roger_wilco

It's looking really good Toshi.I have a few armor kits but most are 1/76-1/72 scale. Keep up the good work and you'll be commanding that tank in battle before you know it!

 

Toshi

To my fellow forum members,

I went to my MENTIS therapy appointment today and was encourged to bring my finished M1A1 Abrams to my next meeting.  I told I'll just drive it over there.  LOL!  They freaked out thinking I was crazy or just plain joking. Well, I happen to be both.  LOL!

Below, you'll find photos of my progress, as far as the hull and top half, nothing is glued together just yet.  I still have the accessories to assemble and paint as well as weathering the M1A1.  Until that point, please enjoy my work on this Columbus Holiday!

Toshi

Wow. You've gotten that pretty much assembled already. Keep on it!  :D

M. Brindos

Wow. You've gotten that pretty much assembled already. Keep on it!  :D

 

Toshi

To my fellow forum members,

To do or not to do, do now or later?  These were some of the questions that was going through my mind last night.  What did I mean by this?  Do I spray a wash like I do on my aircraft?  Or do I hmmmm?  

Then I remembered I purchased several Tamiya weathering kits.  These kits are specially made for what else?  Armour!  I use these kits on my aircraft as you can lightly dust the powder in.  The Tamiya weathering kits look like cosmetic eye shadow cases.  Even the applicator is actually a cosmetic tool. These are split into three colors, I have two so I have a choice of six colors.

Snow, Soot, Rust, Sand, Light Sand, and Mud.  Those are the choices available and is the exact colors in sequence.  I realized that if these Abrams served in a desert, there's an abundance of sand.  

Very lightly I applied with a stiff brush the colors of Sand, Light Sand, Rust, and Soot with a simple soft application as all the M1A1's were not dirty from mud, but were wind blown in sand.  

Depicted is U.S. Marine, C Company, 1st Battalion, Iraq, March 2003.  Please enjoy my very first build of a tank.  Thank you all for your help with this build, I could have never completed this without your help!

Toshi

Toshi,

She looks great! You should be proud of your effort as it looks ready for action.  Looks like you and I both were working on models yesterday. I finished up my 1/72 Academy F4F-4 Wildcat this morning. I'll post some photos today or tomorrow. Again congrats on a job well done.

Hey Toshi-she looks good!!! 

There does look to be some silvering in the decals in the first two photos and a small gap in theback plate in the third but frankly for your first tank very nice work- much better than my first five or ten or so!

Oh, and paint the headlights in the last photo! Easy fix there!  

roger_wilco

Toshi,

She looks great! You should be proud of your effort as it looks ready for action.  Looks like you and I both were working on models yesterday. I finished up my 1/72 Academy F4F-4 Wildcat this morning. I'll post some photos today or tomorrow. Again congrats on a job well done.

 

I will look out for your F4F-4 Wildcat, believe it or not, I'm more excited than you are for your Wildcat thread.

Toshi

Gamera

Hey Toshi-she looks good!!! 

There does look to be some silvering in the decals in the first two photos and a small gap in theback plate in the third but frankly for your first tank very nice work- much better than my first five or ten or so!

Oh, and paint the headlights in the last photo! Easy fix there!  

 

Toshi

To my fellow forum members of the Armour thread,

I want to thank you all for being such gracious hosts and welcoming me to this build of mine.  The overall help, support, and everyday comments were of such value to me!  I really had fun here.  

I'll be building a Tamiya 1:48 Skyraider, I'd like to have everyone here stop by and see my progress.  As always any comments and or critiques is a must!!!  I can only learn, and continue in my quest to build model kits half as good as forum members builds.  Again, thank you.

Toshi

I'm really surprised you tried the liquid cement on those decals! That's a risky trick. I'm surprised they are still silvered after that as well. That trick usually disolves the carrier film.

I'm going to suggest a sludge wash to bring out those details, my friend. I'm pretty sure you need to have more fun with this model.  ;)

Mike has a good idea there with the sludge wash. It's pretty easy and if you don't like it you can just wash the whole thing off. 

I must confess on my second tank build I sprayed it with Tamiya acrylics and then hit it with a heavy coat of Testor's Dullcote from the spray can. I hadn't paid attention to the part about 'do not use over acrylic paint'. Yes, it discoloured the paint and made part of it run- you're ahead of me there Toshi! 

Looks pretty good. I'd spend more time weathering it. Also, it needs antennas.

Weathering is the funnest part, Toshi. :D

M. Brindos

I'm really surprised you tried the liquid cement on those decals! That's a risky trick. I'm surprised they are still silvered after that as well. That trick usually disolves the carrier film.

I'm going to suggest a sludge wash to bring out those details, my friend. I'm pretty sure you need to have more fun with this model.  ;)

 

Toshi

Gamera

Mike has a good idea there with the sludge wash. It's pretty easy and if you don't like it you can just wash the whole thing off. 

I must confess on my second tank build I sprayed it with Tamiya acrylics and then hit it with a heavy coat of Testor's Dullcote from the spray can. I hadn't paid attention to the part about 'do not use over acrylic paint'. Yes, it discoloured the paint and made part of it run- you're ahead of me there Toshi! 

 

Toshi

GMorrison

Looks pretty good. I'd spend more time weathering it. Also, it needs antennas.

 

Toshi

M. Brindos

Weathering is the funnest part, Toshi. :D

 

Toshi

Go get 'er Toshi! Have some fun!  ;)

Thats a nice looking first armour build Toshi, and I am sure you have learnt plenty of lessons for the next one.

Bish

That a nice look first armour build Toshi, and I am sure you have learnt plenty of lessons for the next one.

 

Toshi

Since everyone was getting in on the fun, I wanted to throw a quick picture of my (first) tank up as well. Same make and model- first time that I've tried out a lot of techniques. You really get a lot of leeway with tanks in the way of weathering! 

Nice job Toshi, it looks like you are a seasoned armor builder. Great work.

BK

Josh Ryder

Since everyone was getting in on the fun, I wanted to throw a quick picture of my (first) tank up as well. Same make and model- first time that I've tried out a lot of techniques. You really get a lot of leeway with tanks in the way of weathering! 

 

BrandonK

Nice job Toshi, it looks like you are a seasoned armor builder. Great work.

BK

 

Toshi

Toshi

 

 

Gamera

Mike has a good idea there with the sludge wash. It's pretty easy and if you don't like it you can just wash the whole thing off. 

I must confess on my second tank build I sprayed it with Tamiya acrylics and then hit it with a heavy coat of Testor's Dullcote from the spray can. I hadn't paid attention to the part about 'do not use over acrylic paint'. Yes, it discoloured the paint and made part of it run- you're ahead of me there Toshi! 

 

 

 

 

Oh Boy!!!!!  Gamera, I did spray Testor's dullcoat from a spray can onto acrylics.  I'm shocked that the Abrams hasn't been affected at all!  LOL!  

 

Toshi

 

Sorry to sound the alarm- if it didn't have any effect by now you're fine. It will only affect the acrylic when it's wet. When I said I put down a heavy coat I meant I flooded it on! You can get away with using the Dullcote if you spray a couple of mist coats, they dry fast enough not to affect the paint underneath. Seems like you went slow enough not to have any problems.

I weathered the Abrams based on a couple of real life photos via Google.  Per GMorrison, antennas were needed.  I tried sprue to no avail.  My hands are too shakey for that.  So I'm thinking electrical wires?  Any suggestions fellow forum members?  

Toshi

You're not quite done with that yet Toshi. You have to scrub some of that off again to get the effect. You only did the first half of the job.

Like panel line washes on aircraft. ;)

P.S. If you lose those decals you'd be better for it at this point lol. I have better ones that I can send to you if you're interested. Since those didn't work out so well to begin with.