well just got this baby this afternoon and this time it is a Ebay buy
cost me only 22 bucks. Of course this ain’t the AIM and I also am at a loss when it comes to CO-Axial MG barrel? why do some M1A1HA’s have the longer barrel and others have the barrel flush with the Mantlet? and people have been telling me that the interior of all IFV’s and MBT’s are seafoam green instead of white so is the M1’s interior actually Seafoam or white?
That extension is a blast tube, not the actual MG barrel. Unfortunately that’s the extent of my knowledge of it - I’m sure one of the guys can give you a detailed explanation as to its purpose.
As far as I am aware, the inside of the M1A1 is white. Seafoam Green is used in APCs and IFV’s because the interior is often exposed through the large hatches typical of these vehicles. In these vehicles, Seafoam Green provides lower contrast (and thus lower visibility) than a white interior.
All M1A1s come with the coax barrel extension. The particular one on the box top photo lost the extension in combat. The interior of all US tanks, including the Abrams, is semi-gloss white. APCs and IFVs are seafoam green on the inside. Tanks don’t have big, open hatches to show the interior as an APC does. The exception is the new Stryker IFV, which has a white interior.
A note on the kit. It is billed as a USMC tank from OIF. However, the Bustle Rack Extension (BRE) included in it is a 2nd BDE, 3ID version, not the USMC version. The decals are not really accurate either. The extra gear and other stuff is nice though. I have a spare USMC BRE if you want to make a deal, contact me.
Good luck with it.
you have any spare vinyl for the running gear? I don’t like the fact that you’ll probably have to glue the wheels and drive sprocket to the Axles. Gino why is it Dragon included PE mesh for BRE but not for the Bustle Rack itself? I have some spare Marine Corps decals for the M1A1HA because of the Academy M1A1HA that I have (BTW the Academy kit actually has the GPS sight with the straight back vs the angled versions of the earlier M1A1). Gino you want the tracks for my M1A1HA I’m probably going to buy another set of AFV club M1A1/M1A2 workable tracks.
Don’t have any vinyl tracks. I don’t need any more indi-link track either. Why are you worried about glueing the wheels and track? I always do this.
The Academy kit is another issue. It’s decals are fictional as well. It has a few other problems too, Academy review from PMMS. It does come with a proper USMC BRE though.
For a correct set of USMC decals, get one of the Echelon USMC in OIF decal sets. They are great.
I was talking about vinyl poly caps for the road wheels and the sprocket drives. As for the BRE’s I’ll switch the one in the Academy kit with the one in the Dragon kit so that each one will have the proper BRE’s for the Army and the Marines. Besides I figure the workable tracks are the easiest to assemble and they also conform to alot of positions the real track would be in within reason. Plus they also have a natural gap between each shoe anyways.
Aside from drilling out the wheels/sprockets, there’s really no way to use poly caps with the wheels in this kit because they are designed to be glued on. The extra work you would have do to add poly caps to make these wheels rotatable/removable would outweigh any benefit you would gain by doing so - there’s really no reason to.
The link and length tracks in the kit really aren’t all that bad if you don’t mind doing a bit of clean-up. The only real issue with the kit tracks is the alignment of the end-connectors where the tracks wrap around the sprockets and idlers (which will be a non-issue if you choose to use the AFV Club tracks)
Ah, now I got ya. I agree with Phil though. The Dragon tracks are pretty good. The end connectors and center guides can be easily bent to simulate them going around the sprockets too.
Good luck.
I just reexamined the road wheels and found they are opened up enough to allow polly caps. and did you notice with the painting instructions that all glass surfaces are to be painted black which is not true since all glass surfaces are polarised and appear in a sort of rainbow of colors though when I will paint the lenses I’ll be using silver and clear blue for the periscope lenses. and clear orange and clear blue for the GPS. so I take it the road wheel hubs are still black right.
Yes, roadwheel hub covers should still be black. For the anti-laser coated vision blocks, I use black paint, a layer of clear red, and a couple coats of gloss to simulate them.
well I just ordered the second set of AFV Club M1A1 & M1A2 tracks along with some Archer Fine Transfer decals for the M1’s. But I also ordered a FruilModel track set for the T-72 ( I have the Esci T-72) turns out the independant track links go on about the same as the M1A1HA’s tracks.
Kind of like putting Dubs on a Yugo.
Have to agree with Rob here. $40 Fruil tracks on an inaccurate $8.50 model. Kind of like polishing a turd.
$8.50? They must have seen you coming!
Yup, I was being generous on the pricing. I think I last saw one at Big Lots for $3.99. [swg][:-^]
I’ll admit I bought a lot of AMT/Ertl tank kits from Big Lots when I was stationed in Alabama in the late 90s. I remember buying several of the M60A1 Blazer, T-55M and T-72 for around $3.99 or $4.99. I do still have a few of each.
well I had that T-72 in storage for at least 5 years but bought it in the late 90’s. But Tamiya’s is pretty overpriced for a substandard kit but that is my POV. As for the tracks it was either the ModelKasten resin set or the Fruilmodel set and I chose the Fruilmodel set mostly due to the fact that once assembled they will correctly sit on the sprocket in the correct curvature versus the kit supplied individual track links they will also produce the slight dips in curvature between the return rollers when the tank is at rest. And I will not use another resin track set on a tank again I tried it once with the Tamiya M4 Sherman and saw how bad it looked since I had to boil each run of track to get it to curve at the correct angle and I kept scalding myself with the hot resin tracks once they left the water and it was so bad I went back to the kit supplied rubber band tracks since they looked better than the resin ones I messed up. the only thing I saw wrong with the kit was the tracks, the sprocket gears, commanders machine gun, and the steel cables. At least I don’t have any holes to fill in. BTW found out the Academy M1A1 has the lightening holes in the drive sprockets while the M1A1HA doesn’t have the lightening hole in the drive sprockets was the lightening hole a Army/Marine thing with the Army having the lightening holes and the Marines not having the Lightening holes?
All “real Life” M1 series tanks (regardless of which service it belongs to) have the mud relief holes in the drive sprockets. The presence of such, or lack of, in a kit is pretty much a quirk of the individual kit manufacturer.
The AMT/Ertl T-72 is much worse than the Tamiya kit. It has soft details, fictional parts, and is overall bad. Good luck with it, but I still think you are throwing good money after bad.
Nope, they are just one of the nicer features that is included in the new Academy kit. It does have some good qualities on the new J sprue. They don’t outweigh the 5mm short (M1) turret, older T-156 tracks, and soft-detailed hull though. I took the J sprue and used most of it to update a Dragon M1A1 kit. The rest of the Academy kit is pretty much junk. Trumpeter’s and Italeri’s M1 kits and the new Dragon M1A1 AIM come with the lightening holes in the sprockets too.
Hi
As a tanker for 6 years on both M1 A1 and M1 A2 tanks I can tell you the interiors were always “white” with the normal amount of chipping, pealing and of course repainting depending on the age of the specific tank.
Hope this helps…
Scott