hi guys i,ve just finished a m1 a2 oif abrahams in 1/35 tamiya model and have upload some pics into my gallery, i would appreciate any advice or comments,many thanks

Overall, looks like a nice build. A few pointers to make it better. The duffel bags in the turret bustle rack are upside down, also the straps should be the same color green as the rest of the bags. There are a lot of mold seam lines on all your stowage and the crew served MGs. Need to work on sanding or filing those off in the future. Will make a vast improvement. Watch out for silvering on decals too. Try putting down a layer of glosscoat before you lay down your decals. There also needs to be a black line down the middle of the .50 cal rounds in the ammo box, these are the links that hold them together. You could also paint each 5th bullet tip red. US uses 1 & 4 tracer rounds, meaning for every 4 standard ball rounds, there is one red tracer round. This allows you to see where your rounds are going. Lastly, the slits on the front and rear lights are blackout marker lights and should be gloss black to look like lenses.

hi mate many thanks for reply and i will take on board your advice ,i delibratly painted the straps in leather rather than green just to add some more colour to the model and to test me new found skills after many years away from making models, could you please explain what you mean by mold and seem lines and what is best to fill it with and what is the clear coat you talk of do you mean like a varnish??? many thanks once again

Mold seam lines -- If you look on the bags and on the top of the MGs, there is a line that runs around the bags and down the center of the MGs. This is caused from the two parts of the mold being either a little off or not fully coming together. They are not actually on the real items. If the line is from the molds not fully coming together, you can simly file or sand it smooth. If the two sides of the mold are out of alignment, the line will usually have a step. In this case, you would need to fill in the low side and bring it up flush with the high side.

Gloss Clear Coat -- Silvering of decals is caused when small air particles get trapped under the decal and reflect light. This happens because flat paint is actually rough, thus not allowing light to reflect off of it. The smoother an item is, the more glossy it is. Decals adhere better to a glossy surface as well. To negate silvering, you must make the area that the decal will be put on as glossy (hence smooth) as possible. To do this, cover the area in gloss coat, which is just that, Varnish, made for models. There are many brands to choose from. I prefer Testor's brand, it is called Gloss Coat. After the decals are dried in place, then you go back over the area with a Dull Coat to flatten it back out again and it seals the decals into position.

Hope this helps.

P.S. -- Noticed one other thing. 2-69 Armor, and 3ID in total did not have any M1A2s in OIF, they had M1A1s. M1A2s didn't get there till 4ID came into country after the initial push to Baghdad.

Hey pod, that looks real nice. I like the figure poses.
Other things - i have been reading "The March Up" about the USMC ride up to Bagdahd, and the author notes the vehicles are completely covered in dust and dirt from the constant snadstorms and driving through the dust and sand of thr desert. I think your vehicl could benefit from looking a little dirtier. and maybe a wash of thinned paint too. That's all i could see that the others didn't

Pod123 to miss all them mold seems the way you did, you must not have a magnifying glass to work with. You need to get one cause the camera won't miss them, but the naked eye will.

hi straight edge , no your correct i dont have a magnifieing glass, i will get 1 many thanks for the advice as you say its not something easily seen with a naked eye, and not something i was aware of till now. many thanks to heavy arty for your excellant advice and for taking the time and trouble to reply , just about to start the tamiya 1/35 us m113 a2 so will try and impart my new found knowledge onto that one. many thanks once more to you all

looks like a nice build, it is always nice to see an abrams.

I don't know if it exist, but I've never seen an M1A2 with the old commander station. I think you should have used the other one.

greetz

Kathoon,
I missed that too. You are right.

Pod 123, It would be better if you could remove the Commander's Independant Thermal Sight (CITS) , Cylindrical sight box on front left of turret, and replace it with the circular cover with bolts. Then you would have a proper M1A1 used by 3ID in OIF. Right now you have a hybrid M1A1/A2 that does not exist. Sorry I missed that earlier.

ok guys yep i see the proplem with the commanders itv and replace with the flat hatch if i can it is on the plan i just checked and have used the wrong one for the model i built, top marks for your observation :-) :-)