Academy M1A1 1/35 Scale

[Bill L.]

Very nice Bill!  Very nice.

Bill L.

[Ryan K]

Thanks Ryan for the input. Those should be pretty easy corrections to make. I do not know what that big box is for in the bustle rack. I thought it might be an AC unit or something to keep the crew cool. I can take it off and throw some rucksacks or MRE'S in there or something. When I was at NTC when I was in the Army we are told to stay off the desert floor when the Abrams and Bradleys were around. If they ran us over they would not even know it ! At night we always went up to high ground to avoid becoming a "crunchy"

The box in bustle rack is the APU - Auxiliary Power Units. That needs to stay. It allows all the stuff to work without firing up the engines.

The MCD is the box to the left on it needs to go.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/CWO3/CARNIVORE/DSCF0297.jpg

Now to confuse you the Army does but something in it's place but only for the M1A2, it looks similar but does very different stuff.
http://www.armedforces-int.com/upload/image_files/articles/images/companies/1014/GDland12.jpg

No ac in the tank, the only "ac" is when we turn the blower on for the spotting 240g that is
inside and parallel to the main gun to clear out the smoke. The 240G is on left.
http://data3.primeportal.net/tanks/rob_mccune/m1a1/images/m1a1_036_of_586.jpg

Yes, if we ran you over or some vehicles/tree we would not know. After I left my unit a drunk women ran the road guard and her engine block was run over. I am told that guys inside thought they were driving over the curb. We try to look out for the 'crunchies' as we call them but things happen.

[Bill L2]

Thanks Ryan for the input. Those should be pretty easy corrections to make. I do not know what that big box is for in the bustle rack. I thought it might be an AC unit or something to keep the crew cool. I can take it off and throw some rucksacks or MRE'S in there or something. When I was at NTC when I was in the Army we are told to stay off the desert floor when the Abrams and Bradleys were around. If they ran us over they would not even know it ! At night we always went up to high ground to avoid becoming a "crunchy"

[Ryan K]

Bill,

I really like the hog. A couple of small things I see. In front of the tracks, there is a flap that comes down that should be black, if painted it would be heavily chipped since it is made out of rubber. The commander cupola has visors going around the flat side that need to be painted like a shiny dark blue color. I don't recall the Army using the MCD, which is the box object on the right side as you look at it. It's hard to see but it looks like you painted the turret ring for the M240g, the small machine gun. That should be shiny silver, I don't recall if it was aluminum or steel but it was unpainted. Again I really like the build. I really need to build a few of mine.

[Bill L2]

I just finished up my M1A1 MBT. Overall a very nice/fun kit to build. The paint I used is called ez model-maker (I think thats what its called) and it was like spraying latex house paint! All weathering was done with the airbrush. A black base coat, cover coat, pre shaded with brown then the second cover coat. Then a gloss coat, decals, oil pin wash with burnt umber and then a flat coat. I made a little base to display the Abrams in its natural setting. I also added a visual recognition panel to the turret top so an Apache or Cobra dont engage the Abrams in a friendly fire incident. Now I have an Abrams in my modern tank collection! Now its back to planes