I posted this one at the Armor Talk Forum, Twilight 2000 thread. Just wanna show to you guys what I've been doing. This is my campaign entry for Armorama's Twilight 2000 Campaign, the latest pix of the formally designated M1A2E1 Thunderbolt:



Turret close-up. Note the black sandpaper taped using double-sided mounting tape as the anti-slip matting on the additional armor panels, plus the lengthened bustle and blast panels to accomodate the longer and larger 155mm ammunition as well as the under-armor turret APU. I haven't installed the both .50-calibre HMGs and the Mk. 19 --


A view to show just how large the turret is with reference to the hull width --


The add-on armor panels on the skirts. The skirts are not only double the thickness (due to gluing together of two skirts), but added with spaced-armor blocks against HEAT and sabot rounds. The thicker base skirts are for further proof against sabot rounds. The thicker skirts will go through the entire length of the vehicle, whilst the box armor will reach only up to engine area, not the sprocket wheel area --



A comparison shot of the M1A2E1 and a USMC M1A1. Notice the larger gun which dwarfs the M256 120mm, and the larger basket and bustle of the A2E1 --



Another comparison shot this time showing the over hang of each tank's turret


The scatchbuilt basket. Ain't complete yet. The railings are stiff wire. Made of sheet styrene, I have yet to put the mesh. There are 2 reasons for the larger basket: 1) as evidenced by M1s used in the recent Gulf conflict, some M1A1s had an additional basket added, hence, why not enlarge the basket on this one rather than add another; and 2) the larger basket serves also as stand-off protection against HEAT. The under-armor turret APU can be seen here, with the top covering containing the air vents, which are the 4 small black holes (actually, there is wire mesh to simulate the grill) --

sweeet! #:-)

Kaso parang sobrang laki nung basket. What would you put on that?

Gi was this based on line drawings??..

BTW how do you insert an image ?

Champion material GI! Linis ng gawa mo! Mas malinis pa ata scratchbuild mo sa OOB ko. Can't wait to see it painted. Makes the A1 look puny in comparison. It looks very realistic especially since it's evident that a lot of thought went into that conversion. Hope you finish this one before the Trumpeter Strv122 comes out

Blitz: First upload your image to a server. We usually go to http://groups.msn.com/armorama . Once you've done that, view your image, right-click on it, select "Properties", and copy the image's URL. This is a very long string of characters that usually begins with "http" and ends with "jpg". Then compose your message here, click on the "img" button below, and paste your image's URL between the "img" tags. Takes some getting used to but once you get hooked you'll never stop.

thanks jeepney... :-)

wow! Hanep ka tsong! Galing mo!

Thanks all for the kind words.

Lattex - Lots of pretty chinitas hehehehe! #:-) Seriously, the larger basket is a result of experience of US forces in the 2003 Gulf War, i.e. they added an additional basket to the existing one to increase storage space. Hence, replace the old basket with something bigger. Furthermore, the larger basket also acts as stand-off protection against HEAT rounds. Instead of HEAT (and RPG perhaps) rounds making contact with the main armor, it'll detonate upon contact with the basket, leaving the main body untouched. Of course, it won't work against KE (Kinetic Energy) rounds like APFDS.

Blitz - Nope. The additional armor concept was loosely based on several pictures of the M1A2 in the NTC in the Concord Book. In that book, it shows an M1A2 test vehicle with additional armor to the turret. IMO, that made the M1 look more menacing. Furthermore, the Twilight 2000 RPG I think also has an up-armored, up-gunned Abrams (well, it looks like so). The rest is just sheer "educated" conjecture, since back at TankNet, there was discussion on how to improve Abrams protection against RPG, among the solutions mentioned were more heavily armored skirts like what the Challenger series has, plus the mechanics of sabot and HEAT rounds.

Jeep - Relatively clean build I attribute to a sharp knife, a steel ruler (National Bookstore has 'em - very fine tool I must add!) and most especially Tamiya Extra Fine Cement. [insert Tamiya ad] Tamiya Extra Fine Cement. Works Fast... Really Fast! Add a drop, let capillary action work, cure, and it's done! Tamiya Extra Fine Cement - get it at your local hobby shop. For inquiries, dial 1-800-ILUVTAMIYAEXTRAFINECEMENTESPECIALLYTHEFUMES[/insert Tamiya ad] #:-)

Guys, something more to show you. Again, for the Twilight 2000 campaign, here's additional in-progress pictures of the builds I've been doing for the campaign, straight from Gennady's Iron & Steel Works assembly line -

T-34/105 "Lulu Belle":





T-2001 "light" tank







Konigs Leopard aka King Leopard aka Leopard 3 "Die Berliner Mauer" ("The Berlin Wall"):






(above is based on the Strv122 add-on armor package)









(below are comparison shots of the Thunderbolt's turret with the King Leopard's turret - the gun of the King Leopard is a 140mm gun scratchbuilt using a battery tester's terminal [red tube], sawed-off X-Acto knife handle (silver tube), held together by a rolled sheet styrene (white tube), and sawed-off gun tube from the kit's gun (green tube - muzzle) ) -





Note: If one notices the Thunderbolt's turret pictured above, the same has been updated to incorporate the M113 Zelda's cupola with .50-calibre which was mounted at the loader's position.

Another case of ESSS: Excess Styrene Sheet Syndrome.

We need to put GIB in an asylum now. #:-)

Sweet! In the next few months, GI will be scratchbuilding the entire model with that kind of skill.

I'M WARNING YOU GUYS! YOU BY ANY CHANCE BRING EVEN AT LEAST A SHRINK WITHIN 500 METERS FROM WHERE I STAND AND BY GOD I WILL SHOOT ALL OF YOU WITH SHARPENED STYRENE RODS, X-ACTO BLADES, AND TAMIYA EXTRA FINE LIQUID CEMENT! I'M ARMED, NUTTY, AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(enters lucid moment) Yup. I'm insane. Someone, help me. Please. I hear that Mandaluyong has a welcome back party for me. #:-)

SR: Actually, I'm really planning to do my first totally scratchbuilt model as soon as data comes in. It'll be a small one but unique as IIRC there's no kit of it in the market. It'll be in 1/35. :-)

Please let it be a V150

Where will you be getting mesh? Methinks I'll be needing this for my future T-34/?

Nope, sorry, ain't a V-150 :-) but it'll be wheeled, that's for sure. And no, it also ain't a Simba (sorry guys hehehe) although that could be more-or-less easily done by getting a BRDM kit and heavily modifying it. My subject will be small and cute and unique - and relatively easy to build. All I need are top and rear view pictures, as well as wheel measurements, and pics of the turret (unless someone is kind enough of giving me the turret of an LVTP-7 :-) ). The rest of the data I already have.

Very impressive, is that your dream tank? The turret is twice the size of the other one, how did you do that?

Thanks, but which one art thou referring? The Thunderbolt? The Konigs Leopard? No, neither is my dream tank (my dream tank would hover, be around 200 tons heavy, will have a 250mm railgun, three Particle Projection Cannons, an 8-cell multirole missile launcher, four laser cannons, and ten five-barrel-.50-calibre rotary cannons. #:-) And, oh yes, a refrigerator, microwave [no more steeeeeeeeeeeeenking foraging for food nor eating cold victuals!], an AMD Athlon64 based PC with broadband wireless internet connection, a toilet-and-bath set [no more steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenking dumps in the cold frigid forest!] and a home entertainment system #:-) - the tank I will drive to work, school, home and play hehehehe)




Again, which one? Nonetheless, it was all done with massive use of sheet styrene - or as LatTex aptly said, I suffered a severe attack of ESSS - Exteme Sheet Styrene Syndrome #:-) which was fueled by the excessive inhalation of fumes emanating from the THREE bottle of Tamiya Extra Fine Liquid Cement, which in turn has rendered my fragile and vulnerable neural circuits awry. #:-)

Wow! Kakatakot na si GI ngayon with that kind of tank. BTW, what would be the kit you'll scratchbuild?

If it'd be a kit, then I won't be scratchbuilding it, right? Seriously, the subject will be a wheeled 4x4 vehicle, small, and unique and one that AFAIK has no kit for it on the market. That's all I can say now - so hold on to yer seats and wait for some months until I reveal to you guys what it is. Let's just say it'll be a cute little bugger. :-)

GI: Stop sniffing those glue...#:-) Nice dream tank ganda ganda....

I'm talking about the Thunderbolt is it really exist or you just modified that ? I'd saw that a couple of months ago in Armorama pictures.

Just modified. It's for a campaign here at Armorama known as Twilight 2000 (check the Campaigns section of this site). Each has a background story of its own to help me actually finish these projekts. The stories are in my campaign journal.

I really need DSL. Or better yet, I hope the PhotoPost software of this site enables one to move several pictures in one blow to another album, and not one-by-one.

Here's the link to my TW2K builds: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/photos/showgallery.php?cat=12318&si=&page=1&sort=8&perpage=10&password=&ppuser=741&stype=0

And here's my sole entry to the TW2K:03 campaign:



Here's are the further modifications to the M1A2E1:



Above shows a Mk.19 for the TC, a .50-cal for the loader, and twin .50s over the mantlet (I plan on redoing that one)

Wow! Very nice. Will you paint this thing or leave it be? The construction on the tank really is good. And the sub?? looks cool too. Yung holder nya siguro yung base no? The plastic thingy? I can see a nameplate but can't see what it says.

Thanks SR.

I'll paint it - it'll be in all black with red tiger stripes. As for the sub, yes, that's the mount, but I haven't painted it yet. The nameplate has a decal, but I find it "dinky" for such a sub, so I'll make a new one.

H**y S**t, In the name of----, God help me!.......uh!..........grrrrrr...........umph!!!!!..........dropping off chair......................severe heart attack after drinking tons of gravy !..............................waking up......................
I love the steel plating on the sub, did you do that? if not, then what did you modify? really sweet sub & its Russian!
The Thunderbolt is one Colossal tank! Why paint it black? all the details will be lost then! Why not paint it in German gray? it will make it look really nasty but light enough to wash, drybrush, & detail. If you plan to use figures, then go get some SWAT guys from JMN & modify them. If you want leave me the figure painting........hehehehehe
#:-) #:-) #:-) #:-)