Getting inspriation from Bill's build of the USMC Abrams... here's my current WIP. This one is being built up as an Army Abrams from the 3-69 Armored regiment, 3rd ID, from the Echelon decal set.



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Thank you all for answering my many questions. I'm sure there will be a few more by the time it's all over.

Looking good so far. You may want to recheck your refernaces on the black back portion of the barrel though. It is more likely dark green. Replacement parts come in sand or dark green. Keep up the good work.

Yup, it is dark green. Just a camera exposure issue. I played with the settings to get the sand color looking more accurate, and it make the green turn black'ish. The grenade launchers were also green based on photos, so I haven't attached them yet.

Gino, thanks for the help!

Since I now have my own thread... as you can probably see in the background, I've got the Legends stowage kit.

What color would the rucksacks and duffle bags be? I've seen both dark green, and camo.

Also, the MRE boxes from the legends set are a lot different from the ones included with the Dragon kit. Which is accurate?

The rucksacks and duffle bags should all be green. They are all ALICE gear in the Legends set. ALICE gear was/is all green, with the exception of a few pieces in Woodland camo. The MREs in the Legend set are also better. Go with them.,

update...

Having issues with the Echelon decals... see separate thread below:

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=forums/161682&page=1

So I guess the project is at least sorta on hold.

Update. Had to mask and paint a few things, but in general, the decals went on with some effort. Thanks Echelon for putting multiple instances of some of the smaller text since you're bound to mess up a few. Also, for anyone else with old Echelon decals, beware that Microscale DecalSol may be too strong and eat through your decals. Had that happen a few times, so switched to Testors Decal Solvent, which seems a bit weaker. At this point, decals are done, and shot with a coat of Future to seal them in.

Figured out the blast panels were on backwards last time, so have corrected those.

Hoping to get some feedback as to the stowage placement. At this point, some are painted, nothing's attached, and I'm just trying different combinations.

I've got more light on my workbench now, but the pictures still aren't great. A lot of that is probably the point and shoot camera.

Anyway, on to the pictures.



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All comments are welcome. Thanks for looking!

Finished up building the tracks into pieces to be painted. Lots of filing to clean up the track pads that will be seen. Good thing the side skirts cover a lot of those tracks.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll put a coat of paint on the tracks, and maybe start putting them on the chassis.

It looks great Jesse, the decals are really add to the tank.

The Legends stowage is also very good. The individual track links were the main reason I chose to build the M1A2. I'm just lazy.

Are you planning on giving it a crew?

Can't wait to see more progress!

Anirudh, thanks!

The indy links are a lot of work. Wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they didn't need all the cleanup.

I've got this set from Alpine.




With the Echelon decal set, there's decals for an entire platoon, so this particular tank may start with both crew members, and if I get the courage to tackle another kit, may be split up between the two in a little diorama. Not sure at this point. Unfortunately, another tank in the same platoon means another set of indy tracks!

Well, had to work late, but I did start getting some paint on the tracks. Trying a slightly different approach this time, but I didn't get any photos.

With the very sandy terrain, I'm trying to emulate something that looks like this...




photos from Prime Portal.


Anyway, so first I basecoated the tracks with Tamiya dark yellow. I followed by a light coat of a mix of Tamiya gunmetal and DOA Track Brown. This gave me a slightly metallic yellow-brown color. I purposely didn't do a real perfect coat, as I wanted some modulation in the colors. I then mixed up a dark grey and brush painted the rubber shoes of the track.

That's where I am now. I'll try to shoot a photo tomorrow before I continue on. My plan is wash it with a darker brown color before installing them on the tank. Then during the weathering of the tank, the entire assembly will get a dusting coat of something like buff to simulate dust, and should give a very neutral tone to everything and tie it together nicely. That's the plan at least.... sounds good on paper, no?

Took my WIP to the local club meeting this weekend. One of the members had a photo shoot setup, so here's the photo... much nicer than I could have done.



Decals are sealed in with Future, and I've started working more on the stowage and touching up paint stuff. Then onto weathering. Unfortunately, you can't really make out the tracks in the photo, so maybe I'll take another picture of that later tonight.

Served with 3-69 way back when! Kit is looking great!
"Speed and Power"!
Dan

Good and solid basis to continue on

Cheers
Christopher

exceptional work! i hope mine will turn out as good as yours.

Keep it up

The quality photo really helps. I'll try to get some more shots tonight after whatever progress I get done. It's really starting to come together nicely.

I do want to attempt to fix the rear armor slats near the rear. We'll see how well that goes.

Jesse,

Looking really good!

Are you intentionally modeling a missing Right Headlight?

Nah, it fell off and i havent replaced it yet. Fortunately, i found it before the carpet monster swallowed it forever.

Tonight was doing some little detail work.

-Headlight is back on
-Rest of the smoke grenades are mounted and painted
-Stowage was given a wash, and drybrushed
-Fixed rear armored fender to be flush
-Washed it with a light sand wash

Back to the poor lighting, so the colors are off.... but at least you can tell the colors from the previous picture.



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I realize I still don't have the wheel hub/oil reservoirs on yet. Gonna try Gino's recommendation on how to paint those.

Also, realized that the left side of the tank... the control arms didn't fully weld with the glue, so they're moving around a bit, and so the ride height is lower on that side. Will have to glue those suckers in place better next time.

Jesse,

"Also, realized that the left side of the tank... the control arms didn't fully weld with the glue, so they're moving around a bit, and so the ride height is lower on that side. Will have to glue those suckers in place better next time."

You could remove the turret and use a brush to add liquid cement to the inside control arms to lock them up. You would just need to support the hull to allow the cement to set up.

Thanks Jeff. I tried that last time. Maybe I just didn't let it set up long enough before putting it back on. I believe I still couldn't reach the last control arm... but I'll figure something out.

I may end up putting some CA on it after to really lock them into place.

Thanks!

Jesse,

Actually, the AIM and SEP kits' control arms are supposed to be "indexed" or keyed, so they can be inserted at different positions, but the keying will "fix" each at the set angle. Therefore, I do not understand why yours is loose, unless they are not fully inserted or were altered...

My guess is I used too much glue, and it kinda melted all the "teeth" away.

So we're gonna call this one finished except for the crew. Overall, I'm happy with the result. My first modern armor piece, and I think it's fairly accurate thanks to you fine folks at Armorama. Thanks especially to Gino for answering multiple questions and emails, Bill for motivating me to build the Abrams, and the rest of you Abrams guys for all the help.

Any comments are appreciated, good and bad.

Looks very good for your first modern build
Like your mentor Bill you might consider some "after action" adjustments
On your "dog house, or garage" the smaller door seems to be off angle, looks like it is upside down.
It looks correct on the previous pics though.
All in all, you got some pretty good results

Cheers
Christopher

Thanks Chris. If that's the biggest "fix" I have to do, I can't complain.