Yep, he was in the dog house for a couple weeks. 
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There are really only two options, the old Tamiya kit, and the Panda kit. The Tamiya kit is a bit soft on details by today’s standards, but the Panda kit has issues too, as Gino points out. So if you can’t, or won’t, do the Panda kit, get the Tamiya.
Ken
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I have the Panda M1IP kit, all the side rails were broken upon opening the box, it has, I believe, all the parts to make a plain vanilla M1 to include the turret. Lots of flash and heavy sprue attachments. I’m parting it out for other M1 projects
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I had some minor breakage on the rails, also the M2 was warped, not bad I will try to get back to shape.
Doing the base M1 kit
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many, many years ago, we had an M1IP at work. Right out of Ft. Knox. Seems like the anti laser coatings were in place as that was a big talked about subject. Two or three years later we had an M1a1 in there for a dog & pony show, and it was much different.
gary
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I finished the Panda M1P about a month ago. I used T-Rex tracks in place of the kit tracks and some eduard pe. Other than that and stowage it was OOB.
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Can’t believe I missed this one.
No! the red anti-laser coating was not added until sometime after the Gulf War, late 1990s. None of the tanks (or any other vehicles) had the red coating in Desert Storm. I did an NTC rotation with a unit from 4th ID in 1999 and they did not have the red coating on their tanks (M1A1) then. AFAIK the M1A2 was the first version to get the laser coating, but I don’t know if it was the basic 'A2, or one of the SEP upgrades that first got it. It did not really become an issue until OIF, then they started putting it on in a hurry.
The GPS was already laser protected, so the gunner was not blinded by his own laser. Same with the M60A3.
When Desert Storm started, we were issued laser protective eyewear that had a dark green tint. But that was for the crew, not the vehicle.
Ken
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I’d love to get my hands on a set of those T Rex tracks, for an M1A2, they looks great, and glad to see you got your antenna balls 
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That’s correct. Our M-1 IPs at Ft. Riley (87-90) had no reflective coating on the vison blocks. Didn’t see reflective coatings on M1A1, M1A1 (HA), until 95 or 96 that I can remember.
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the lens coating was a blue color now that I think about it. The Army guys said they had four or five of them, and each was a little different from the others. How much I can’t say, and that weekend was a mess from day one. The plant was brand new and we were still setting machines all over the place. Army and TACOM would not leave the tank setting outside, and they simply drove it around back to go thru this big overhead door. The guys measured it and said it would fit thru the door, but then installed the side shields. The door was ripped out of it’s tracks, and came down on top the tank! They worked 24/7 to replace the door and repaint everything as new. Nobody knew what happened at noon the next day! Then when it came time to send it back home; they couldn’t get the tank back out due to us setting machinery. A week later everything was out of the building (they sent in a lot of tracked equipment). The next open house went a lot smoother (well almost). They even went so far as to run the tank up and down Grand Ave. in a light rain, while almost wiping out a Speedway cop car with the guy standing in front of it with eyes as big as silver dollars. By then the Army Generals all wanted to see this robotic cell I built, and seemed to care less about the tanks.
gary
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Nice M1 Brad…where did you get the ratchets and straps from ?
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I got them from MIRYOKU.CZ They are really well detailed PE and cloth. Took about 2 weeks to get from the Czech republic.
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I am slowly starting work on the TRex tracks. I will try to take a few in progress shots, I think once you get in the groove of them they go ok, but seems like a lot of alignment and parts to synch up.
Will see
When I did the T-Rex tracks they were almost as bad as the real thing.2 blocks, 2 pins a center guide and end connectors. Once you get in groove it goes pretty quickly. I found I needed to ream out the end connectors a bit as the pins were fairly beefy. That said the do turn out good and look great
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Yep I thought the end connectors might be a bit tight for those pins. Ok will grab the pin drill
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This is a great thread. Wanted ask, as I am looking at the photos - what was the common set up on the M1 turrets? I see some ammo cans some powder cans, some with 2 sets of track shoes, also some with an extra road wheel etc. was this mostly crew specific or unit driven? I have all the bits to do this, but wanted a gauge what was close to actual practice.
Tia
Bret
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This question has been covered before, but the answer may be hard to find. You can look thru this thread, or search for other M1 Abrams threads.
Mostly it is unit driven, based on SOPs. These can vary A LOT based on unit and time frame. Just in this thread alone you can see everything from original 105mm gun M1s all the way up to late model M1A2s. REFORGER, Desert Storm, OIF, and various exercises over a time span of nearly 20 years. If you are looking at a specific model, unit, area of the world, or time frame, that would be helpful.
A few items that are almost always found on the tank: 2 Jerry cans (water and oil), 1 camo net, 1 set of camo poles in a bag, and one tarp. At least 1 road wheel, and 1 spare track block (as you noticed, there may be more).
Crew items: Remember there are 4 crew members, so anything you add (rucksack, duffel bag, sleeping bag, cots, etc.) should be in sets or four.
Comfort items: You can often find tanks with coolers/ice chests, water bottles, often in cases/boxes, and MREs (these have changed over the years, so you should get the correct ones).
Your best bet is to use a specific photo, or ask here, lots of people with experience can help you. Be specific. Open questions lead to long, rambling answers. 
Ken
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All good. I am doing the Panda M1 so looking at the new into the Army timeframe. Since the early tanks did not have the rear bustle rack I have been looking at photos of them and trying to get an idea of how the crews and units figured it out with the new tank…… compared to the M 60 which was the frame of reference at the time.
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