Tamiya 1/35 M1A1 Abrams Updated with fix, page 2

Looks great, man...

Maybe fade the paint a bit, but you're right - Desert conditions leave stuff dusty but clean...

Looks pretty good.  Good job on the finish and weathering.  A few pointers though.  The circular race for the loader's MG should be steel.  It is actually bare metal.  The antennas should be dark green as well, and only 2 3/4 inches long in 1/35 scale.  The wheel center hubs should be painted a black with a sand colored nut in the center.  They are actually clear and filled with oil.  They are clear so the crew can quickly check to ensure there is plenty of oil to lubricate the hub.  Here is how they look.

Lastly, you need to paint the periscopes around the commander's cupola.  The actual ones have r iridescent anti-laser coating.  To represent this, I find it best to first paint them black.  Next, put on a couple coats of clear red, then a couple coats of clear gloss.  This gives  a good, thick finish that changes color when looked at from different angles, just like the real thing.

Good job.  A couple tweaks and it can be great.

Thanks for the replies fellas.

HeavyArty, thank you very much for the tips.  I had to go with the "looks about right" length for the antennas, but now I know better I will fix those.  I wish the darn instructions would have listed such a simple detail.  I will also try your method for the windows around the commanders cupola, paint the machine gun race and wheel hubs.  I can't believe I actually missed something so simple as the windows around the cupola.......

Brian

Brian,

I'm glad you decided to continue working on this one! Very nice work.

Nate

Hi Brian,

Nice Abrams, I like the subtle weathering effects.

Apart from Gino's observations and suggestions, I believe you have the ammo box/mount on the wrong side of the 0.50 Cal. It should be an easy fix though.

  Nice Abrams you have there. The details the other chaps have picked out would really make it!  But i still think it is really great so far.

  What is the box on the right hand rear? Is it the APU?   If it is...i have never seen one mounted here before. I have only ever seen APU's at the rear of the turret. Interesting.

   Great job..

    Boomer...

Boomerang

 What is the box on the right hand rear? Is it the APU?   If it is...i have never seen one mounted here before. I have only ever seen APU's at the rear of the turret. Interesting.  

Hey Boomer,

It is indeed the "early" APU, which was used up till the early 90's (?) and mounted as you see, on the rear right of the hull. This was superseded by the bustle rack APU.

AI believe you have the ammo box/mount on the wrong side of the 0.50 Cal.

Yup, good eye.  Simply swap it to the left side of the gun and you will be good.

Hey fellas,

Man, I don't know how I screwed up the ammo feed rack.  I am a gun guy and should have KNOWN better. .  I popped that off and fixed it to the other side.  I cut down the antennas (my "Looks about right" method worked pretty good, the antenna were 3" as measured but I still cut off the extra 1/4") and painted them Olive Drab.  The hubs were hit with MM Burnt Umber.  And the windows got painted black and clear red as suggested.  All I have to do now is break out the artist oils and blend everything down again in the areas I worked on.  Will repost new pics when I can.

Brian

Just out of curiosity, I know the .50 can be feed from either side.  Does the mount on the Abrams not allow this function?

-Jesse

usmc1371

Just out of curiosity, I know the .50 can be feed from either side.  Does the mount on the Abrams not allow this function?

-Jesse

Not sure Jesse, I'll make a couple of assumptions here and say that on the M1A1 at least, the 0,50 is/can be fired by remote from within the turret when buttoned up and the optical sight is on the right side of the mount. If the ammo box was on the right, the field of view of the sight would be obscured. This is not the case on the M1A2, where the 0.50 is fired manually. (Different cupola design)

From doing some research, the modern M2 is still capable of being fed from either side.  It just requires some reconfiguration of the internal components which can be done in less than a minute with no tools. 

I image then the the mount for the .50 cal on the Abrams limits the ability for it to be fed from either side.

-Jesse   

This looks great, Brian, worn but not abused.  Man, there sure is a lot of colective knowledge here, isn't there.

Nice pictures, too.

Bill 

Bill, thank you for your kind words.  You are right, this forum is a wonderful place, helpful and knowledgable, and friendly to boot!

Ok, so here we go.  The latest update with all the fixes done:

Better?

Brian

Looks good, Brian.  I like the weathering especially since I'm not a "mud and rust" kind of modeler.  Keep up the good work.

agentg

I love the overall finish. What you did with the basecoat is just stunning.

Good Job Brian!

Thanks G!  I have come to find the best modelling tool purchase I have made to date was to upgrade to a Badger Renegade Velocity airbrush.  My other Badger has served me well, but the kind of detailing I can get with the Renegade has opened up great possibilities for me.  I spent a good 3 hours working on the basecoat between spraying the Desert Yellow base to finishing the last of the Buff highlighting.  It was a long paint session, but I am very pleased with the results.

USMC1371, thank you for your comments.  I too like a nice "lived in" but not abused look.  I think there are plenty of skilled modellers here who turn out some gorgeous mud, rust, and in "dead and burned" looks.  But for me I like building dirty but not thrashed.

Brian

Nice work...Weathering is light but there....that is a matter of choice. I try not to heavy weather but some people are dirt nuts!!.

Rounds Complete!!

   Those minor detail changes look good. Now i want to start my Aussie Abrams kits. One is planned for the one colour sand camo and the other is for the new three colour camo. The new one is cool. Bah.....so many projects to do...

    Very nice photos too by the way.

   Boomer...

Nice work on t this one Brian, the subtle weathering is just the right touch for this one IMHO.

Redleg and Bill, thanks my friends, I appreciate the kind words!

Boomerang, I have been considering doing some kind of Aussie armor.  So far I have built American, Russian, German and now have started on British armor, but for a while now I have had a hankerin to do something in Australian markings.  Been toying around with some options.

Brian

   And what are the options you have been toying around with?

   Boomer...

Hey Boomerang,

I have tossed around the possibility of:

Vickers Light Tank

Matilda

or even a captured Fiat M13/40 (just imagine that thing with the kangaroo's painted all over it!!!)

Problem is I have not really delved into decal sources for these kits.  So I don't know what I could realistically do with the above ideas.

Brian

 New Hampshire....  Heavyarty pointed out the colour of the TC's cupola vision block lenses. Just out of interest, looking at your new pics the drivers lenses are coloured too. One pic of your model shows clear lenses over a sand colour. Only trivial again. But colouring these would break up the sand colour and look great. The middle block is blue and the two outer ones are red.

Also, you said you wanted some contest at the rear where the engine grills are. Your exhaust stains are spot on!! They look exactly like the Abrams at where i work. If you want to contrast it more, the Aussie Abrams have two of the three grills black (not sure if all Abrams are like this). The paint burns off these real fast (the heat from the rear of an Abrams is tremendous. You don't want to get to close and the smell is quite sickening. If ours go out on a publc road i do believe they attach a warning sign for the public to stay back at least 30 metres. No tailgating these baby's!!

 Here are some pics to show you the coloured vision blocks and the black grills.......

Don't get me wrong......your tank is great. I have saved all the pics. Hope you don't mind... Your paint job is really fantastic. Wish i could paint like that!! You've got talent man!!

Oh, by the way, you said you are baulking at doing a world war two Aussie tank because of the markings.? I remembered Italeri do the captured Italian tank you mentioned. They do the 1/35 Carro Armato M13/40 with the markings for the catured Aussie tank. Has biiig Kangaroos on it!! It doesn't show it on the box art but the decal sheet has the markings you want.  I looked it up for you. It's kit number 6213. It's a limited edition kit. I have been thinking of getting one too.

Anyway, hope all this stuff is of interest to you...

Boomerang

Also, you said you wanted some contest at the rear where the engine grills are. Your exhaust stains are spot on!! They look exactly like the Abrams at where i work. If you want to contrast it more, the Aussie Abrams have two of the three grills black (not sure if all Abrams are like this). The paint burns off these real fast (the heat from the rear of an Abrams is tremendous. You don't want to get to close and the smell is quite sickening. If ours go out on a publc road i do believe they attach a warning sign for the public to stay back at least 30 metres. No tailgating these baby's!!

   

 

Hey Boomer,

There are three segments to the rear grille. In the pic above, you can see the engine exhaust in the centre, surrounded by the mounting flange for the DWFK (Deep Water Fording Kit). Left and right of the engine exhaust are the transmission cooling air outlets. These outlets don't get as hot as the exhaust and don't get "burnt" like the main exhaust.  I'm surprised that our tanks don't mount the exhaust deflectors when they get driven on public roads..

   Phil.... your right mate. The grills either side of the actual turbine exhaust don't get near as hot. I work for BAE at Puckapunyal and have been watching with keen interest the painting of the new camo colours. It only takes a couple of manouvers from the paint shop and the paint has burnt off.  I have never seen any of the SOA Abrams with exhaust deflectors at Pucka.  Mind you i don't think they would get to far out on the road. Not very reliable i'm afraid. . Most of the ones at SOA are down and out at the moment. If they are taken anywhere it is always on the MAN Tank Transporters.

  Needless to say they are an awesome looking tank and i love the sound of the gas turbine engine.  The new colours make them look a lot smaller.....but maybe they just shrunk in the paint booth...

  The M88's look great in the new camo as well

  Boomer...

I'll be interested to see what they look like in Aussie 3-tone.

I'm guessing we'll have to wait till the official "public release" photos though.

  Mouse House Enterprises is showing illustrations of the new cam on their website. I saw it tonight. It gives you an idea. But unfortuneately they have it wrong. Not sure where they got the camo plans from. It's close but it's wrong...[8-) At Pucka 7 tanks were painted and then the scheme was changed.

http://www.mheaust.com.au/Aust/Research/Abrams.htm

Boomer...

Hey Boomerang,

Choosing a route for weathering was tough.  I spent 3 hours looking at picture after picture and was surprised how clean these things remained.  I found rear grills that were all black, some with just the middle grille in a burnt umber color, and a majority all still sand colored.  In the end I decided to just go with some Tamiya Clear Smoke and went that route.

And thanks for the info on the Italeri kit.  You are my hero!!!!  The Carro really is my first choice simply because the novelty of those massive kangaroo decals would be, IMHO simply AWESOME.  Seriously, just think about being an ANZAC out there, plucking away with your rifle, when all of a sudden this little tank comes speeding by covered in white 'roos.......Yup, I am sold on the Italeri kit!

Brian

I just found out the Tamiya kit also comes with the kangaroo decals!  I am more inclined to go with the Tamiya simply for the extra upgrades (metal barrel, photo etch) but also the link and length tracks.  Plus, what experience I have with Italeri kits, I would pay the extra cash just to not have to deal with all those ejector pin marks that the Tamiya kit would not have.

Brian