I am new to the boards and did a search before I posted. I know this topic has been kind of beat to death so bare with me if you would please.

I haven't built anything armor wise in 15 years so today I picked up Tamiya's M60A1 #35157 in the USMC with the reactive armor. I read in past posts about the best of this and that (which was very informative btw ) but this kit caught my eye so I bought it !

What could I do to make this kit even better? I haven't built anything like I said in 15 years but my skill level then was pretty good. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.

This forum is just about the most informative and helpful one I have ever seen.

Thanks in advance

Bill Meiggs

Ciao and welcome on board Big Bill!!!
The kit it's quite good and I don't think it needs lots of extra to come out very well. Look at as much reference you can find (the net and Armorama have plenty) and with a little items that you can scratchbuild you'll have a great model.

Bill, hello again! A lot of bad has been said about the Tamiya M60A1 and M60A3. I still think they are nice kits. The first "must" is new tracks. Tamiya erred and molded the center guides in the middle of the track pad instead of connecting two adjacent track pads. AFV Club makes the best set of replaceable tracks for this kit. They are set #AF3510, here's a link to a set AFV Club T-142 tracks.

If you are really adventurous, cut all the road wheel arms and reposition them so that the tank doesn't sit so high. I'd just forget this modification. There are aluminum barrels for the kit (Barrel Depot does one), but it is not a necessity. Also another quick fix is the way the crew heater exhaust pipe connects to the right front fender support. It should only connect to the cross member and not to the flat surface of the fender itself.

Have fun with this tank!

Sabot, I knew you would chime in on this and I appreciate your advice a whole lot.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks once again

Bill