Vodnik's M1 kits comparison

Comparison
of M1A1/M1A2 Abrams kits.

PART 5

COMMANDER'S WEAPON STATION

Commander's weapon stations from M1A1 tanks. In new M1A2 kit Tamiya included two types of CWS - old one shown above and new ICWS as used in M1A2 tanks (next photo). In the new kit old style CWS is a separate part, but in older Tamiya M1A1 kits CWS was molded as one piece with upper turret part. Both new CWS parts have molded bumps on CWS ring, which fit into notches in turret hole - this makes it possible to attach CWS only in forward or backward facing position. But it is very simple modification to remove those two bumps from CWS ring and enable CWS to rotate 360 degrees. In Academy kit (not shown) CWS is molded with the turret, as in old Tamiya M1A1 kits, but parts are generally similar to those in Tamiya kit with exception for small lifting eyes, missing from Academy kit. In Dragon kit those lifting eyes are also missing. But only in Dragon kit the commander's weapon sight is more or less correct shape with some device on the right top side of it - I don't know what this is, but it is present on all Abrams M1 and M1A1 tanks. Weapon's sights in Tamiya and Trumpeter kits are very simplified. In Trumpeter and Tamiya kits you get clear styrene sheet to make glass for periscopes. In Dragon kit periscopes are molded solid.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Improved commander's weapon station (ICWS) as installed on M1A2 tanks. Tamiya part is much more accurate and more detailed. In Italeri kit the front periscope is higher then the rest - it is incorrect, as all ICWS periscopes are the same height in M1A2 tanks, what is correctly shown in Tamiya kit.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Note details of the bottom of ICWS in Tamiya kit - beautiful!
In both kits you get a piece of clear styrene sheet to make periscope glass.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Commander's hatches from all kits. First on the left is the M1A1 hatch from Tamiya kit. There are two armor hatch covers included in new M1A2 kit - the one on the top is inaccurate and it was included in old Tamiya M1A1 kits. The one below is new part added to M1A2 kit and is accurate shape. Last two hatches on the right are of different design - those are from M1A2 tank kits from Tamiya and Italeri. Hatch in Academy kit (not shown) looks like hatch from old Tamiya M1A1 kit, complete with inaccurate simplified armor cover.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.


M2HB gun mounts. On the left side the first two mounts are pintle type from M1A2 kits. Italeri part are overscale and lack details in comparison to nicely molded Tamiya parts. Remaining three mounts came from M1A1 kits. Dragon parts are most detailed and most accurate. Academy parts are identical to Tamiya parts. Click on the picture to enlarge it.	M2HB machine guns. New Tamiya gun and Italeri part are slightly different from the rest as they are designed to be attached to pintle mount of M1A2 ICWS. The M2HB in Academy kit includes conical flash suppressor and barrel release handle, not present on other kits parts, but also rarely seen on guns on real tanks. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

TURRET BUSTLE RACK


The most simple design of turret bustle rack is the one in Tamiya kit - just six parts! They are very cleanly molded, with no flash at all, so just minimal cleanup of molding seams is needed. Click on the picture to enlarge it.	Parts in Trumpeter kit were most likely based on Tamiya ones, but Trumpeter decided to add extra hole detail to bottom frame of the rack and this forced them to split this frame and make the corner sections as separate parts. There is quite a lot of flash on parts, so more cleanup is needed. Click on the picture to enlarge it.


Things are more complicated in Italeri kit - now the rack consists of ten parts, with two separate rails, but otherwise it is similar to Trumpeter parts, just cleanly molded. Click on the picture to enlarge it.	The bustle rack in Dragon kit is almost famous for its complexity - each mounting bracket is separate part. Removing parts from sprues is rather difficult and cleanup is also not easy task. But as the lower frame of the rack is in one piece, unlike in Italeri kit, the total parts count is also 10. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Actually the most difficult bustle rack to assemble is the one in Academy model. It is composed of 12 parts with separate upper rack hinges - it is possible to fold the rack onto the turret top. I'm not sure if it is possible to do it in real tank, but I think it should be once you disengage lower mounting bolts.

In all of the kits except Dragon one you get a piece of plastic or fabric mesh to apply to the bottom of the bustle rack. In Dragon (and Revell) kits you get nothing - it is up to you to add this detail. Of course using some PE rhomboidal mesh is recommended anyway for any kit, as no kit supplied mesh is in correct pattern.

BUSTLE RACK MOUNTED AUXILIARY POWER UNIT

Only three of the kits I have, included parts for bustle rack mounted APU: Italeri, Tamiya and Trumpeter. As far as I know some versions of Dragon kits include it, but not the one I have. Academy kit does not include parts for any type of APU. Only in Tamiya kit the APU looks like the real thing with nice details on top and back of it, in other kits it just looks bad... All three kits include a part to be installed on top of the turret, but in in Trumpeter kit it is way too simplified. Only Italeri kit includes part for cable guard that should be attached on top of the turret and go along the side of blast panel and connect with other cable guards behind loader's hatch.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

CREW

Only in Academy, Tamiya and Trumpeter kits some crew figures are present. In some old versions of Dragon kit there were very good crew figures added, but those kits are no longer available. Those figures were also available as a separate set, but it is also out of production. Italeri kit does not include any figures.


Crew figures in Trumpeter kit are poor copies of figures from old Tamiya M1A1 kits. Figure in Academy kit (not shown) is also a copy of the same commander figure from Tamiya kit. Click on the picture to enlarge it.	One of the old figures from M1A1 kits is still present on sprues of new Tamiya M1A2 kit. Compare it to the figure from Trumpeter kit in previous photo. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Two new figures are included in Tamiya M1A2 kit - they wear new style body armor, as used during the Operation Iraqi Freedom. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

INTERIOR PARTS

Dragon Abrams kits (some of them, including Revell boxing) are the only ones with some interior parts included. The interior is very simplified and limited to just a few details. I heard that even those few parts are not quite accurate, but I can't confirm that as I didn't analyze their accuracy yet. There are some parts included to form the driver's compartment and some details for the turret interior.

The sprue with interior parts in Dragon / Revell kit.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

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