I have the Trumpeter M1-A1 Abrams with mine rakes under the Hobby Craft name. Though I have never really heard anything good about trumpeter I think this IS a really good kit. Came with real scale mettal chains, copper wire, and netting. It also included a couple of fair figs but I never frown on free figs. Anyway being a newbie i have no idea of how accurate this kit is or what improvements it might need. It has been one of the best armors I have assembled to date though I hated assembling the skirts. [Call me lazy.] It includes “indie tracks” [I think that is what you guys call “individual link tracks”] and the rubber ones. I like like one peice tracks. Not as realistic, but easy on the assembly process!lol Maybe when I reach you guys level i’ll go that route. I also quickly learned why you guys shell for metal barrels and such. Sanding the seams on tube shapes suck. But I easily solved that problem by using a foam sanding block meant for manicures. It’s soft enough to conform to the shape of the barrel reducing if not eliminating the problem of “flattening” i often have when sanding curved shapes with my old foam emory board. Learning a lot guys thanks! Any opinions welcome.
I think I saw where this kit is a copy of the Tamiya kit with mine plow… Maybe not… Could someone enlighten us… HOb Lob has this kit for dirt cheap… If thats a Tamiya kit in there I’ll buy one today…
Glad it is working for your MGM
Roll on
I was just on the Missing Lynx site and I saw a Tamiya M1 with plow and I tend to agree with that. The figs on that kit look just like the ones in this one. The Bradley, which is a copy of a Tamiya kit, is not good but I’ll post comments on that one later.lol[8)]
The Abrams Tweaks list is available for download at http://www.elccweb.com/missinglinks/tweaks/M1.pdf
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Thanks Rob!
yeah, i have the kit…its a carbon copy except trumpeter tried to add miles gear to the figures…looks really bad. but an abrams kit is an abrams kit!!! if you want a REALLY AWESOME kit…i just picked up the new tamiya M1A2. thats a kit!!
What’s “miles gear” and what goodies do you get with the tamiya M1M2?I don’t know enough about weathering and such yet to shell out the cash for that baby. I saw it today selling for $51 at my LHS! that’s the kinda kit i can’t afford to “experiment” on. I have to get the paint right on that one the first time!
MILES gear stands for Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System. Basically a high tech laser tag war game system that attaches to all vehicles and personnel during a war game. They are stuck to the outside of tanks and such with large strips of Velcro hook & loop fasteners.
I didn’t notice anything odd about my figs. The detail is soft but they look pretty ordinary to me except for the loader with his nose and moth covered.
The Trumpter M1 series (repackaged by HobbyCraft, as I understand) is not a copy of Tamiya’s M1A1. The Chinese offering is different than the Japanese kit in many ways; such as parts breakdown (more parts) and general detail (more accurate such as the anti-slip surfacing, but less crisply molded).
The only similarity between the two kits are the poses of the figures.
IMHO, the Trumpeter captures the overall accuracy of an M1A1 better than the Tamiya version, although the former made a serious shaping error in the turret’s front - although that can be rectified by referring to the Tweaks List provided in the link above. Im my experience, the most difficicult aspect of building the model is the extensive and tedious cleanup required.
Hope this helps. [:)]
BT6
Then that explains the similarity in the figs. I also noticed that the smoke dischargers on my trumpeter are individual tubes while the tamiya’s look sorta like a honey comb. i like the tube shape better. i guess i got lucky with mine because i had to do very little cleanup [minimal flash] with mine and I had no fitting problems. The Hobby Craft bradely [a CC Lee bad tamiya copy] turret was a disaster. The fit was horrible.
[#ditto] My sentiments exactly!