GMK

There wasn’t a “procurement trial” of the Abrams - they were bought off the shelf. Originally they weren’t even going to be painted camouflage, rather left in the CARC sand and fitted with Baracuda camouflage panels [these failed testing]. The Tamiya 1/48 & 1/16 M1A2 kits are “straight A2s” - they aren’t SEP like the examples in NATOflage fitted with M153 etc. These tanks also have an different-shaped piece of equipment in the bustle rack [VCSU vs. EAPU] Apparently some “straight A2s” stationed at Fort Knox were painted in NATOflage, as per Dragon’s original M1A2 kit from the 1990s.

Nice work Steve! Really appreciate the hard work required to achieve a convincing finish in small scales - you’ve nailed it.

Tamiya’s M1A2 is a vanilla (i.e. non-SEP, non-TUSK) A2 from the US Army 4ID from late 2003. As such, it missing some of the features present on Australian hulls, namely the slave starter receptacle (think jumper leads for your tank - more on that in later posts), and the infantry/tank telephone box. As Australian Abrams’ go through deep-level maintenance, the ‘old’ phone box is replaced with the new type. A mate of mine did the CAD, I just printed & painted it: I’ve also started on the Australian-unique fridge that’s mounted adjacent the EAPU in the turret bustle. The fridge power adapter (small box near the cross-wind sensor [also hollowed our]) is also a 3D-printed part: More to come...

Started painting the rear hull. The Tamiya 1/16 kit is a bit simplified, especially the rear hull. I cut out the entire exhaust plate and scratchbuilt the replacement grilles. Thanks to a mate, I’ve got the protective grills CAD’d up and 3D printed.

Started the paintwork on the top of the upper hull. Pretty rough so far, but the focus is the immediate vicinity of the turret race and ring. This is a prerequisite for screwing the lower turret to the hull, so is a little out of order.

A little more progress... Tracks on, with one of every nine end-connectors painted blue as per the 1/1 tank. Started the Commander’s Weapon Station (borrowed from the Trumpeter kit) adding the laser-reflective glass.

Really liking that camouflage job. Subtle, yet very convincing.

Thank you, gentlemen. @Sairou I’m using SMS Australian Army paint colours (https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/). Apart from the names (we say “cam” not “camo”), they’re flawless. @Badder I’m very fortunate to have a couple of mates who help out by doing the CAD. I just upload to Shapeways and go from there. Here are some pics of the 1/1 Cersei

More details of my build here:

I’ve been questing after a 1/16 Abrams since 1995 when I picked up the Jim Shirley Productions resin 120mm scale (remember when that was a thing?) kit...and botched it with expanding foam filler! Now I’m converting Tamiya’s 1/16 M1A2 into a M1A1 in Australian service. Thanks to one of the cavalry regiments being granted freedom of entry to Brisbane last year, I finally have a good collection of pics of a single tank: ARN 055, c/s 31B “Cersei” of C Sqn, 2/14 Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Rifles). Having been working on this for a while, here’s a selection of “in progress” pics. Replacement of the kit rails & bustle with Plastruct 1.25mm plastic-coated wire: Enhancement of the kit anti-slip with Tamiya textured sand paint: Replacement stowage bin handles: Scratch-built bustle rack extension progress: And some overall progress: Thanks for looking.

Can see it in Australia, nil issues.

There’s a 3D printed RC scorpion/scimitar kit around. I bought the turret for a M113 MRV conversion. Will try to find the link.

It’s not little. Here’s a pic I took from the commander’s hole of the Boxer CRV/Direct Fire High Survivability Lift (DFHSL), looking over the top of an ALSAV to the (loosing) AMV35: It’s a big truck.

Slight correction, the NZLAV is a Piranha 3 hull, very similar to later Canadian vehicles. I remember hosting the Kiwi officer at a mess function who was sent to Darwin to look at ASLAV in detail. He loved the turret but hated the vehicle height - not surprising coming from a Scorpion!

Got there in the end, I guess 😂 Some stats from the recent Australian Boxer announcement: 211 “drive modules” (hulls). 223 mission modules (133 with Lance turret). First delivery: 2020.