Aussie M1A1 Abrams

[mike walsh]

Hello Everyone,

So to break things up a little with projects on the workbench there was a publication on the Australian M1A1 Abrams which caught my eye at the Brisbane Hobby show and since then it's been full speed ahead to get the ball rolling with the Meng M1A1 being the test bed for the Aussie Abrams
Bigfoot tracks, Orange hobby metal barrel, AFV Club anti reflective coating stickers,Fox models decals and resin accessories from Legends and Black Dog.

This is supposed to be a quick break away from what is on the workbench with a small somewhat quick build and hopefully I can portray it to something that is in the Tankograd publication.

This is the excess lugs trimmed off the sprues to get 2 workable tracks

Test fitting the workable track will suit the Meng drive sprocket- sweeet

7 Pieces for 1 track, are you ready for this

And, Both sides of each track link drilled out just like the real thing.

More to follow...

Michael

 

[MrT]

 

[moon puppy]

Man that's a lot of work.

 

[lupanzer]

Fabulous stuff!

Luiz.

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks Bob and Luiz.

Michael

 

[Sherman 18]

Fantastic subject. Looking forward to see yours done. What to do one myself some day.


By the way insane work with the track!!!!!!!!

 

[Gator]

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks Guys,

The M1A1 is taking all the attention. It will be a fast build now. The track was always going to be the pain of the build.
It's all downhill now.

Michael

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Exciting! I'm getting ready to start an Abrams of my own soon....

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks Mike.

This is the first time building the Meng brand and was surprised to see how much detail was in the Meng M1A1.

Michael

 

[jknaus]

Looking great. I love Meng kits for being fairly easy to build and nice detail. Keep it up
JAmes

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks James

More images will be coming shortly.

Michael

 

[moon puppy]

Tease!

 

[mike walsh]

Hello again,

The donor kit from Meng to convert to the Australian Abrams.

Here are some current progress images of the M1A1.

Work has been slow. The intention was to scratch build the fridge located in the stowage basket.

It was something that made me contemplate the accuracy but fortunately with a stroke of luck Mouse House had 1 available in resin. Happy days.

With ordering the fridge,Mouse House upgrades and Back up supply of Auscam paint bring the tank more into line with an Australian Abrams.

The Mouse house paint is the closest colour to the Auscam colours.

Serving in the Australian Army From 85-89 and seeing the colour up close and person as a Driver I would have to say the Mouse House colours are spot on.

The metal barrel required some modifications with the extra weight of the barrel I cut out the centre support and inserted a shaft to counteract the weight of the barrel.

The Vision blocks had a combination of Mig Crystal red and a highlight silver colour painted behind the Crystal red to give it depth of the vision block. AFV Club also provided anti glare decals of which I had to cut different size out for the gunners sight on the turret. There is enough material on the sheet to cut your own sizes out.

More to follow .

Michael :drinks :cheer:

 

[moon puppy]

:drinks

 

[lupanzer]

Very nice!...great model

Luiz.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Great work!

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks Guys,

Having a lot a fun with this build.

The only down side is I keep dropping important parts on the tiled floor and it takes a lot of
time trying to find them. :laugh:

Michael

 

[Tankbuilder]

Thanks Guys,

Having a lot a fun with this build.

The only down side is I keep dropping important parts on the tiled floor and it takes a lot of
time trying to find them. :laugh:

Michael

Use a bright flashlight held almost paralell to the floor to help find small parts. The beam being colse to the floor and nearly paralell to the floor makes the tiny part cast a much larger shadow than the part itself is. I've found many a tiny piece by using this method of locating them.

Cheers

 

[JamesOLeary]

You're doing a great job on this so far. Those tracks sure look to be pretty tedious, but they look good so the effort is worth it.

Since my secondary MOS from the Army was 19K M1 Abrams Crewman, I am pretty interested in this build as I have a few kits in my stash, but I have been hesitant to start on them until my armor modeling skills improve. It will be interesting to see what differences there are between US and Australian M1A1s.

Cheers,
James