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A Complete M60A1

Exterior details

With the inside done, I started finishing the turret. The Barrel Depot main gun went on with no problem and I scratch built the searchlight bracket and mounts. Then I built the stowage bracket for the searchlight. This part is actually an oddity for it was no longer used since the bustle rack had been extended, but the rebuild depot had failed to remove it from my subject tank during one of the many refurbishments that these tanks went through. The searchlight was built with aluminum foil for a cover, leaving an opening for the power/ control cable. The 105D sight and the M60E2 coaxial gun both received dust covers. The grenade launchers received its canvas (aluminum foil) covers.

Finish

The lower hull was completed and the torsion bars for the road wheel repositioned to demonstrate movement. The tank then received an overall coat of forest green paint in preparation of the MERDC camouflage pattern. Most Marine tanks of this period where kept in good condition through constant maintenance and painting. The crews would paint the tanks by hand in most cases rather than wait for the battalion maintenance personnel and their air guns. Therefore I decided to hand paint the camouflage with dark earth, sand, and flat black over the forest green that the tanks came to the unit in. After painting future was applied to where decals would go to help the decals blend in better. Decals were then applied with decal set and, after drying, the whole model received a coat of Dull Coat. Weathering was done with a black wash, followed by pastel chalks.

The AFV Club tracks were assembled and then painted with Testors jet exhaust paint. The rubber insides and track pads were then painted dark gray. The metal part of the tracks outside was painted Testors jet exhaust while the insides are painted rust. Parts of the end connectors and sprockets are painted steel to represent the metal to metal wear from the sprocket.

To finish the model I added accessories from Tamiya’s Modern U.S. accessory set and Modern U.S. military equipment set. The figures are from three different Dragon kits with scratch built soft covers (caps to most people) and flashlights. In the early 1980’s the Marines still had the flak jacket that is so often associated with Vietnam. The transmission cover or heat shield (on the ground), and the exhaust stack elbows (on the armor plate deck), are made with plastic sheet and tubing.

The TI (troop interface) phone was repositioned and an opening latch was made for the face of it. The lifting eyes on the armor plate and air cleaners were cut off and replaced by wire. The air filter dirty indicators and opening hinges on the rear of the air cleaners was also added.

The story

This scene depicts a Marine Tank crew searching for a fuel link. When one of the torsion bars broke and ruptured a fuel cell, it required a major maintenance effort to fix it. The road wheels for the torsion bars that ran under the engine had to be removed then the torsion bars themselves had to be removed. The armor plate had to be removed then the engine (power pack) was removed. That’s when you could finally get at the offending fuel cell.

I was the tank commander for Bravo one-two in 1982 and building a COMPLETE M60A1 has been one of my goals ever since. Now that it’s done I’m glad to share it with you.