1/72 ESCI M1 105mm MERDC Summer Verdant

Armor/AFV
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Old, not so good ESCI 1/72 M1 Abrams 105mm. MERDC summer verdant. (Supposed to be) 6th CAV stationed in Fort Knox in Kentucky (I really couldn’t find the matching serial number decal)

Cold-war Abrams deserve love and attention too. :woozy_face: (don’t you want something different than the average sand-yellow & NATO tri-colour Abrams???)

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If you ever dreamed of a cold-war Abrams in 72nd scale, the options are quite limited to kits by ESCI/Italeri and Hasegawa. Both of them need some work, especially the bogie wheels & the missing centre guides. ESCI’s kit is poorly fitted and has several deformations, possibly due to the age of the mould. It has (arguably) better detail representation than Hasegawa’s, except for the main gun, which I replaced with the additional 105mm L7 in Trumpeter’s Type 74 kit with some modification.

I brought a Revell M1A1 kit to cannibalize it for the Australian marking and the tracks (T156)and wheels for this 105mm Abrams. I only used the wheels since the detail of Revell’s track was just poor :downcast_face_with_sweat:.

Please kindly ignore how far the commander’s hatch should be open…. Someone just pointed it out while I am writing this post :downcast_face_with_sweat:

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19 Likes
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Great job!

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Firstly, welcome to a great site. Tons of excellent modelers with lots of knowledge and very willing to help in your modeling quest.

Your M1 looks fantastic! The build and corrections you made are excellent, as is the camouflage job!

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Awesome build! You did a really nice job with the camo :call_me_hand:

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I’ve never been very fond of three-colour NATO camouflage, and desert sand gets boring fairly soon, too — especially the modern type that’s hard-wearing enough that it doesn’t seem to flake off, unlike in 1990–’91 :slight_smile: MERDC looks so much better, especially the variant you’ve got here.

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I find that the colour tone of the NATO tri-colour is supposed to be dark to shade the vehicle and blend its edges. This is contrary to the use of colour on scale modeling, which tends to opt for more tint or hue to create highlights and contrast between different surfaces.

Adding too much tint or hue deviates the colour from the NATO camo scheme, but if you aim for the accuracy, then it often ends up with a dark pile of mess that vagues the contour of details. I would say the NATO tri-colour is quite a difficult pattern to make and weather on scale modeling.:sweat_smile:

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Welcome to the forum!

Outstanding job. There are few modelers who can do that scheme as well even in 1/35.

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Very nice! I miss the old 105mm versions!

Ken

1 Like