1990-1991 Gulf War 25th Anniversary Group Build

Thanks B1

Stik

Please add any of the pictures u like in the completed section up front. Do we have a GB badge?

That is one really sweet Cat PJ, love the finish and would never have thought of that wear where the wings sweep into the aircraft.

I will add a pic to the front now. The badge is on page 3, but to save you searching, here it is.

Thanks Bish. Yea the staining is from the wing swept mechanism these cats had.

PJ, your 'Cat looks outstanding! She has been added to the roster. Very well done! 

11B, welcome back for your second build. I look forward to seeing what you are gonna do here.

Bish, again, thanks for the assist. Your help over the past few months with these GBs has truly been a blessing for me. 

No worries stik, its a pleasure to help out when i can.

I've been following along quietly, hoping that I'd be able to jump in here.  I don't know that this will be as good as some of the other work I've seen in this GB, but I'll give it my all.

My brother has been asking me to build an Abrams for him for quite some time, and I had the Academy kit in the stash for a few years so I figured there's no time like the present.  I'm not much of an armor modeler and I've read a few reviews of the kit and from what I've seen it's not too accurate.  That's fine because I'm not a rivet counter and neither is he.  Plus, this is a good chance for me to get in some practice with armor before I tackle the more complex armor kits in the stash.  Here's the box art:

I also found some decals for a Desert Storm tank from the 2nd Armored Division.

And here's where I am so far; the wheels are assembled, holes in the bottom hull are filled, and the back of the lower hull is together.  There is a hole in the back above the exhaust, I'll probably put a sheet of styrene in there to blank it out.

Unfortunately the instructions aren't all that great, and I'm not sure how these rings should look on the drive wheels, any suggestions?

Lastly, there are no clear pieces in this kit so I'll probably have to cut some out of clear plastic for all the hatches and viewports.

Accurate shmackurate. For yours and ours, even sourcing the right decals is a huge step.

Those rings need to be far enough apart for the guide teeth on the tracks to fit between.

As far as those vision ports, fill them in and paint them black. Clear is no help at all.

Silentbob, you are welcome to jump aboard. If you go OOB, that kit should build up easy and fast. The biggest inaccuracy with that kit is the turret dimensions- Academy did not add the additional frontal armor thickness, so it is something like 4mm or 5mm too short IIRC. And some of the hull details are for earlier M1 versions. As far as the open vision blocks go, I do not recall if they had the anti laser coating on optics at that time so the cheap otion of using mylar confetti is out if that is the case. But some simple sprue sanded to fit and painted appropriately will work- even clear stuff painted with clear green.

Bob

get yourself some Testors clear parts cement and dab the inside in layers to build up the thickness to make the glass ports. When dry paint the inside Tamiya transparent green and voila!

We had anti-laser coating on optics on the Bradley and Abrams during Desert Storm. Also had anti-skid coating applied to out vehicles as well.

I use Rustoleum Textured spray (buy it a Lowes)...maske off the areas without anti-slip and spray...and it done. My M1A1 I am doing for the build with anti-slip applied...

Got some work done today on the M1A1...starting to look like a tank now. I plan on getting a good bit done this weekend as I am off work till Monday....  

Starting to look like a proper mean Abrams 11B 

Looking nice 11B.

PE parts are a pain! Thank goodness for my optivisor or I would not be able to work with it...plus they like to go flying alot...least I have hardwood floors and not carpet...I am at 75% find vs permantly loss rate

Got the M1 shaded and primer applied. Used flat balck to shade and Army/Marines Sand as a primer. I will let it dry for at least 24 hrs and try to paint the primary color (Sand FS33531) tomorrow night. Starting to come togather nicely. 

silentbob33

Looking really good! I probably won't try to put the anti skid coating on this time around. Looking at it and seeing all the molded on grab handles seems like it would be too much trouble to try and mask them all.

 

Its not that big of deal unless you are going to enter it into a contest. I am entering this and my M2 Bradley in a local contest in March as a diorama...so I have to go the extra mile. I am far from a "rivet counter" as long as it looks like whatever I am building when I am done I am happy...I do this for a hobby and to relax, so I dont worry about the minutiae of every detail.

Elevenbravo87

 

 

silentbob33

Looking really good! I probably won't try to put the anti skid coating on this time around. Looking at it and seeing all the molded on grab handles seems like it would be too much trouble to try and mask them all.

 

 

 

 

Its not that big of deal unless you are going to enter it into a contest. I am entering this and my M2 Bradley in a local contest in March as a diorama...so I have to go the extra mile. I am far from a "rivet counter" as long as it looks like whatever I am building when I am done I am happy...I do this for a hobby and to relax, so I dont worry about the minutiae of every detail.

 

 

I tend not to worry about it either, I just like to push myself. I don't intend on ever entering anything in a contest. Like you if it looks like what it's supposed to then it's good enough for me. Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out for the anti skid coating by the time I'm ready to build the OIF version that's sitting in my stash.

There is some neat stuff happening on here.  I'm thinking of joining up with a model of the U.S.S. SARATOGA CV-60.  She hasn't been started yet and would be a cross over with the carrier grooup build going on.  If that's ok? 

Thanks,

Bill

Scorp you are more than welcome to join up with the Sara. We still have a good six weeks or so left to run here.

The M1 is about 85% done now...mostly fiddly bits to add and stowage left to build and paint, as well as clear coat, decals, flat coat and finally weathering...looks like a M1 ready to roll at least.

Nice to see the paint on the M1, she is looking good.

Looking really good 11B!  Progress on my end has been a little slow.  It seems like every little part has some kind of ejector pin mark on it.  It's a long processs getting them all filled in and sanded.  I have the turret just about done, all I really have to do is the basket along the sides and back.

These are the styrene blanks I put in for the optics.

silentbob33

Looking really good 11B!  Progress on my end has been a little slow.  It seems like every little part has some kind of ejector pin mark on it.  It's a long processs getting them all filled in and sanded.  I have the turret just about done, all I really have to do is the basket along the sides and back.

These are the styrene blanks I put in for the optics.

 

 

 

It's hard to tell, but it looks like your Abraams might have the anti-slip coating already molded on the turret.  I've done anti-slip before on two Abraams, it sounds daunting, but it's really an easy detail to add.

Abraams can be fun to build,  that's why I did two of them, the dirty little secret though is that just about all of the 1:35 Abraams tanks on the market are based off the same Tamiya tooling.  Some use more of it then others, but side by side you'd probably notice similarities that go beyond the fact that they're replicating the same subject.  For example, the top hull piece is the same for both yours and 11Bs kits, complete with all the nitpicky flaws like the missing anti-slip and the misplaced grab handle.

If it's not too late, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring.  I've been sitting around the house lately, itching for something to do, so I dug an old RM 1:48 scale A-10 out of my stash.  This thing's been sitting in a box for probably 20 years, but I figured I have nothing better to do.  Also, this gives me an excuse to break out the two Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons: C kits that have been sitting in my stash since the last time I did a modern jet fighter, which is probably close to 10 years.

I forgot how easily RM kits come together, in a couple of hours I got the wings and fuselage assembed:

Looks like our VII Corps left hook is shaping up nicely with a couple of Abrams and an A-10 for air support! Outstanding work so far fellas 

stikpusher

Looks like our VII Corps left hook is shaping up nicely with a couple of Abrams and an A-10 for air support! Outstanding work so far fellas 

 

My Abrams is XVIII Airborne Corp ...