ARMOR - M1 Abrams Group Build - FineScale Modeler - Essential magazine for scale model builders, model kit reviews, how-to scale modeling, and scale modeling products

Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, February 12, 2004 8:50 PM

In my time as a tanker have seen plenty of M1s and IPM1s in strait olive drab but M1A1s and A deuces I have seen only in three tone NATO and Desert Sand. Hope that helps Zokissima, welcome and take it easy…

Brian.

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M1abramsRules

Member since
June 2003

Posted by M1abramsRules on Thursday, February 12, 2004 11:58 PM

I think I'll do 3-tone nato camo on my dml, and I already got a "what-if" scheme on my 72nd revell one. its for urban nocturnal operations

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 13, 2004 8:36 AM

QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerman

Welcome zokissima. Yes a group build is a great way to introduce yourself and meet the forum. I'm doing mine in Desert Storm Sand. The only other color I'm familiar with is the three color camo, which I don't the names of the colors. I'm more WW II, so I should learn a lot about the M1.

on the

2 zokissima !

hi, tige !

the three color camo colors are :
NATO Black (actually a very dark green),
NATO Brown
& NATO Green (that's the lighter green color).
US vehicles use a soft edge (overspray)
between the colors. French & German vehicles seem 2 have a hard edge demarcation,
& i think the Dutch ones also...
i know tamiya has these 3 colors in their acrylic range( XF numbers)
labelled as 'NATO Black', etc. so u'll know it's the rite stuff.

zokissima:if ur a small scale builder, u may want 2 lighten these colors up a bit 4 'scale effect'...

HTH,

frosty Smile [:)]

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 13, 2004 2:44 PM

Welcome zokissima!

Ron

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Friday, February 13, 2004 4:59 PM

Thanks Frosty. See, I've learned something already. No, no, you're not going to tempt me with a three color scheme. I've reshot my tri-color cammo on my Panther 3 times! Yes, I guess I'm a litle too serious sometimes. Oh....never say never. Stop! I already have the paint, I'm going one color. However, I have two M1's, so I think I'll shoot the other in the mentioned NATO three color pattern. This will be interesting. I have never built a modern AFV.

Eric

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Dwight Ta-ala

Member since
July 2003
From: Philippines

Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Friday, February 13, 2004 6:01 PM

I am considering the 3-tone scheme or a maybe a winter scheme ala frosty?

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MartianGundamModeler

Member since
November 2003
From: Tennessee

Posted by MartianGundamModeler on Saturday, February 14, 2004 3:24 AM

QUOTE: Originally posted by M1abramsRules

I think I'll do 3-tone nato camo on my dml, and I already got a "what-if" scheme on my 72nd revell one. its for urban nocturnal operations

I'm building the Trumperter M1 with mine plow. I'm not a big fan of cammo and I hate masking that's why I like WWII vehicles and my modern vehicles are U.N. white with some desert tan ones to come. I plan to do this one in a "what if" U.N. white paint scheme just to be different. It isn't "too" far fetched considering one of the U.N.'s major duties is mine clearing.

"Some men look at things the way they are and ask ' Why?'. I dream of things that never were and ask "Why not?".--Robert Kennedy taken from George Bernard Shaw's "Back To Methuselah" (Thanks to TomZ2) http://martiangundammodels.50megs.com/index.html

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mjohnson

Member since
August 2003
From: PA

Posted by mjohnson on Saturday, February 14, 2004 7:14 AM

I am in. Not sure if I will be able to get it done in time do to deployment but will try my best. Sounds like lots of fun. My 2 cents [2c]

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Saturday, February 14, 2004 7:28 AM

Oh boy...another group build I would love to join in on, but I have so much stuff going on right now, it's impossible (for a slacker like me!).
The frustrating thing is I just bought Dragon's "Baghdad 2003" Abrams, too...
And I do have Revell's wee 1/72 M1A1 HA (and a PE set!) waiting in the closet...
When's this build starting??

~Brian

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Saturday, February 14, 2004 1:38 PM

March 15 until June 15, Brian.

Eric

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Sunday, February 15, 2004 6:14 AM

Hmmmm...you'd think I'd be able to get that li'l Revell HA done in three months...
Thanks for the info, T-Man! (J-Hulk obviously too lazy to check first post of thread!)

~Brian

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 10:05 AM

thanks for the suggestions. I like the NATO colour scheme, so for now I think I'll maybe stick with that one. I'm too afraid of the desert sand scheme. I did a couple of models that way, but they never turned out quite the way I wanted them. I generally like to work with the darker colours, as I find it easier to wash/drybrush/weather them. The results are much better in appearance.
I guess I just need more knowledge with these techniques pertaining to desert schemes.

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Monday, February 16, 2004 11:16 AM

Zokissima I know how you feel, but as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Eric

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 11:47 AM

lol, yeah you're right.
Maybe I'll give the desert scheme a go. I don't quite know yet. I still have to finish my current project before I start this one. We'll see how it goes. I think it'll be easy enough to build a 'factory-fresh' one. A base colour of tamiya buff should be ok, washed with burnt umber. But I have NO CLUE as to how to weather a tank with this scheme.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 16, 2004 12:20 PM

Hi there
I might b able 2 join in. Just got an academy nitro stadium truck so the parents' bank balance might be to low.(They r expensive over here). But maybe i can get a kit 4 my B-Day. 7th of next month so wish me luck.

Will let u guys know.

Keep well.

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 1:02 PM

You might want to look ahead into what kind of kit you want to build, as in scale, manufacturer, etc.
I'm not very familiar with any scale other than 1/35, in terms of armor, so I don't quite know what to suggest. However, in the 1/35 scale, there are pleanty of kits around. The more expensive mainstream ones are the Tamiya and Italeri kits. Trumpeter makes 3 or 4 different kits of the M1Ax, and they're fairly cheap. HobbyCraft also has one, albeit a reboxed Trumpeter kit :)
I don't know about Dragon. Personally, I'm not a fan. I have so far only built one Dragon kit, of the MAZ-543 TEL, and the quality of that kit was less than average. It took me weeks of cleanup and prep work, so much so that at the end, I got so tired I didn't even bother to add any details such as cables, etc.
Maybe someone else out there has suggestions...

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 16, 2004 1:35 PM

By the way how do i upload on Rons site. Never done it before.

Thanx a lot.

Keep well.

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Monday, February 16, 2004 3:59 PM

Zokissima, I plan on trying both paint schemes (Desert Sand and NATO cammo) for each of my M1's. For the build I'm probably paint it Desert Sand. The NATO cammo sounds and looks pretty cool. I'm just a bit tired of three color cammo jobs right now.

Eric

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 4:52 PM

Maybe I'll wait till you start, tigerman, then you could give me a few pointers. I think I'll go back and re-read that superdetailing article in FSM. Maybe then I can get enough guts to do the desert sand scheme

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Dwight Ta-ala

Member since
July 2003
From: Philippines

Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Monday, February 16, 2004 5:34 PM

zokissima,

If you are doing the desert camo try Tamiya's Dark Yellow as base coat. I did 2 M1a1s in desert camo and dark yellow seems to work just fine. You can use a light coat of buff to simulate dust on the tank.

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 5:42 PM

that's a great idea. I think I'll try that. See, that's what had me confused. I saw a few articles in TMMI (tamiya's mag) where the authors used buff as a basecoat, but failed to explain how they weathered the damn thing. I usually use a lot of buff as a 'dust' coat, so using that instead as a base-coat had me confused
thx!

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Dwight Ta-ala

Member since
July 2003
From: Philippines

Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Monday, February 16, 2004 5:51 PM

If you want to check out what my M1 looked liked using dark yellow, here are the links to my site. These are not very good but might give you an idea of the color outcome if you use dark yellow as base coat and buff as final coat.

http://www.geocities.com/ddta_ala/m1a1.htm

http://www.geocities.com/ddta_ala/m1a1ha.htm

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Monday, February 16, 2004 6:03 PM

Wow, that's a pretty good result. Maybe I'll give it a shot. Can you tell me how you finished the tracks?
Also, I noticed some very subtle 'shading' between the panel lines (second link, second picture) of the side-skirts. How did you accomplish this? Did you basecoat, then 'pre-shade' or preshade then basecoat?
Either way, the results are great.

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Dwight Ta-ala

Member since
July 2003
From: Philippines

Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Monday, February 16, 2004 6:11 PM

For the tracks:

1.) Steel portions - gun metal / rubber blocks - flat black
2.) First wash - thinned flat earth + dark brown
3.) Drybrush steel portions - metallic grey then chrome silver (just lightly)
rubber blocks - grey
4.) 2nd wash - thinned buff
5.) Dust coat - light spray coat of buff

Panel lines: Pastel chalk - black

However, preshading is also a good way to achieve this. I recently did a desert sherman and I did not use pastel chalk. I just preshaded it using desert yellow + flat black. Here is what it looked like:

http://www.geocities.com/ddta_ala/M51_sherman

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:49 AM

Good job on the super sherman (it is a super sherman, right? Looks like the academy kit. Built one not too long ago myself)
The shading here looks much more subtle. I haven't ever really used pastels to accentuate panel lines, but the result looks really fine, and in scale. I think I'll try it out on some scraps this weekend :)

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:00 AM

that's a nice M1A1-Ha Dwight!

i also like the "chocolate-chip" camo scheme on the figures!
what colors are those?
my iraqi freedom M1A1-HA doesn't have figures but i have some spares from the M60 box i'm planning to use.

and Dwight, am sorry but what is a Buff? is it a color? am really sorry for asking that.

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:10 AM

yep, it's a Tamiya colour. I forget the xf designation. It's a light sandy colour. Works really well (if thinned A LOT) as a dust coat for models. Just the perfect shade :)

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:32 AM

kewl, thanks zokissima!

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:36 AM

Well, this settles it. I'm going to have to jump on the band wagon and get my self an M1 kit for the GB, Im thinking Tamyia's M1A1HA. I can't take it any more I will just have to bump back a few things. I posted a few pictures of an vanilla M1A1s tracks on a different thread guys, it has been driving around on sand and loose dirt for about a week and you can get an idea of what they end up looking like.

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15168

Andrews.

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zokissima

Member since
July 2003
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by zokissima on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:54 AM

Thanks for the referral to the thread. THe pics are great. If anything, I'm even more undecided what kind of a colour scheme to go for. Those pics are absolutely inspiring. maybe the three-colour scheme it is :)

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ARMOR - M1 Abrams Group Build