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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
Hosted by Darren Baker
M60A3 kitbash
accelr8
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 17, 2005
KitMaker: 159 posts
Armorama: 156 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - 10:19 PM UTC
One way to fix the overdone casting texture on AFV Club's M60A1 is to simply use a different turret as I have. I kid, I kid. Actually, since i had a boatload of aftermarket sets for my stash of Tamiya M60 kits i thought i should put them to use. Since the old Tamiyas match up with the new AFV kit dimensionally (more or less), a lot of that accumulated stuff is still useful. I had an M60A3 turret ready to go with parts from the Legend M60A3 update, so I figured "why not?". It was just a matter of cutting the turret ring from the AFV turret and grafting it to the Tamiya. AFV gives you the armored air cleaners and steel roadwheels (more on those later) needed to do an A3 hull.







I dealt with the texture on the engine deck by sanding most of it off and just re-doing the weld seams.


I managed to make the AFV M85 and its pesky brass sleeve fit the Legend M19 cupola. However, the little actuator arm that lifts the flap on the commander's sight was lost forever to the carpet monster.
rfbaer
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Texas, United States
Joined: June 12, 2007
KitMaker: 1,866 posts
Armorama: 1,696 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - 10:25 PM UTC
I like it, curious to see how it all works out.
GTDeath13
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Attica, Greece / Ελλάδα
Joined: June 12, 2015
KitMaker: 921 posts
Armorama: 919 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2015 - 01:24 AM UTC
I will be wathcing this with great interest, since I wanted to do something similar. Lots of aftermarket for M60 kits from Academy and Tamiya waiting in the stash.

OddBall84
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Netherlands
Joined: May 20, 2015
KitMaker: 335 posts
Armorama: 266 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2015 - 01:37 AM UTC
Love me some kitbashing with aftermarket
Tankrider
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Oklahoma, United States
Joined: October 07, 2002
KitMaker: 1,280 posts
Armorama: 1,208 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2015 - 07:39 AM UTC
Show off...

As always Brian, great work on a 2ID M60A3. The turret has some nice texture on it. More M60A3 porn please

John
C_JACQUEMONT
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Loire-Atlantique, France
Joined: October 09, 2004
KitMaker: 2,433 posts
Armorama: 2,325 posts
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2015 - 12:33 AM UTC
Great project, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Christophe
10thmd
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New York, United States
Joined: December 10, 2008
KitMaker: 78 posts
Armorama: 73 posts
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2015 - 02:29 AM UTC
Great looking model, thanks for sharing.
accelr8
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 17, 2005
KitMaker: 159 posts
Armorama: 156 posts
Posted: Monday, August 31, 2015 - 10:51 PM UTC
As previously mentioned, the wheels are a bit of a PITA.

AFV Club have attempted various methods of depicting the undercut on the roadwheels of various US vehicles. They've split the wheel in halves previously, which i thought worked fine even with the required cleanup (M109 kits, M41 suspension set). This time, they decided to make the lip of the wheel a separate part that would be glued into the wheel proper. As you can see, that kind of molding finesse requires lots of paths to the sprue that need to be trimmed and cleaned up.

Got annoyed with the wheels and decided to do the loader's M60.

This is a combination of a cradle/mount from J-Shape Works out of Korea, and an M60D from TANK. Both pieces are superb. This will cause some of you to immediately say "Waitaminute, M60A3s didn't have a loader's MG". And you'd be partially correct, most didn't. However, the 2nd ID in Korea liked the loader's mount on the M48A5 so much that they requested the same configuration when they received M60A3s in the early/mid 80s. More guns are always welcome when you have an expectation of having to fight human wave attacks.

Lastly, just trying to get the TTS looking correct.
Tankrider
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Oklahoma, United States
Joined: October 07, 2002
KitMaker: 1,280 posts
Armorama: 1,208 posts
Posted: Monday, August 31, 2015 - 11:36 PM UTC

Quoted Text

As you can see, that kind of molding finesse requires lots of paths to the sprue that need to be trimmed and cleaned up.

"Waitaminute, M60A3s didn't have a loader's MG". And you'd be partially correct, most didn't. However, the 2nd ID in Korea liked the loader's mount on the M48A5 so much that they requested the same configuration when they received M60A3s in the early/mid 80s. More guns are always welcome when you have an expectation of having to fight human wave attacks.



Brian,
I hear you on the sprue attachment points and the fineness of AFV Club's molding... I am working on AFV's bustle rack: scale thickness of thr rods with 7-8 sprue attachment points. I am setriously think ing about repacing the kit parts with styrene or brass rods. As for the M60Ds, I had heard someplace that the 60D mounts were cut off of the M48A5s and then welded to the M60A3s. As for the wave attacks, your first resort would be APERS AKA Beehive or Beehive Time. then the MGs. THell , the loader needs to be in the turret feeding the coax or main gun vice trying to get himself a Purple Heart doing a John Wayne with the Loader's M60D. I digress...

Continued nice work on the Dinosaur.

John
accelr8
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 17, 2005
KitMaker: 159 posts
Armorama: 156 posts
Posted: Monday, August 31, 2015 - 11:52 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

As you can see, that kind of molding finesse requires lots of paths to the sprue that need to be trimmed and cleaned up.

"Waitaminute, M60A3s didn't have a loader's MG". And you'd be partially correct, most didn't. However, the 2nd ID in Korea liked the loader's mount on the M48A5 so much that they requested the same configuration when they received M60A3s in the early/mid 80s. More guns are always welcome when you have an expectation of having to fight human wave attacks.



Brian,
I hear you on the sprue attachment points and the fineness of AFV Club's molding... I am working on AFV's bustle rack: scale thickness of thr rods with 7-8 sprue attachment points. I am setriously think ing about repacing the kit parts with styrene or brass rods. As for the M60Ds, I had heard someplace that the 60D mounts were cut off of the M48A5s and then welded to the M60A3s. As for the wave attacks, your first resort would be APERS AKA Beehive or Beehive Time. then the MGs. THell , the loader needs to be in the turret feeding the coax or main gun vice trying to get himself a Purple Heart doing a John Wayne with the Loader's M60D. I digress...

Continued nice work on the Dinosaur.

John



Well obviously. I should have said it helps to have your loader pulling security with an M60 as opposed to a grease gun.

I had heard a long time ago that the mounts were done either stateside or at the port of arrival (Pusan), and that the A5s were turned over more or less intact to the ROKs.

That bustle rack looks like mission impossible and it's going to be interesting planning out how to cut it from the sprue intact. Luckily that's a future build.
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
KitMaker: 11,610 posts
Armorama: 7,843 posts
Posted: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 - 01:19 AM UTC
This makes me want to break out my ancient Italeri Blazer. Something I've been meaning to do, for the past three years. A great looking build! Thank you for the motivation(coming from a panzer fanatic).
rfbaer
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Texas, United States
Joined: June 12, 2007
KitMaker: 1,866 posts
Armorama: 1,696 posts
Posted: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 - 02:58 AM UTC
More great work.
Bergun
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United States
Joined: February 16, 2014
KitMaker: 60 posts
Armorama: 60 posts
Posted: Friday, September 18, 2015 - 10:12 AM UTC
Super nice!!!

I really like your M60A3TTS/K build... Can't wait to see your completed model. I was serving in Korea (1/72nd Armor/2nd ID) as a young SGT/E-5 tank commander when we transitioned from the older M48A5s to the newer M60A3s in the summer of 1984.

...The M60A3 I signed for had a chalked message wishing us well and good luck... I always, thought about it and who wrote it. I'm sure it was a vet since at that time, the military wasn't though of a highly as it is today.

Anyway, I'm sitting on several older Tamiya M60A1 and M60A3 kits, but not too happy with the overall details... I figure that with a new interest in "Cold War" armor, more and more kits/parts will be released very soon to cover this period of history.

I've served on M48A5, M60A1, M60A3 and M1 tanks. No matter what, my true love is the M60A3 tank.
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