part on sprue J in the Academy kit.  Do not add it to an ODS tank.

You can see the mounting flange on the center grill below.

Older Abrams without the mounting flange.

If you do build it as the earlier version, beware that the original kit barrel is horribly misshapen and oversized.  Use the barrel parts off the J sprue.  You can update many of the original parts off the J sprue as well; such as the new .50 cal and M240 MGs.  

armor 2.0

 

Academy m1a1 2003 Iraq I'll need to back date it .Thanks again for the information you sir are a wealth of knowledge. 

As stated, this is an old kit with some new parts chucked in. I got one at Hobby Lobby many years ago to add the new sprues to a Dragon AIM to get a wartime service vehicle.

So there's no real need to back date it; just find the instructions to the original 1990s kit available on several places online and build it as per those instructions. Compared to the OIF fittings, our Desert Storm tanks were rather naked.

As a modern Abrams kit, it's one of the lower ranking ones, but as a model kit, it is sort of on par with the 1980s Tamiya M1 Abrams kit.

Appreciated yes I agree about the kit this is all my budget allows me I have a tufret to fit it and also have a set of proper tracks to go on it from another kit just have to make the best of it. Thank again for the information.

armor 2.0

Academy m1a1 2003 Iraq I'll need to back date it . 

Sorry, but that is a really bad kit.  It was originally a copy of Tamiya's M1 kit from the early '80s that Academy scabbed M1A1 parts onto.  It has all sorts of issues with dimensions (turret too short), soft details, and totally incorrect tracks.  Not only are they the old style T156 tracks that haven't been used since the early '90s, but they are also horribly molded with the center guide teeth improperly molded as well.  The only good part of the kit is the new J sprue.  Keep the J sprue and dump the rest of the kit. 

For a good ODS-era M1A1, get the Rye Field M1A1 Abrams 1991 kit.  It is pretty much good right out of the box.

It also includes USMC ODS decals.  Here is a great build review of it:  https://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=12986

HeavyArty

I don't know of any specific units that would have contained early (ODS-era) M1A1s in forest green.  Most M1A1s came from the factory painted in NATO camo. 

There were a couple forest green USMC M1A1 used during the invasion of Iraq in '03.  I think they were from prepositioned stocks on ships (PrePo Afloat).  They are depicted on Echelon's USMC OIF  M1A1HC Abrams (Part 2) decal sheet.  These are later versions that had USMC-specific 8-shot smoke grenade launchers and other updated parts.

For more info on how / what you need to add to build a USMC M1A1 HC in OIF, check here:  http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=148847

 

What kit are you using?  That may dictate what timeframe you can build with it.  

 

I don't know of any specific units that would have contained early (ODS-era) M1A1s in forest green.  Most M1A1s came from the factory painted in NATO camo. 

There were a couple forest green USMC M1A1 used during the invasion of Iraq in '03.  I think they were from Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS), floating sets of equipment ready to be delivered where needed.  They are depicted on Echelon's USMC OIF  M1A1HC Abrams (Part 2) decal sheet.  These are later versions that had USMC-specific 8-shot smoke grenade launchers and other updated parts.

For more info on how / what you need to add to build a USMC M1A1 HC in OIF, check here:  http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=148847

What kit are you using?  That may dictate what timeframe you can build with it.  

Where would forest green marine M1A1s been based at or did any of them stay forest green.

HeavyArty

Any sand color is good for ODS.  Vehicles were quickly repainted at the port in Saudi as they came off boats.  The paint was a locally bought sand color.  It was not a Federal Standard color.  They were not left in forest green.

On a side note, the USMC had not completed fielding M1A1s yet when ODS kicked off.  They were loaned a Bn worth of Army M1A1s as they came off the boat in Saudi.  All the tanks had the standard Army 6-shot smoke grenade launchers, not the later 8-shot USMC launchers.  They had no USMC-specific parts on them.  Also, I don't think any of their Abrams had mine rollers.

 

Any sand color is good for ODS.  Vehicles were quickly repainted at the port in Saudi as they came off boats.  The paint was a locally bought sand color.  It was not a Federal Standard color.  They were not left in forest green.

On a side note, the USMC had not completed fielding M1A1s yet when ODS kicked off.  They were loaned a Bn worth of Army M1A1s as they came off the boat in Saudi.  All the tanks had the standard Army 6-shot smoke grenade launchers, not the later 8-shot USMC launchers.  They had no USMC-specific parts on them.  Also, I don't think any of their Abrams had mine rollers.