M1A1 (HA) Abrams I Revell I 1/72

After moving into my new home, I no longer had a proper workbench to build models on. I ended up working on a small side table instead. Years ago, I had built a 1/35 scale Abrams, and I figured it was finally time to make one in 1/72 scale as well. So I put Revell’s M1A1 kit on the bench.

During assembly, I struggled a lot—classic Revell quality, as always. The side skirts at the front refused to meet the fenders properly, leaving enormous gaps. I filled those areas with putty.

The upper and lower hull halves also did not fit together correctly. Those joints ate up a lot of putty. Be careful when assembling the tracks because the instructions are wrong. In fact, the instructions are incorrect or incomplete in several places, so you really need to stay alert while building.

For priming, I used Tamiya Gray Surface Primer spray. Strangely, the primer didn’t cover the puttied areas at all. I had used Vallejo 70400 Plastic Putty, and I had never experienced anything like this before.

Since I didn’t want to paint the tank in the usual desert yellow or NATO camouflage like everyone else, I decided to go with a forest-green scheme—similar to the Abrams tanks we’ve been seeing in Europe recently. I painted the entire model with Vallejo Model Air 71093 NATO Green.

I selected the paints for color modulation myself instead of using a ready-made set. First, I applied Vallejo Model Air 71137 US Light Green over the surfaces except for the naturally shaded areas. This created the first layer of tonal variation.

Then I wanted to brighten the tank even more with a lighter tone, so I used Vallejo Model Air 71009 Eau de Nil D.E. Green for the highlights. This completed the modulation stage. Once the main painting was done, I moved on to dry brushing.

I dry-brushed the raised details using Vallejo Model Air 71321 IJA Light Grey Green. I love dry brushing because it gives the model a lot of depth and volume—but if you overdo it, it can become distracting.

After finishing the dry brushing, I moved on to painting the smaller details. I painted all the tracks with Vallejo Air 71315 Tyre Black. Then I dry-brushed the metal parts of the tracks with Vallejo Air 71065 Steel.

I painted the exhaust grille at the rear with Revell Aqua Color 36109 Anthracite. I used the same color for the machine guns, the barrel tip, and the towing hooks. Afterwards, I dry-brushed those parts with Vallejo Air 71065 Steel. I painted the rubber sections of the road wheels with Vallejo Air 71315 Tyre Black.  

Once all the painting was finished, I sealed the tank with Vallejo 70522 Satin Varnish. This semi-matte coat protected everything I had done up to that point. Since the weather was warm, the varnish dried very quickly.

After the varnish cured, I looked through the decal options. I wanted this build to represent a European-based tank. The kit includes decals for vehicles used in Bosnia, and I thought those would be the most appropriate, so I decided to use them.

I only used a few of the decals. Reference photos show that forest-green Abrams tanks carry very minimal markings, so I followed that approach. To set the decals properly, I used Tamiya Mark Fit.

After the decals dried, I sealed the tank again with satin varnish to eliminate any shine. Then it was time to apply filters. For this stage, I used Winsor & Newton oil paints.

First, I applied a white filter using titanium white. Then I added a filter with Burnt Sienna. Finally, I applied a green filter using Chrome Green Hue and left the tank to dry once more.

After the filters were done, it was time for washes. Since the tank was green, I thought a dark brown wash would be the most appropriate. I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color – Dark Brown for the wash. After application, I removed the excess with a brush dipped in thinner. 

The tracks consist of two separate components: rubber pads and metallic sections. I wanted the metal parts to look rusty, so I used AK Interactive AK083 Enamel Track Wash on the tracks. After completing all the washes on the tank, I let everything dry. I usually use Terlans odorless thinner for washes, but for some reason this product dries very slowly.

Once the tank was completely dry, I moved on to the final protective varnish. I used Vallejo 26518 Matt Acrylic Varnish as my matte coat. Matte varnish makes weathering easier. 

With single-color tanks, too much matte varnish can make the model look like a toy. That’s why I thin the varnish heavily and apply light layers. In this form, the varnish helps blend the tones and makes the model look much nicer overall.

I started the weathering process from the lower hull. First, I applied Vallejo 73119 Europe Earth pigment to the tracks. Then I mixed Vallejo 73121 Desert Dust with thinner and applied it as well. After it dried, I cleaned off the excess with thinner.

I applied the same method to the side skirts and the front and rear sections. To add some variation, I also created white streaks using Winsor & Newton Titanium White on those surfaces. After creating the streaks, I applied pigments again over them.

Once the pigment application was done and all pigments were fixed with thinner, I used AK Interactive AK4062 Light Dust Deposit on the same areas to create accumulated dust effects.

One of the biggest mistakes I tend to make when weathering modern tanks is weathering the hull heavily while leaving the turret too clean. To avoid that criticism again, I applied the same weathering steps to the turret—but much more lightly.

I used Humbrol Weathering Powder Smoke on the gun muzzle at the front and on the engine exhaust grille at the back to create soot effects. I kept the application very light; otherwise, it starts to look like chimney soot.

I drew over all the corners and edges of the tank with a graphite pencil. This simple step creates a very convincing metallic effect. I also have a graphite art pencil given to me by Mustafa Dombay. Using both pencils together helps enhance the metallic look even more.

I sent this model to Ahmet Gürkan, who photographed it for me and took it to the 12th Plastic Battle Military Ground Vehicle Competition. My model won a bronze medal at the event. Many thanks to everyone who supported me, and especially to Ahmet Gürkan for taking the model to the competition on my behalf.

Panzer Kampfwagen III Ausf. L I Revell I 1/72

After taking a short break from tanks and building a Star Wars model, I returned to armored vehicles with Revell’s Panzer III kit. I had previously built this model once before, so starting it again felt like a good way to see how far I’ve come in my modeling journey.

This kit is in 1/72 scale and assembles almost like Lego. The fit is excellent with no alignment issues. I particularly liked the inclusion of link-and-length style tracks. While putting together individual track links can be tedious, the final result gives a very realistic look.

Once assembly was completed, I primed the model using Tamiya Gray Surface Primer. I usually prefer grey primer; black tends to make the final coat too dark, while white often struggles to cover the model evenly due to pigment issues. Grey ends up being the best middle ground.

After priming, I checked the seams and fixed a few small gaps, though the kit fit was good enough that it required minimal correction.

Once the primer was fully dry, I decided to paint the tank in German yellow, or Dunkelgelb. I’ve grown quite fond of working with this color lately. Unlike green tones that tend to swallow up modulation efforts, Dunkelgelb reveals all your shading and tonal work beautifully. That’s why I enjoy working with it.

For the painting stage, I used the AK Interactive German Dunkelgelb Special Modulation Set. I began with the Dunkelgelb Dark Base and Dunkelgelb Base for the initial coverage.

In the second stage, I used Dunkelgelb Light Base to paint the larger flat surfaces, leaving shadows in the recessed areas. I then highlighted the edges and uppermost parts with Dunkelgelb High Light. 

In the final stage, I loaded Dunkelgelb Shine onto a brush and dry-brushed the raised surfaces. This completed the tank’s main coat using dry brushing techniques.

With the base paint finished, I moved on to the details. First, I painted the tracks with Vallejo Air 71080 Rust. Once dry, I dry-brushed the contact surfaces and edges using Vallejo Air 71065 Steel. 

For the rubber rims of the wheels, I used Vallejo Air 71315 Tyre Black. The spare wheels were painted in the same shade. I also used Vallejo Air 71065 Steel to dry-brush the drive sprockets at the front.

I painted the spare track links on the front and the towing hook at the rear with Vallejo Air 71080 Rust, then dry-brushed both with Vallejo Air 71065 Steel.

The metal tools on the hull were painted with Revell Aqua Color 36109 Anthracite, and again dry-brushed with Vallejo Air 71065 Steel. This combination gives a pleasing and realistic metallic effect.

  

As for the wooden parts of the tools, I used Revell Aqua Color 36314 Beige and added dry brushing with Vallejo Air 71132 Aged White for texture.

For the final part of the painting stage, I used MIG 044 Chipping paint with a sponge to apply wear to the tank’s surface. In hindsight, I may have overdone this a little — a lighter touch might’ve looked better.

Once all painting was complete, I allowed the tank to dry thoroughly. The acrylic paints I used dry quickly, which really helps speed up the workflow. That’s one reason I’m so fond of Vallejo and Revell acrylics.

After the paint dried, I sealed the model using Vallejo 70522 Satin Varnish. I’ve stopped using gloss varnish because it’s hard to dull down in later stages. Satin gives just the right balance for me.

Once the varnish was cured, I applied the decals using Tamiya Mark Fit. Although I also have Tamiya Mark Fit Strong, I avoid it since it has previously damaged the underlying paint.

I didn’t use the decals provided in the kit, which were intended for Eastern Front vehicles. Instead, I used ones from my stash suitable for an Africa-based tank.

After the decals set completely, I lightly sanded over them with fine grit sandpaper and sealed them again with Vallejo 70522 Satin Varnish. This protects the decals and prevents them from looking glossy. 

Next came the oil filters. I used Winsor & Newton Winton Titanium White first, followed by Chrome Yellow Hue, and finished with Burnt Sienna. For thinning, I used Terlans Odorless Turpentine. It’s low-odor and pleasant to work with, though it dries very slowly. 

Next, I applied a yellow filter with Winton Chrome Yellow Hue. I finished the filtering stage with Winton Burnt Sienna. For thinner, I used Terlans odorless turpentine, which is easy to work with but dries quite slowly.

After filtering, I waited several days for the turpentine to dry completely before moving to the wash phase. For this model, I used two types of washes.

First, I applied a black wash using Humbrol AV0201 Black Enamel Wash. I removed the excess with a brush dipped in turpentine. Then, I applied Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Dark Brown for a darker, more nuanced effect — again cleaning up with turpentine.

The tracks were weathered using AK Interactive AK083 Enamel Track Wash. I let everything dry thoroughly. Often washes darken the model, but this time the final tone was just right.

To protect all previous steps, I applied Vallejo 26518 Matt Acrylic Varnish before weathering. Matte varnish creates a textured surface that helps weathering products adhere better — an essential step, in my view.

That said, matte varnish on yellow paint can make the tank look like a toy if overused. I thin it heavily and apply it in multiple light layers to avoid that issue.

I started weathering with the lower hull and tracks as usual. I used Vallejo 73121 Desert Dust pigment generously on the wheels and side panels, then fixed it in place with turpentine.

After applying pigments to the tracks, I used AK Interactive AK4062 Light Dust Deposit to do additional washes over the wheels, side panels, and track surfaces — repeating the same for the tank’s underside.

For rust effects, I diluted Ammo Mig Jimenez A.MIG-1004 Enamel Light Rust Wash heavily and applied it to the spare track links and towing hook.

I gently dusted the tank’s entire surface with Vallejo 73119 European Earth Pigment using a nearly dry brush to avoid pigment buildup.

Finally, I used a graphite pencil to edge-highlight the tank’s corners, giving it a subtle metallic look. I finished the model with light, refined weathering rather than a heavy, grimy style.

Originally, I hadn’t built this model for a competition. But my modeling friend Bayram Koçer told me he would be running a MiniAFV stand at the 6th “Scale Worlds Model Competition” held on May 4–5, 2019. He asked me to contribute a few models. 

I sent several of my builds for display and asked Bayram to submit this one into the competition. He kindly agreed and took the model with him.

In the competition, the model won second place (silver) in the 1/72 Scale Military Land Vehicles – Hobby Category. That recognition made me very happy. I sincerely thank everyone who supported me and Bayram Koçer for taking my model there.

Later, the same model won third place in the Standard Category at the 5th Online Plastic Model Competition. Many thanks to Gökay Yalçın for organizing the event.