While cruising through HobbyTown the other day I found some 1/48 armor and vehicles. Figuring they would look nice parked with my aircraft i picked up an M1 Abrams. (Just something about the way an Abrams looks draws my eye.) I also picked up a Sherman for my GF's son to build with me. (We'll probably make an entry in the new Parent Child build group when done.)

I've never built armor before so it's a new experience. It was very kind of Tamiya to include the gigantic weight to keep my Abrams from tail sitting. If I do decide to build a 1/35 scale tank will it also come with a giant hunk of metal too?

The kit itself is quite nice. The main body has sections of anti-skid molded into it. Most detail is molded separate so even in this smaller scale (for armor) there is no skimping on detail. Even the rack around the back of the turret is in eight separate pieces and looks great when assembled. I have most assembly done to the point where I can start laying paint down. As far as paint goes I've been talking to and getting to know Jeff Bailey over the phone for a couple of years now and I've decided to have this Abrams in the markings of one of his mounts in Desert Storm. Unfortunately he doesn't have photos but he has described the markings and said there isn't much to them.

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Josh, 1/48 was a neglected scale in armor for quite awhile. That has changed now as new armor kits have become much more available. Interesting tidbit on the the weight provided for the Abrams. I have a couple of M-1's in 35th scale, one from Dragon and the other is an Academy. They are still sealed but will take a peek in one to check the lay out of the parts. Your off to great start.

Hey Josh.
This is a great build. I’m happy to see you building up an Abrams. I also served in Armor. I spent most of my time in the older M-60A1’s but we were the first unit in the Army to get the “brand new” M-1A1’s. Talk about a culture shock going from the M-60 to the M1A1 !

The unit markings on the Tamiya box cover are for a tank from my last unit, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. If you look at the numbers on the front slope it shows that your tank model is assigned to the Second Platoon of “Fox Troop”, Second Squadron, 3rd ACR. At the time our unit was the very first Armored vehicles on the ground in Saudi Arabia. They were deployed with the 82nd Airborne as part of Desert Shield.

I served with L Troop which was part of the 3rd Squadron. We were called “L Troop Raiders” at the time.
Our tanks were delivered in overall green. They were painted with a sand color in Saudi Arabia.

I’ll definitely be watching this one ...

Jeff Bailey has spent a lot more time in the Abrams than I did, and I have been talking with him about this stuff too. Jeff is a good dude !

I remember reading about the Abrams when it was first coming out in International Combat Arms. My Dad picked it up for me as I was reading it at the grocery store. I was mainly interested in the

F-16 article but I remember reading about the Abrams in there too. The other articles I remember were about the wind down of Naval T-28 operations and the article "Shackletons Soldier On" on the Avro Shackleton (obviously). Never thought I'd see one fly but there was one at EAA two years in a row!

In the Abrams article it looked like it was painted green and black but it was a long time ago and most of the pictures were B&W.