M1A2 SEP "Mariah" Abrams

I like to paint. I like to paint a lot actually. The challenge of trying new styles is always fun, as well as mixing and matching colors and paint schemes until they come out right.. Not to mention sitting down with a couple beers and whatever hockey game NBCSN decides to air each night also makes for one relaxing time. Being in business school, any relaxation is welcomed.

So typically when I paint, I aim for highly realistic if somewhat abstracted paint jobs. I focus on muted colors and subtle highlights. I find that this makes each model or miniature look amazing and realistic without actually moving into the realm of cartoonish. While cartoonish styles with bright colors and high degrees of highlight/lowlight contrast are all well-and-good, my own fingers are terrible at getting the required effect. And it burns my eyes looking at bright colors anyways... I get enough of that watching PowerPoints on 1950's projectors.

Its funny I say this though, because the QRF M1A2 Abrams I recently painted up turned out fantastic, albeit I unintentionally painted it in the very high contrast style I just mentioned above. I kind of sat on the fence for a few days, questioning myself as to whether or not I liked it. I never once told myself I didn't, although in some alcohol-induced soliloquies, I'm pretty sure my other half subconsciously disagreed.

I digress though. The model itself came with quite a bit of flash and imperfections I had to chip away with a straight edge or sandpaper, and while I feel I did a decent job evening things out, parts of the end model are still a bit... uh... funky? You'll notice what I mean in the pictures. Granted, I'm used to working with near spot-on perfection when it comes to the clean models Battlefront, Warlord, or Citadel (not so much anymore) produce, so perhaps I'm spoiled. Despite this, I feel things came out pretty decent.

This M1A2 SEP was meant as a gift for the husband of a very dear friend of mine, whose name may or may not be "Mariah." He's about to be deployed as a mechanic with the very same tank (the real version, mind you) pictured above, so I figured what better good luck charm than to shrink down his beast and put his wife's (or not) name on it. "That's so sweet!!" I know, you don't have to tell me that.

The build itself took about a day, considering that the water I used to pre-pre prime the model was particularly hard for some reason. I ended up having to pour Drano all over the metal to get the salt spots off, but after that painting it up was a breeze. Basecoat was Vallejo German Camo Brown and the Highlight was an edged Vallejo Iraqi Sand. Treads were Vallejo German Grey with a pretty heavy-handed drybrush of Vallejo Neutral Gray. The name was done freehand, very patiently and completely sober too!

A couple more profile pictures to show off some other angles:

So there you have it everybody! The M1A2 SEP "Mariah" Abrams. 

Up next is a small task force of contemporary US Army vehicles, namely QRF Bradleys and QRF M738 Combat Engineering Vehicles I'm painting up for another friend as part of a model trade. They'll be in this similar style, although with a very radical Desert MARPAT-style digital camo. Not something I'm used to painting large-scale on vehicles.

Stay tuned!

-Hands