As the plastic model of the aircraft I am currently making is not progressing well, I am thinking of making a Meng tank kit for a change. When I ordered this M1A2 Abrams, I thought it included a former President Trump figure, but when I pulled it out of the closet, it was a standard kit. A little disappointing. I’ll pick some modern U.S. tank soldier figures and try them on instead.
As usual, the box of the Meng model’s modern tank kit is immense. It is good because there is a lot of space when I finish one kit.
There are many parts for 16 roller wheels. 2 pieces will be glued together, so the number of parts will be 32. If we use a motor tool, we can finish sanding in a short time.
The assembly of the front suspension part was a little complicated. Also, it’s not a symmetrical part arrangement, so if I don’t assemble it as instructed, I’ll be in trouble later.
(2022/08/26)
The Abrams kit uses an elastic suspension that moves up and down the wheels. It wasn’t easy to straighten the roller, but I might be able to do something about it when I glue the tracks. I prefer the parts to be firmly fixed without moving.
Processing of the upper surface of the body and good parts has started. It was necessary to do a bit of fine processing to attach the additional battery cover at the rear of the tank. I grind the pieces to be glued together to fit as closely as possible. But I think there will be a gap.
I attached some etched parts to the upper part of the tank body. I don’t know if I should glue the hatch of the driver’s seat, so I temporarily fasten it with tape. Leaving the support of the side armor without knowing whether it will fit properly in this position gives me a feeling of fluffiness.
The tank’s rear part has many complicated parts, and it takes time to assemble. I wasn’t sure if some parts were correctly installed. It’s a large tank, so it’s good to have a sense of density when seen from a specific direction because it’s sharp.
(2022/08/29)
I could choose from 2 types of side armor. It seems that the type depends on Tusk1 or Tusk2.
I think I will start assembling the track. The number of parts is quite a bit more than I expected, so I need to build about six parts instead of just cutting out one frame. If you make it carefully, it seems movable, but if the adhesive sticks out, it will stick right away.
I usually ignore the assembly instructions and put the track in my way together. I was building it this time as I liked, but I failed after a few frames. It seems more efficient to assemble a set of 6 frames as instructed. It looks like it will be as hard to make as the MENG German Gepart I built.
The two bars in the middle were sandwiched together to stretch the length of the track little by little. The adhesive is required to be attached to the two center holes only. But don’t worry too much. I used it a lot to strengthen it.
I think I can wrap it around the wheel because it is movable.
(2022/09/04)
I managed to wrap one of the tracks. In the end, it wasn’t easy to connect the tracks, and when I tried to do so, I found that the tracks were too long and left over. Since many parts cannot be seen with the side armor, I glued them from the bottom, then fixed the front and back and left them in the upper middle. When I thought about it, I was too stubborn to connect the belt, but I should have omitted it at the upper hidden part. I remember that the MENG Gepart was rounded up in the middle, and only the parts that could be seen were combined. But I’m getting used to assembling Abrams-connected tracks, so maybe I should roll it up the other side.
I think the mold part of the track is a considerable burden on the manufacturing cost. In conclusion, the track jigs included in the MENG kit were not very useful for me. This doesn’t work, and I think I’ll go crazy or throw it away.
It wasn’t easy to attach the side armor. The part where the side armor base and the explosive reaction armor are connected, and when the armor is attached to the tank, the pieces don’t fit perfectly. Was it a little misaligned when I put it together? I tried to fill the gap with putty, so it didn’t look too funny. It’s a lot of work to repeat from the track assembly to here on the other side.
Yes, I’m doing the same thing again. This time it’s on the right. But I also have a MENG M1A1 so it might be the same track parts. As there was no trial and error, the work went smoothly. But I don’t want to do this work anymore.
There are a few extra parts even after the tracks are attached to the chassis. It was about half of a full runner.
(2022/09/07)
The turret has now been assembled. It’s a pretty big turret. The position of the hole seems to be slightly different depending on the type you make. The gun barrel is bonded to the left and right, so if we bond it early, we can erase the seam soon, but it will take a long time to finish assembling.
The gun barrel is gluing. It is dried vertically so as not to shift from the center.
The turret is still being built. I have built many parts. I don’t know; it’s still about 70%.
I have assembled as much as I can. I removed the parts that are too close to the clear parts and are difficult to mask and the machine gun-related parts. By the way, modern tanks have many clear parts, so isn’t it hard to mask them?
Many etched parts are used for the basket part, where we can put a lot of baggage on the back part.
Side armor with Explosive Response Armor (ERA) is attached to the large area of the side of the chassis.
(2022/09/10)
Is the machine gun attached to the primary weapon remote-controlled? It’s surrounded by a lot of armor plates. The other two machine guns are probably aimed not remotely but manually.
The main gun, the coaxial machine gun, the commander machine gun, the loader machine gun, and the bulletproof plate make it look messy. They pay a lot of attention to protecting tank crews.
One of each of the enemy/friend identification panels is attached to the left, right, and rear. In that case, I can’t attach things to the side. Maybe I should hang up a spare caterpillar or a spare wheel.
I loaded the baggage on the back of the tank: backpacks, extra Jerrycans, crates, and sleeping bags, spare parts for tank wheels.
Masking work is difficult because many clear parts, like aircraft plastic models, are used. Moreover, if it is a bulletproof glass panel, it has to be masked from both sides. I always think that the quality of the clear parts of the MENG plastic kits is excellent. The transparency seems relatively high compared to other manufacturers.
I might have forgotten which parts were masked, so I should have taken photos of the details instead of taking notes.
(2022/09/13)
It is airbrushed with a black primer. Maybe I should have just painted the details in black.
I will add the modern U.S. Army tank crew of Assault Models, which I have kept for a long time. When I looked recently to see if there were any other good figures, I was surprised to see that injection figures of Miniart were expensive because they might be in short supply, depending on the item. It seems that there are not many U.S. soldiers in stock now. The uniform with the U.S. Army’s bulletproof vest is pretty stiff. I’m playing a game called” Mass Effect,” which is based on the Space Force of the near future, and the U.S. uniform doesn’t look much different from the Space Force one.
It uses the dark yellow of Cleos. I thought it might be dark, so I mixed it with white.
I airbrushed the figure to this point. When it comes to camouflage painting, I have to paint with a fine brush from here.
For the first time in a while, maybe years, I tried a weathering technique using alcohol thinner. Before the weathering, it was dark yellow, so I thought it might look like a German tank, but with the effect of covering the surface thinly with a buff, it became a vehicle like the Iraq war. As for the painting, it depends on the modeler’s preference, so I can’t say for sure, but it was good that there was a slight change in the body color. Tamiya’s water-based acrylic has a high matte effect, so the color became more uneven than I thought.
(2022/09/17)
I’m in the middle of camouflage painting a tank crew. Drawing a digital camouflage pattern with a brush is a little too tricky. Or maybe it’s just a matter of perseverance. I used the back of the Miniart package as a reference.
The M1A2 Abrams tank is finally completed. This tank is an improved model based on M1A1 and equipped with a 120 mm M256 tank gun, depleted uranium armor, and a 1500 hp gas turbine engine. The turret has been modified with high performance, including the addition of a hot wire video system for the commander, the digitization of shooting and communications, and the addition of GPS to share high-density information between vehicles.
The increased opportunities for urban combat in Iraq and Afghanistan made short-range ambushes a threat. The Tank Urban Survival Kit (TUSK) was developed to address this. Explosion-proof glass is often used around the hatch, which is one of the characteristics. In addition, it is equipped with many machine guns, which may be to strengthen the offensive power against infantry.
It might be better to have an antenna of about 7cm, but considering storage, I chose 5cm rather conservatively.
It is equipped with an M2HB heavy machine gun coaxially with the primary weapon.
Technological progress is really like a spear and a shield. Side armor is equipped with explosive reactive armor. It is equipped with armor that has the mechanism to reduce the power of the molded explosive. However, in contrast to the explosive reactive armor, a shell that explodes in two stages has been developed and is said to penetrate.
The small light is also clear, so it glows when reflected and looks excellent.
Since they are operating in the desert, the luggage was painted dusty in various ways.
This marking is 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the U.S. Army, FOB Hammer, Iraq, May 5, 2011.
I finished painting two tank crews. The mold around the helmet and the bulletproof vest is fine and cool.
The camouflage pattern on the uniform is very detailed, so it’s a lot of work, but for now, I think it’s OK to look at them from a distance. I could have worked a little harder, but my eyes hurt.
I tried to draw the unit mark of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army with a brush, but it was too reckless. First, the green circle with a yellow border is almost like that.
The right sleeve has an American flag, Stars & Stripes. It’s too fine, so decals are better to reproduce it accurately.
Well, when I put tank crews on the hatches, it’s pretty good. He looks tense and alert.
It occurred to me while I was making this MENG kit. Even if I don’t buy such an expensive kit, I don’t think the Tamiya M1A2 Tusk II will make much difference. Tamiya’s track is a belt type, but after tasting the time and effort of assembled track this time, I thought a belt would be fine. Tamiya’s kit is Tusk II, and the side armor can only be selected in one shape, but I think it is very luxurious that we can choose different shapes for Tusk I and II in the MENG kit. By chance, I decided on Tusk I because the marking is superb, but it might be good to choose a shape I can’t make with Tamiya’s kit.
Various manufacturers release Abrams, but the MENG kit is one of the final products. When I finished making it, I was surprised at how many parts I had since I started assembling the turret. Also, it was hard because the difficulty level of the track was relatively high. I think it’s a perfect kit.
(2022/09/21)
