Mean Green Machine

The Editor tackles Panda Model’s new M1.

There is no doubt that the M1 Abrams is one of the most iconic and important tanks of the modern era and as such it has been extensively represented in miniature by all the major manufacturers in all the popular scales. Perhaps surprisingly the original M1 has been relatively passed over by the big names: Tamiya released their version back in 1982, just two years after the tank first entered service with the US Army. For its day, it was a good kit for its time but suffered from the usual inaccuracies and oversimplifications. In 1986 Academy released an M1, which was probably worse than the Tamiya kit, while Esci’s 1988 kit was similarly inadequate. In 2004 and 2005 respectively Trumpeter and Dragon produced the Panther II Mine Clearing Vehicle, providing modellers with excellent M1 hulls but oddly enough neither went on to produce either the M1 or M1IP gun tank.

While we have had new generation M1A1 and M1A2 kits from the likes of Academy, Dragon, Meng and Rye Field Model, it has taken until now for a new version of the original 105mm-armed M1 MBT. Panda Model’s M1 Abrams MBT is a welcome release and considerable improvement on the Tamiya kit, but, as we shall see, is not without its issues. The kit contains six sprues of dark yellow plastic, an upper and lower hull, clear sprue and a fret of photoetch. Looking atthe twenty-step instruction manual I presumed this would be a straightforward enough build, but things turned out a little differently as you’ll see.

The Kit 

The kit is presented in a sturdy box with some attractive box art.