Recently finished, ready for a base. I was motivated to do this by the pic that's in just about every reference book I have on the VietNam war or M48's, the one with the tank on convoy duty, parked behind the chain-link anti-RPG fence.
I did the fenders from plastic card but the rest is mostly OOB, with the exception of Tamiya tracks and sprockets, since the Acad kit supplies the Korean K1 tradks and matching sprockets. The TC is the old Tamiya fig, and accessories are a mix of Acadamy and Tamiya, with putty tarps and such. Mud is a mix of various spices (oregano and the like), wood putty, and white glue. Dust is from ceramics pigments.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy.




Sorry about the last pic, my helper got his mug in there and it's the only pic I have from that angle.....

Lots of good work, there, particularly the stowage. Personally, I don't usually make my tanks that muddy, as it hides a lot of detail, but of course, in the field, that kind of accumulation is quite possible. However, the dirt does seems to stop abruptly in some areas, like the side of the left air cleaner, the spare track links, or the tow pintle. You might want to even that out a little. Also, the 1790 diesel engine on the M48A3 usually blew a lot of soot in the exhaust, and the rear louvers generally had a lot of deep black soot in evidence, at least near the center of the grills.
And given the amount of work you've put into it, might I suggest you find a nice resin commander figure to help set it off? The sculpting on the kit figure is really pretty poor.

Thank you Gerald. I agree, the TC is pretty weak. I've got figs on my list for several completed kits, we'll see what I can dig up.
I want to add some more sprayed mud and dust, but have been waiting until the base is further along so I can blend it in. I myself rarely put t his much muid on something. but the pic I'm working from shows a lot of freshly-turned turf/sod/topsoil on the lower running gear, as if the tank had just pulled off the road and turned in place. I'll try and give a reference to t he pic, it's a good one.

nice track! I think you hit the real deal pretty close. Mud was the right color, and looked to be caked up in the right places. I did notice that the Merimite can looked a silver grey color, but they're actually a gloss O.D. (maybe lighting or my aged eye balls). One thing you might want to add to the turret top are about a half dozen smoke grenades, and at least one 50 caliber ammo can within hands reach of the TC. Must be a Marine track as theres no case of beer stashed away on it!
once again a great build
gary

Will do on the mermite can- I did paint it silver. 1/35 scale beer: hmmm.....
I have a couple of ammo cans on top of the turret, but I'll ck their location, thanks.
Thanks for looking!

what unit was your tank supposed to be out of? Reason I ask is that most of the time convoy duty was performed by ACAV's, but not always. A tank was an offensive weapon and was needed for that. Yet I still remember seeing them used on road sweeps in the early mornings here and there.
Anyway you look at it the tank you built is first rate in my book, and looks as if it was something that might have been parked close by
gary

I'll find the pic I'm working from, see what info the photo captions give. Truth be told, I don't know.