Measure 32/3d would look pretty good.... although just much smaller scale lol. i have seen something similar to that on what was (i think) a british Challenger tank, but it was white/madium grey/ and a tannish grey. i was thinking of doing it in a WWII german panzer style, except a much lighter grey than the dark panzer hide..... im definetly keeping that measure 32 in mind though. and a winter camo scheme also still nags at me... covering the tracks in mud would be a big help in finishing, painting all those track pads black and the connectors and guidehors a different color is going to take FOREVER lol.

MMMM Measure 32 would be sweet!  It has a dark grey, white and black.  Or even the Measure 22 like what was on the Alabama and Washington.  Here is a link if you want to look at the various measures.

www.shipcamouflage.com/warship_camouflage.htm

Kim

Thanks Kim!

BTW, im trying to think of ideas for paint schemes....... kind of drawing a blank on that one. im reeeeeeeally trying to steer away from the two or three tone black/brown/OD of the NATO style paint job and not really sold on the Desert Tan one either. i was thinking something alont two or three tone hard edged urban camo... almost like WWII ship camo. any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Very nice.  I love the concept and the inspiration that you have provided.

Keep up the good work.

Kim

Okie doke, got a little work done.

So, here is the basic, final layout. the turret will house the single 220mm main gun, tracks will be 3 tread plates wide (i think i mentioned that waaaaay back), two fully enclosed "TUSK" style .50 turrets on top, and a midified mine plow on the front. as you can kind of tell, i got the basic top of the hull in place, over the tracks and the slightly sloping plate on the front glued in place.

i filled the gap with styrene chunks dissolved in the pink-label Testors styrene cement, and the gap between the glacis plate and sloping upper hull peice will be filled somehow.... either by the dissolved styrene method and sanding or just shims.... i will get to it soon, as well as the sink mark on the plow piece in the center lol.

during some "test fitting" runs, i realise that the gap between the turret and hull (with the height i wanted the turret at) would be a terrible shot trap. so, as i was not happy with the "wavy" lines on the turret bottom of the turret due to the space between the original turret front and rear pieces, as well as unsatisfied with the thinness of the armor, i decided to make some new, taller, and thicker, turret walls.....

turret before new side armor... (also notice i actualy have a roof over the back of it now lol)

and after i made some new armor out of .080'' (i believe thats about 3 scale inches) Styrene plate. the bottom edges are straight-lined like the original Abrams turret now. the difference doesent look like much here, but.....

its a lil easier to see here lol. the project is starting to pick up speed.... albeit a bit slow, but hey, progress is progress lol. im in the process of making the other armor for the left side of the turret, and getting primer down (painful task since im still in the stone age and dont have an airbrush lol) more pics to come soon:) sorry fot the slow pace, have alot goin on pullin me away from the bench.

that mine plow really looks mean when you look at it from above... or from head on lol.

im thinking thats probably what im going to do, makes more sense to go through all that work for a much bigger bang lol

ya know, i was thinking the other day: the germans made the first assault rifle, first jet fighter, had plans for the first trans-continental bomber, and also made the first 200+ ton tank...... all but one of those ideas have caught on and become a mainstay of modern military technology..... now we play the waiting game

I like the "one big gun" approach myself.

Ok, well after a (much too long) break, i have finally started to get work underway again on this monster. i have the rough work done on the hull (pics soon) and the glue is drying. i do, however, have a bit of a problem: while i was doing work on the turret, i had to hack much more than i had planned from the "type b turret" so i am going to have to make just 1 turret for the tank, im thinking the big, single gun instead of the twin 120's because a bigger tank with the same size gun (ok, two of the same sized guns) would kinda defy the purpose of a super heavy than right? thoughts?

Logan,

Looking forward to seeing more work on this beast

Cliff

just an update to anybody who is still following this ungodly slow build, i should be able to get back to building in a week or two, with this project on the top of my list. its been nice and warm up here (usually we are still worries about getting snow flurries this time of year lol) so i can start working in the garage of my new residence at a workbench. gonna feel good to get my hands covered in paint and glue again whilst getting a headach from the smell of melting plastic at the hands of the cutting wheel......ahh the joys of modeling

regards, Logan.

Oh, nice job on the PE for the MG, I always make a mess of small parts like that.

And nice catch on the BB gun barrel

well a small update here.

i found something to use as a barrell for the big single gun: my little brother got an airsoft BB Gun for christmas and broke it...but the metal barrel is plenty long enough to be trimmed to fit and the inside diameter is approximatley 220mm in scale... a bit more than originally planned but a bigger gun is never a problem lol

i got one of the Verlinden .50 cals built so i could start the TUSK style turrets for the top of the main turret. this is the first PE work i've had to do where you actually have to fold the brass, not just glue on a screen. not to toot my own horn but i think i did pretty well for a first shot.

 here is a shot of the turret progress after about a half hour of work (excluding the work time on the MG)

 this turret (built on the M1A2 commanders hatch) will be on the single gun main turret with an identical one over what would normally be the loaders hatch on an unmodified turret. i am going to build two more with the kit mgs to go on the twin gun main turret as well. these TUSK turrets will have full sidewalls, more like the turrets on top of the HUMVEEs and will also have the big angled plate on the front. heres some mock-up installation pics.

 the bullet proof glass will have mounting hardware (plate frame with bolts) and weld seams added. more to come soon!

TomZ2

Any electric tank armor?

is this the stuff thats also on the newest Challenger 2?

Any electric tank armor?

TheWildChild

im still thinkin about that tiger turret on here though lol. or maybe an MLRS launcher attached to the rear of the turret...i think that would be a bit of overkill lol.

NO such thing as too much firepower! i say go for it!! put that mlrs on the back or make a temp. mock up and then decide! good luck!!

im still thinkin about that tiger turret on here though lol. or maybe an MLRS launcher attached to the rear of the turret...i think that would be a bit of overkill lol.

Yeahowww!!! That looks like one rough customer!!!!

Those Third Reich paper panzer supertanks look like wusses compared to the XM77

Definitely some nice stretch/scratch work you've got going on with this project. Have to agree, those twin barrels look mean...kind of reminds me of a battleship-style turret!

ok, finally got work started on the rear upper hull

i cut at this spot on the donor hull (it will be easiest to mount to the front part of the upper hull) and cut along the sharpie lines...

and glued the cut parts to the sides on the rear upper hull....a bit wider than a regular abrams hull eh? still working out exactly how to stretch the roof though, i dont want to just put the front part where it would be on the hull because the turret would sit way too far forward. speaking of turret......

i cut it apart at easy-to-fix areas (mostly along panel and weld lines).....

and stretched it wider, and longer...after all, if you are packing twin main guns you need more space in the rear to store ammo...

i glued .015'' sheet styrene to the side of the hull and trimmed, sanded, and filed until the sides of the panels were all flat. .080" sheet will be added over this on the sides, front,and rear of the turret as well as places on the hull...adding an additional 2.8 scale inches of armor .52 scale inches added by the .015 styrene.........rolling steel mill anybody? lol now, all this armor is no good if it cant defend itself. since i dont yet have the 200mm main gun barrel, this will be the twin gun turret.

the 120mm gun barrels went together pretty roughly...after i ran the inside joints over a file for a few minutes they fit better. i glued the mantets together first, then put the barrels in...since they fit pretty loosly i could then make sure they were the same elevation and same direction laterally.

heres  the turret in relation to a can of building fuel.(haha) i had to make a piece for the top of the turret so i could fit the second M1A1 style periscope hatch on the other side of the turret. using a circle cutter i sliced a hole in the "patch" that will help cover the massive holes in the top of the turret and glued it on.

this is how it looks so far...

...really starting to look like a tank eh? Gamera i am beginning to think this was a very very good idea:)

more to come soon!

nah not at all. it actually will keep me from needing a second spares box lol.

Sounds cool! Hope you don't get mad at me for making extra work though

Gamera

 

You know the more I look at her the more I'd be tempted to widen the turret too and install twin main guns

i did a quick inventory of whats parts i'd be using, and im pretty certian i will be making TWO turrets for this tank...one with the 200mm main gun, and one with two 120mm main guns. Gamera thank you for bringing that up, otherwise i wouldnt have actually done it lol.

got the upper hull started. cut off the side skirts and now just trying to figure out where to cut up, seperate, and extend the hull. lots of panels with strange shapes and angles make this more difficult than one might think lol.

TomZ2

 

Gamera:

 

Hey, Sledgehammer works for me too.

I was thinking 'Eisenhower' might work as a general's name as well.

 

 

“Eisenhower”? “McAuliffe” !!! General Anthony Clement McAuliffe
(July 2, 1898 – August 11, 1975) “NUTS!”

Lol, yeah McAuliffe works for me too

TomZ2

 

Gamera:

 

Hey, Sledgehammer works for me too.

I was thinking 'Eisenhower' might work as a general's name as well.

 

 

“Eisenhower”? “McAuliffe” !!! General Anthony Clement McAuliffe
(July 2, 1898 – August 11, 1975) “NUTS!”

if i dont go with Juggernaut or Sledgehammer i will go with this lol

Gamera

Hey, Sledgehammer works for me too.

I was thinking 'Eisenhower' might work as a general's name as well.

“Eisenhower”? “McAuliffe” !!! General Anthony Clement McAuliffe
(July 2, 1898 – August 11, 1975) “NUTS!”

Or Franks.  That would be a great general/ tank name

Kim

Ditto, Schwarzkopf. 

M77 Storm (after "Stormin" Norman Schwarzkopf) ?

Again Keeping with the General thing

Hey, Sledgehammer works for me too.

I was thinking 'Eisenhower' might work as a general's name as well.