I built this model mostly straight OOB except for the tracks, they are from AFV Club. The figures are also from Dragon and came with the tank. The added individual 782 gear is from Tamiya. All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.
Nothing negative on my end, but I’m not a modern armor expert. Looks pretty good on my end.
Nicely finished.
Just a couple of observations.
It looks like you have an issue with the skirts. The front ends of the skirts appear to be hanging a little low. There shouldn’t be a visible gap between the top of the forward skirts and the fenders. I do recall they are a bit fiddly to get in place as they are in multiple sections.
The spare roadwheel on the top of the turret is usually mounted on one of the four bolts in front of the “manhole cover”, not on the cover itself. The spare wheel on the bustle rack is usually bolted to a rail using a spare track centre guide as seen in this pic, rather than hanging at an angle.
http://data4.primeportal.net/tanks/jeff_derosa/m1a1_details/images/m1a1_details_139_of_435.jpg
You may wish to drill out the end of the blast tube of the coaxial MG.
The wheel hub centres are a clear plastic reservoir containing oil and may be represented by painting them black.
http://svsm.org/gallery/m1a1abramsjh2/DSC08861
The lower rim of the bustle rack shouldn’t have a seam as it’s one piece, but for reasons best known to Dragon, they split it down the middle. It is super-fiddly to fill and smooth.
I really like the paint and finish of it. Agree with Phil on the spare roadwheel and front sideskirt. They do seem to detract a little from the model, not sure how easy it’d be to fix the sideskirts though.
Tiger II ;
Tanks a lot .It’s nice to see a model , well done of my Nephew’s type of mount . Tis more like the Caliph of the desert don’t you think ?
Really nice work there on the finish and the storage looks cool. I totally love the figures- one of the harder parts and you’ve done a fantastic job there!
And thanks Phil, I’ll try to keep your points in mind when I finally get around to building one of my Abrams.
Yes, the road wheel hanging off the back of the bustle rack would not last long as the turret traversed, it would either tear loose, bend then break the rails of the rack or wear a flat spot on the rubber portion of the road wheel. Then you’d have a road wheel similar to a bad wheel on a shopping cart that has a flat spot.
Nicely finished.
Just a couple of observations.
It looks like you have an issue with the skirts. The front ends of the skirts appear to be hanging a little low. There shouldn’t be a visible gap between the top of the forward skirts and the fenders. I do recall they are a bit fiddly to get in place as they are in multiple sections.
The spare roadwheel on the top of the turret is usually mounted on one of the four bolts in front of the “manhole cover”, not on the cover itself. The spare wheel on the bustle rack is usually bolted to a rail using a spare track centre guide as seen in this pic, rather than hanging at an angle.
http://data4.primeportal.net/tanks/jeff_derosa/m1a1_details/images/m1a1_details_139_of_435.jpg
You may wish to drill out the end of the blast tube of the coaxial MG.
The wheel hub centres are a clear plastic reservoir containing oil and may be represented by painting them black.
http://svsm.org/gallery/m1a1abramsjh2/DSC08861
The lower rim of the bustle rack shouldn’t have a seam as it’s one piece, but for reasons best known to Dragon, they split it down the middle. It is super-fiddly to fill and smooth.
[/quote]
Thank you all for your comments and critiques, especially Phil. All your observations were spot on from the skirts being fiddly, the spare wheel on the turret and the other one I’m changing to the side rack. I will drill out the blast tube from the coaxial MG. Also every picture that I’ve seen of the tanks road wheels were dusty or dirty so I didn’t know about the oil reservoir. I’m also waiting for some antennae for the tank. I have never liked the way my antennas look. Thanks for that piece of info and your observations. This was my first Abrams so I appreciate the critique.
I finally tweaked my Abrams tank. I omitted the extra spare whell but I did all the other things that I intended to do.
Nice work on the corrections! [Y]