Hi all folks, I post here this my old kit made I think in 2012 of a M1A1 of the third ACR in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield, the kit was the classic Tamiya, the figures are a Dragon set, don’t pay atention to the watermarks it was a test I did at the time.
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Nice job. It looks really good.
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Nice jo. Love the wear and tear on the tank. Good job on the figures as well. Lots of nice details on the helmet and camouflage.
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Thanks both for appreciation
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That’s great looking- I really like what you’ve done with the weathering. All that stowage gives a nice bit of individuality to the kit too- plus you have painted it so well- it looks quite well used. Kudos on the figs too- particularly that chic-chip camo- you nailed that!
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Thank you too @Karl187 for the appreciation, it was my “desert Shield/Desert Storm” period, I also made a Bradley M3A1 of the 3rd ACR in the same period, I will post that soon too
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the model looks great, although I was in the 1/3 ACR for Desert storm and Desert shield and all of our tank had the three-color Nato camo.
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@beerbryan11 Maybe you are right, I based my work on this testimony, I contacted him directly via email if I remember correctly and he wrote me this, for the rest I don’t know.
"It depends on what time period during Desert Shield/Desert Storm you are depicting and what model of M1A1 you want to depict.
My unit,2nd Squadron, 3rd ACR went through 3 color periods and two versions of the M1A1 tank.
Desert Shield: When we first arrived in SA we had early model M1A1 tanks,ie angled trackblocks,and they were a very faded forrest green color.
When it started to look like we wouldn’t get new equipment before the ground war started 3rd ACR as a whole did a crash repainting job on all vehicles. The spec armor sand (Testors is a good example) was used at first until we ran out of it. Then we went downtown and bought whatever sand colored paint we could find.
The most common non-spec sand paint that I saw was a very light sand color that seemed almost white with a little sand mixed in.
Desert Storm: Just days before the groundwar started we got new Bradleys and M1A1HA tanks,ie replaceable trackblocks, and these came painted in the standard army armor sand color paint(again Testors is a good example).
Hope this helps"
SFC Corey Sanders
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Nice job on the tank.
Radome tan was a great match for that one.
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I have done this
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That looks really nice.
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Nice 
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We also went through three color periods. we deployed with to Saudi Arabia with three color Nato camo and after about 2 months (October 1990) we got CARC sand paint. We only had enough carc to paint the M1A1 and M3 Bardleys, all of the soft skin vehicles received tan paint made by standard oil which after a short period started to turn a little pinkish. On December 29th, 1990, we received brand new M1A1s painted CARC tan.
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I believe you but I based myself on what your comrade wrote to me, he was there too and as you read, when they first arrived they had early model M1A1s in faded forrest green, now I don’t know if you were in different companies and therefore with different vehicles or not, I based myself on his testimony:
" Desert Shield: When we first arrived in SA we had early model M1A1 tanks, ie angled trackblocks,and they were a very faded forrest green color."
…I didn’t make anything up, maybe his testimony wasn’t correct, but I couldn’t know that and since he was present at the time I don’t see why I should doubt it.
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I was also 1/3 ACR and all our tanks were 3 color NATO to start with. Also, I believe that all M1A1s were delivered from the factory in the NATO scheme. Gino and some others may have better information on this.
No one is doubting you, but your friend’s memory may be a bit faded. I know mine is. I often look at photos and think “I don’t remember that!” And looking at some of those photos, I realize that the 3 color NATO looks pretty faded on a lot of those tanks.
All in all, a really nice looking tank.
Ken
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Charlie Troop and D Co, 1/3 ACR, I probably worked on that very tank from D Co.
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More pics and info here…
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I’m probably inside one of those “cyclone” Troop tanks.
Ken
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…and to think that I also spent a lot of time searching for eyewitnesses, basically tank drivers, who could tell me precisely which color to use. 
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