My latest endeavor will be the Academy 1/35 scale M1A1 Abrams main battle tank for the Finescale Modeler community "Gulf Wars Group Build 2012". The particular vehicle I'm modeling (tentatively) is a USMC Abrams known as "War Pig". It should be noted that the "War Pig" seen in COD4 is incorrectly modled as a M1A2 which the USMC never used, only the Army has batallions of M1A2's. Several pictures I have seen of "War Pig" show it ith the mine plow attached which the kit does not include, hence I may model a different vehicle and save the WP decals for a Tamiya or Dragon with the plow.
The Academy kit appears to be a direct knock off of the Tamiya mold which has been on the market for nearly 20 years. Keeping with the fact that Tamiya's offering was once able to house a motor system, this kit has several annoying slots and switch holes in the bottom of the hull that need to be filled in with a combination of sheet styrene and filler putty.
Over the holes where you locate the final drive housings were two slots. I backed each with a piece of .020 styrene sheet then made a plug from .040 sheet and faired them in with CA glue mixed with baking soda.
The rear panel in this kit was an absolute bear to install. I tacked the top edge to the upper hull to ensure that it was straight then permanently glued it wit liquid cement. The upper hull was then permanently attached to the lower hull and several large gaps were plugged with thin styrene sheet and Bondo.
Bondo was sanded down then the hull was primed to see if there was anything amiss. A few small divots were filled with CA glue and Mr. Surfacer 1000 then the hull was primed again which showed the seam filling looked good.
Then it was on to the topside of the hull. M1A1's have a non skid surface on the upper surfaces and the roof of the turret which I replicated with the technique seen here. A good diagram on where to apply these surfaces can be found here.
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