Pla model (2): M1 Abrams 1st Armoured Division

Good evening and happy belated Deepavali. I hope all of you enjoyed your day off yesterday. Tonight, we'll be looking at the American M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT). It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of U.S. military forces in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Highly mobile, designed for modern armored ground warfare, the M1 is well armed and heavily armored. Notable features include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine, the adoption of sophisticated composite armor, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compartment for crew safety. Weighing nearly 68 short tons (almost 62 metric tons), it is one of the heaviest main battle tanks in service; which is also why Singapore chose the leopard over the Abrams. The weight would wreck our roads and cause the tank to sink in.

This was a Tamiya kit which was quite dated. However, like most Tamiya kits, the fit was excellent, which is why Tamiya was one of the premier model kit brands of its time. This tank depicts one that served in operation Desert Storm with the 1st Armoured Division.

As it was serving in the desert, I felt that i did not need to cake the track assembly with mud. Rather, I used light sand and pastels. Unfortunately, I mistook the laser sight as a machine gun and weathered it as so.

I kept the paint chipping to a minimum as the M1's paint is rather weather resistant. I used bandage to make the camouflage netting and several layers of tissue paper to make the tarp.

A close of the tank, the commander and loader. upon looking at the pictures, I realised I should have been more dilligent in removing the flash off the loader's arms and hands.

Well, what do you think? Please leave me comments on the pictures or the model and hopefully, I'll be able to do a better model in the future. Stay blessed!!