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1/24 VsTank Pro M1A2 Abrams Battle Tank - Page 3

Modifications / Rebuild Dept.

Next came adding tinny eyehooks to the underneath side of the main storage rack. The storage rack is located on the rear of the turret. There are a total of 10 eyehooks on thePicture of eyehooks located underneath the main storage rack storage rack. I also placed two eyehooks on top of the generator located in the storage rack. The generator is a backup unit used incase the tank looses electrical power inside the tank. We carry quite a few parts for the 1/24th scale tank located here.

Located in front (top) of the tank are baggage hooks. There is one hook on each side of the tank, which are used for securing baggage and supplies. The hooks where made from heavy gage wire and then inserted into two eyehooks. You will also notice a handle Picture of Baggage hooksabove the baggage hook. This handle is only located on the left side of the tank. I made this from heavy gage wire also. Keep in mind that all the custom parts made for this tank are on the real Abrams tank.

M1A2 Tank2 Baggage hooks (left) where also added to each storage boxe which are located on the sides of the turret.

An area I spent a very long time on are the blast panels (below), which are located on the top rear of the turret. All parts where made from foam, brass, cardboard, needle heads and wire. The blast panels are a protective feature on the Abrams tank. The amumition shells are located beneath the blast panels in a protective reinforced compartment. In the case of the amumition exploding inside this protective compartment, the blast is carried upward through the blast doors, not into the main turret where the crew are.

Next came the fun part, the assembly. The turret came first since it had the most parts to assemble. All the internal parts went in first. Then the exterior parts where assembled and glued in place. Before I glued the different parts together I pre-weathered everything. It’s just hard to weather small parts once there glued on the tank.
M1A2 TankEverything went back together quite quickly since I had all my parts tagged. After the turret was assembled, I proceeded with the rest of the weathering on the turret. I used mostly different colors of chalk and pencils to create my weathered look.

I know I’m going to get comments on using chalks for weathering. Common practice when it comes to weathering models is the use of paint washes. Since I’m not an export at using paint washes and you also need a lot of different paints colors to create a single weathering effect. I decided to use chalks to get the same affect. Plus it’s a lot less expensive with almost no cleanup involved and if you make a mistake, the chalk can easily taken off with a damp rag.
The chalk colors I used the most are black, grays, browns, tans and white. What I did notice when I sprayed on the clear over the chalk is that the white chalk disappears. SoI re-applied the white chalk after the clear has dried.

I did use different colors of paint to create a burnt, rustic look to the rear exhaust vent (below). Then I applied several colors of chalk to complete the weathering look. You will notice that the center exhaust vent is the only vent that got the burnt, rustic look. That’s because the center vent is used for engine exhaust. The other two are air-conditioning vents. The chalks and weathering I used on our tank are available on our website.

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Picture of rear exhaust vent on the Abrams tank

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