So I wanted some NATO MBTs for my Cold War gaming, and I had a pair of diecast M1A1 tanks lying around, so I converted them into M1s. Here's how I did it:
Take your M1A1 tank, shown above.
Now twist off the turret and remove the rear storage bins along the line shown, and clean up the rear of the turret.
This is how the turret should look now.
Now take the gun and sand it down a bit to make it thinner, as the M1 had an 105mm gun, compared to the 120mm gun on the M1A1. The M1 also had a smaller bore evacuator.
These two steps are the only ones that are really visible, however, there are some more changes to be made if you are patient.
These hatches need to go, and be replaced by smaller ones. I was too lazy to do this however, and so just didn't paint them in. There is no relief on the diecast model apart from the rectangle of raised plastic, so when repainted they don't look to much like hatches.
This NBC thingy should go, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to be replaced with
The barely visible crew hatches on the rear corners should be filled in, another job which I didn't bother with.
There may be other changes that should be made, but I can't remember them at this time. That's how to convert a diecast M1A1 into an M1.
Oh, and by the way, apparently my NATO 3-tone camo has too much brown in it.
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