I am building this for my umpa, who served in Germany in the 80s as a mechanic. I am going to be writing a feature on it as well, hopefully.

Just started, so I will have more photos on progress tommorow.
Any advice on kit would be greatly appreciated!!

Later,
John

I've always liked Patton tanks. I'll be following this one closely.

What markings will it be in?

You have selected the best M60 kit on the market. No real issues with it. It bulds up easily and looks great when done. Good luck.

Is the Italeri kit the same as the AMT M60A1 Blazer kit? Or perhaps my question should be: Can I make a M60A1 as used by the US Army in Europe with the AMT kit? I do know that their is some lineage between the AMT / ESCI / Italeri kits.

Darryl

Yes, Italeri/Revell is releasing the old AMT/Esci M60 series. Italeri has the M60A1 and the IDF M60 Blazer. Revell has rereleased the M60A3 kit. They are great builds and, like I said above, the most accurate M60 kits. I'm glad they are back on the market. Yes, it can be built into an M60A1 as used the US Army in Europe as well.

I built the Revell (Esci) M60....i didnt do a very good job on it, as i didnt take my time.

My Dad drove hundreds of M60s on and off railcars and ships in the 80's, as part of seeing how many AFV's it would take to sink Germany

Looking forward to this build-I also served on M60's. Dan

Hi everyone, thank you for the replies!! My umpa(grandpa) served for two years working on these, and has always shown interest in my modeling so I thought I would do one for him. I was recommended this kit by a fellow Armorama member as being the best kit for it, and he was right. It has great detail, and for the most part has gone together smoothly. Here are a couple pictures from today. This is the basic progress I have made so far-

the last one shows details- (having problem with circled)

Well, first I droped one of them , and while looking for it on the floor, stepped on it and broke it. So that messed it up, and then I learned that they all have certain length and all go to a certain piece. Problem is they all looked the same length to me!!
so that was all a mess! But I got it figured out, so it will look normal when done.

I will have more progress later, hopefully it will go easier!

Later,
John

great start shame about the suspention arm

hope the rest of the build is more successful for you

Looking good so far Johno, if you dont count the suspension arm saga that is . Hopefully the rest of the build will go more to plan.

Yes, but take close look at the gun tube. The original Esci/Ertl/AMT release was based on a tank that had only half of the thermal sleeve installed, between the mantlet and the bore evacuator. An A1 would usually have no sleeve, and an A3 would have both halves, so there's some work to do there either way (or just chase down a replacement M68 barrel from an aftermarket source). Other than that, it's an excellent depiction of a 1970's production M60A1, with finer details than any of the Tamiya or Academy kits. Note: some boxings of the Blazer M60A1 reportedly do not have the US cupola, just the Israeli Urdan type, so check that too. If you do need one, resin cupolas are available from The Tank Workshop.
The kit does have the original pattern road wheels, though. Beginning in 1980, the Army decided to revert to the all-steel roadwheels as seen on the M48 series tanks, as the M60's aluminum wheels (with the characteristic reinforcing gussets inside the rims) were not durable enough. However, it took a decade to use up the wheels in stock, so many tanks soldiered on with the old wheels or with mixed sets until the Abrams eventually replaced them.

The Italeri kit includes the older style air cleaner boxes (the taller box behind the sponson box with US ARMY on it). By the 80s, these had been replaced by the top loading style only found in the M60A3 kit. If you have a reference photo and some sheet styrene, you should be able to make the old style look like the late style without much work.

While the original AMT/Ertl/Esci Blazer can be built into a US style M60A1, the reissued Italeri Blazer CANNOT be made into a US vehicle because Italeri omitted the plain gun tube and standard cupola. It would require a donor kit to round out the Italeri reissue into a US tank.

Gerald,

I just pulled out my AMT M60A1, it has the correct commanders cupola (with the 50 cal), and thanks for the heads up on the barrel, it looks like it also has the correct one, but I might still replace the barrel though.
Once again thanks.
Darryl

Quick topic hijack...

What does it take to make a Italeri M60A1 into a M60A3? I have surmised that the thermal shrouded barrel is a must, and the air cleaners have to be the top loaded version, but anything else...? Not doing the TTS version, just doing a M60A3 straight.

Jacques,
You will need the smoke grenade launchers, if they are not included (Actually a M60A1 RISE or RISE Passive add on), the flap for securing the range finder blister on the TC's side of the turret and the wind sensor mast on the left rear of the turret. Make sure that you use the flat cover for the gunner's M36 Passive Sight - that is the only real external differance between as M60A3 & a M60A3 TTS.

Johnathon,
If you lost/broke a shockabsorber it is ok to be missing one at the 2nd roadwheel position as long as there are shocks on the 1st & 6th roadwheels as missing a shock at 1/6 would make the tank "non mission capable" or deadlined. Missing the #2 shock was only a mechanical deficiency and the tank could still roll and do its mission.

John

I'd also look at the drivers hatch as I beleive the small hatch for the drivers night viewer is differant on the 'A1? Now I'll have to go look at the Hunnicutt book! Dan

Hey Dan, I don't think any of the M60A1-M60A3 kits have differnt drivers hatches, do they? I never noticed it, but I was never a "angry turtle" crewman!

Yes, I know about the SGL's...too tired to remember to list that. Same with the TC's side RF. But thanks for the notes on what I missed.

Basically, I have the M60A1 and I have to make it a M60A3. I only have the Italeri or Academy M60A1 to work with, I have not seen the reissued RoG M60A3 (which I would prefer). I bought a trumpeter M60A3 (I KNOW, I know...) but it was a desperation move so I could POSSIBLY get the correct pieces to make a -A3 and maybe cast them in reswin so I have them on hand when the RoG kit is OOP.

You guys think this will work? The as yet unseen Trumpy kit has me nervous.

Gino,

Do you know when Revell is going to rerelease the M60A3? they are hard to come by.

Sabot,
Can you give me a photo of what you are talking about? I have been trying to get some pictures off the internet of the M60A1, but I didnt get any good sites. Know of any? Anybody know of any?

Everybody else,
Thank for your replys, I am gald my build got a good discussion going about the M60's. It helps everyone out.

Tankrider,
I did find it, and was able to fix it, but it was a pain! But it is good to know that for the future. Thank you for the information.

Later,
John

Update: here is the wheels,all done down there. I am not going to put the tracks on till later. I just started the upper hull, but first I had to clean it up, sand sides down and clean up edges. I have wheels set up an angled way, because of the base I have planned for it.



Later,
John

i like what you did to the road wheels intereasting what are you going to do on the diorama?

James,
The base will be a simple hill in Germany in the 80's since that is all I am trying to portray for my umpa. Grass and a hill! The road wheels were a pain to get like that, because I didnt want it to be too angled.

later,
John

Not that it really matters in this case but there was a change of Driver's Night Viewer during the M60 family production run. I want to say that there was a infra-red viewer first (M19 IR Periscope (??) which is still found in use on the M113), then when the M60A1 RISE Passive were fielded, the Drivers Viewers were changed to the AN/VVS-1 passive viewer, which used ambient light vice the IR headlights for a light source. So remembering that change, I guess that the hatch flap was probably changed in shape from a rectangular flap to a square one with a pivot arm.

More meaningless M60 trivia

John

The Revell M60A3 has been out a few years now. It was reissued at the same time as the Italeri M60A1 and IDF Blazer kits. It should still be available.

If one is doing a M60A3 without the Tank Thermal Sight (TTS), the tank will have an IR/WL (Infrared/White Light) searchlight still mounted as on the M60A1 RISE/Passive. This is the version my old tank company received in Germany in February 1980. Oh, RISE = Reliability Improved Select Equipment.

Your grand pa may have been moving the new M60A3's off the USS Callahan Roll On/Roll Off (RO/RO) ship and driving the old M60A1's back on the ship for the return trip to the USA. Was he in Bremerhaven when he did the driving?

The M60A1 was the tank I trained and used in my time in the Army and with the 2/11th ACR in Germany.

Some one desired some photos of the M60A1; any specific part of the tank?