Here is a question I haven’t been able to answer yet. Did original M1 tanks have the red anti-laser coating on periscopes and other optics?
It looks like no from pictures, but I can’t say definitively. If not, when was it applied, M1A1s?
Early M1s
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Well gentlemen, i know that most of you will turn up one’s nose but I am trying to fix the old Tamiya kit, just a test, I want to eventually see what comes out of it, I can always take the Panda kit, for the moment I have stripped it and replaced some pieces with others from a Dragon kit,
I realized that I had already replaced the side baskets with those taken from the Esci M1E1 kit, I don’t know why I did it, I used one or two Eduard PE and then I tried to fix some external loads on the turret just to see how they look.
This is what I have to do till now
Lucio
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I wouldn’t turn my nose up at that, you do what makes you happy it’s your model. I have to admit that I’m somewhat of a figure snob now with all the resin figures out there but I still have tons of sets of Dragon figures that are decent or make a great starting point for conversion. I still love working on some of those old kits, I have posted two kits here that are very old: the VT-34 based on the older Tamiya kit and my Israeli Nagmashot based on the old Tamiya Centurion. Best of luck with the project!
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I second what @metalhead85 says about not turning my nose up. I admire any one who tries to salvage and save a kit. And if you can improve on it along the way then all the better. And while you improve it, you may even learn some new ways to do things and learn other peoples ways how they did something.
And I think what you have done so far looks great. Keep the updates coming. 
The early M1s did not have any anti lazer coating on the GPS.
I was on M1IPs way back when.
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Thanks people, @Dan, what do you mean with lazer coating on the GPS?
Have I done something wrong?
I agree with you and Johnny.
It a good start Lucio.
No, he is responding to Gino’s question. You don’t have the dog house installed yet. It’s the rectangle hole in the front of the turret.
ah, ok ok, thanks to you too 
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I am assuming none on the rest of the periscopes either. Was it first seen on M1A1s then?
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@Merki4, looks good and like nice progress. I like what you’re doing with the M1A1 Tamiya kit. A++
Occasionally, its more satisfying to improve a quality older kit than to exclusively work on new state of the art kits.
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No-I was on ‘A1s in the late ‘80’s and they weren’t installed then.
I’d say sometime in the ‘90’s?
Also-I seen quite a few that had the coating on the drivers periscopes but sometime only one or two and not all three.
I was under the impression that the anti laser coating on optics came out sometime not too long before Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
Hi all, I have not yet decided which vehicle to replicate, if one during Reforger eercise or the other one with the winter camo, very captivating, and for this I was also looking for images of tankers in 80’s winter outfit but without success, some of you kindly have the opportunity to post some image about it?
About this one, I am not able to read the caption, I think it is from 1981 but not what exercise it was
IMAGES POSTED FOR DISCUSSION ONLY
or this in winter camo for which I would need images of tankers in winter gear
there would also be the profile n°4 always operating during the Reforger 83, but some profiles give it with the last section of the skirt still in the original shape, consequently to avoid mistakes I would prefer to play it safe
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I am confused by this statement. Unlike the rest of the skirt, the last piece is a super thin piece of metal (like cardboard model box thin) that is easily torn up and a number of folks remove before it’s stuck in the track. Any of those profiles could have it removed through normal use.
The second picture is really interesting. Where is it from?
Regards Freddy
@ spearhead01 honestly I found it on the net like all the others.
@ Tank_1812 I was referring to the fact that my kit already has the last section with the definitive shape, while in the profiles found they are partly still in the original form
this is what I mean
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We removed this piece (we called it #7 skirt) when we went out in the field as you said, it would get damaged quite easily.
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That must have been an early design, only ever seen the curve piece. I thought you where talking about the missing skirt profiles. Use as you wish for your build.
@Tank_1812 As you can see in this profile the last skirt is a curved design
While the previus profile of the same tank has the original design skirt
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