That’s what she said.
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I just finished Vodnik’s comparison. Dayum. I’m glad I’m building M1 nothings here, and also glad that I have a couple of the Tamiya M1A2 kits in the box as well. It does look like I can bin quite a few of the Dragon and Trumpeter parts I have, which really won’t bother me.
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In 15 or 20 years you’ll be like, damn, wish I kept that part 
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Probably so, it happened last week. 
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I started the Esci turret last night, and I confirmed something I’d run into when mating the upper and lower hull pieces: my normal adhesives aren’t particularly effective on this plastic. I ended up having to use super glue to get the turret shell pieces to stay together.
It didn’t help that the fit was poor. I had to use a piece of .040" card stock to get the lower rear wall flush. Then the interference between the back of the turret and engine deck prevented me from being able to rotate the turret.
Some shims and lots of sanding fixed that.
Thankfully a Tamiya main sight housing fit since the Esci part was very crude.
The filler for the big hole where the two large blast panels fit in is visible here too. I have a good scale drawing of the panels that need to go there.
On a different area: on all of the Tamiya and Academy M1 kits I’ve built, the drive sprocket has been very close to the bottom edge of the upper hull. With the track guide on the sprocket, there’s less than 1mm of clearance. Has anyone else noticed this? Mating the Esci upper hull to a Tamiya lower made it worse, so I dropped the final drives almost 2mm by slotting the holes in the hull.
Pic shows the difference.
If the rearmost side skirt is on, this is hidden, but I’m building the M1IP without them.
I can say that pics I have show very little clearance in this area. I’m just particular enough (OCD?) that I will probably lower the final drives on the first one.
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I mean, this is all well and good Russel, but you do make life difficult for yourself.
Onwards!
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Nice shimming work around the turret base.
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I’ve been told that before, but if I fix it I’ll sleep better. It’s the little things, right?
Sean, I’ve had to the same thing on other models often enough that it makes me wonder if anyone actually built the kit before several thousand were made, boxed and shipped.
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I may be chasing a rainbow but I’m having too much fun to stop now. Yes, the Esci kit is a bit of a rat, but it was cheap, quite a bit cheaper actually than anything else that resembles an M1, so I’ll keep telling myself that as I continue. The Tamiya kit is about ready for primer, and I’m gathering stowage for it now. Anyway, I’m still glad I buy old and started kits for spares…
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Love it, keep going!
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I shouldn’t be surprised. The only 105mm barrel I could find is ridiculously expensive, especially when compared to what I’m spending (or not spending) on the Esci kit. So I started digging out gun barrels. The sleeved barrels in the Takom Brave Tiger kits are close so I began experimenting with a couple last night. I have to lengthen the barrel behind the bore evacuator and shorten the other end. If not for the slight taper from the mantlet to the bore evacuator it would be a simple whack and hack.
What I have so far:
I’m basing my lengths off the Tamiya part, and pics.
I’m also looking for good pics if the top of the side skirts. I want to add the fasteners to them.
And today is payday so I have tracks on the way, from CRS again. I do like CRS tracks.
I like the name too.
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http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/weichao_chen/m1e1/index.php?Page=4
http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/weichao_chen/m1e1/index.php?Page=5
http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/weichao_chen/m1e1/index.php?Page=6
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Sean, I’ll take a look there when I get home, thanks.
If those don’t help I may hhave what you need.
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If relevant to you: 3D 105mm M68A1 maingun for the M1 Abrams
Yup, the 3D barrel is very nice. I will be using it on my Panda M1…eventually.
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That is perfect but rather than try ad find someone to print it I cobbled this up last night:
I used parts from a Takom Brave Tiger and a Trumpeter T-62 to get the barrel and found a muzzle in a box of Trumpeter parts. There’s a metal rod inside it to keep it straight.
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Nice. There are very cheap paint brushes at Hobby Lobby that will give you the proper taper where it comes out of the mantlet.
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