Thanks, you’re always there for me and from the first build! I have some progress photos below, take a look and tell me what you think. A critique from you means much to me!
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! 
Thanks to your threads which reads like a tutorial, I learned a lot from them. Mrs. Toshi is amazed and blown away by how organized and realistic your thread and build is. Thank you sir!
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!
Thanks roger_wilco, I know there’s things that are not accurate, but I tried my best, was excited to finish the M1A1, had fun and some queries, and just overall it kept me busy, which is a good thing.
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
Thank you Gamera! Yes, those are some of the worst decals I’ve ever seen and worked with! Absolutely horrible, they wouldn’t stick. Endly, I had to use Testors Liquid cement to hold them down. Wow! I see where you pointed out the mistakes. Thank you so much, I had no idea about it. Yes, I will fix the headlights now. Again, thank you Gamera.
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.
I will work on the wash this evening or tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the tip!
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
Thank you sir, I’ll work on that this evening and or tomorrow. As always, thank you for the tip!
Toshi
I will do that!
Toshi