Hello ,I have the Tamiya M1A1 Abrams Ukraine tank kit and I would to make the kit into a U S Marine Desert Storm tank. What chevron emblem would be somewhat accurate for the tank?
I have a few Abram tanks in my collection but none from the Desert Storm War. I was hoping I could make a simple stencil and paint the marking on the side skirts but not sure what would be somewhat correct. Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions from you more experienced modelers. George
Tamiya really screwed the pouch on this release and tried to pass an old, detail-lacking kit off one more time as something it is not.
The kit is only buildable as an early M1A1 from Desert Storm, '90-'91. It has very early features such as the slanted back gunner’s sight box, old smoke grenade storage box, old-style crosswind sensor, chevron block T156 tracks, etc., etc., etc…
It can be built as a USMC tank during Desert Storm from the box as a Bn worth of Army M1A1s were transferred to the USMC so they would have some 120mm-gunned tanks for the war as they were in the middle of fielding and didn’t have enough. Other than that, it has no later USMC (nor Army) features.
As to ODS USMC markings, best bet would be to find a pic of one. They didn’t have much on them though. Mainly just the USMC serial number and coalition chevrons.
Rye Fields M1A1 ODS kit has the below USMC markings.
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Hello, thanks for the reply. What do you mean by Bn worth of Army M1A1s?
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58 Army M1A1 tanks, a Battalion set, were loaned to the USMC since they had not received all theirs yet.
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Thank you for your help, If I made an up Chevron with the 2 dots inside I would be close to representing something real. Does the barrel that comes with the Tamiya Ukraine kit correct for this timeline?
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The chevrons with dots would work. The barrel in the kit is correct for ODS as well.
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