Abrams Tanks

There is a great article about the new Tamiya M1A2 in Tamiya Model Magazine this edition. I went and picked up the kit yesterday and it looks awsome in the box...

I know the one that says operation iraqi freedom on it comes with a bunch of extra stowage and is a M1A2 i have one that is a M1A1 so i don't know if they make another M1A2. in case you don't know, M1A2's have a commanders targeting system on the turret, and probably a few other small changes. hope this helps some.

wes

The tamiya M1's are all basicly the same.The M1 and M1A2 share the same sprues as well Differance being the sprue of soldier equipment and parts to make it an A2. If you want a nice M2 kit look into the Dragon kit Marines M1A1 / 2 Iraqi freedom kit. Half the price as the Tamiya and comes with lots of extras. If you dont mine indie tracks.
Also hobbycraft has an A2 out withis trumpeters kit reboxed that has indies and rubber band tracks for around 18$$. It builds nicely as well.

Thundergod, The reviewer of the new kit in TMM made a point that this kit (the new one)isn't simply a hodgepodge of parts but rather a lot of retooled and new stuff. Most of the reviews I have read say the same. One fella went so far as to detail part by part almost what was new and what was old. I was excited to hear all this...

Cool.Glad to hear that. I did not know just guessed frommy past experiances They did however still forget to add the anti slip texture on the hull.

true..... that adds a bit of headache to it, but its nice they made the effort to improve the overall kit.

Peace

The new Tamiya M1A2 builds into both a US Army M1A1 or M1A2 as well as a USMC M1A1. The turret was completely retooled so it is more than a bunch of new sprues tossed in. Good kit that allows you to build numerous variants. No other Abrams kit gives you this option.

wow, you guys really know your kits extremely well, thanks for the help, i guess its just between the tamiya version of the M1A2 or the Dragon kit.

If you opt to get the Dragon kit, watch out for the following:

1.) There are a lot of sink marks in the individual tracks links. Some putty and sanding sill do the trick.
2.) There is a bit of a gap in the lower turret at the joint where the lower and upper turret just beneath the gun root. Puttying and filling is a must.
3.) The side rails do not properly fit at the connection point near the bustle rack (correct term?). Dry fitting is a must to see the problem.
4.) If you get the M1A1-HA version with figures. Insert the driver first before mating the lower and upper hull. It would be impossible to insert the fully assembled driver through the driver's hatch.

Besides these problems, the kit is very nice.

are there any problems such as the Dragon kit as with the Tamiya kit, or does the Tamiya kit build well and fit nice?

The Tamiya kit still has some issues with the rear engine grill (lack of underside detail), minimal detail around the idler wheel, some simplifed fittings on the hull (just a re-tool of their original XM1 hull). They included new tracks with the T-158 pattern. They also did not add any nonslip texture to the upper surfaces of the hull and turret.

The Tamiya kit is still one of the best engineered kits and fits nicely. It still benefits from the use of the various photoetch sets to add the little extras that will set the kit apart.

Down side to the new Tamiya kit is that it is rather expensive.

Could one of you guys tell me the part number for the TAmiya "rubber band" tracks for the M1A2.
I have both of the Dragon kits and the link and length tracks are really bad so i want to get the rubber band ones.

Thanks

Matt