Hi guys. So out of nowhere I've got a bug to do an M60. I don't know much about the different variants but I like to depict one in US service in cold war Europe.

I've ruled out the Dragon because for some reason it has an M48 turret, and the AFV club as I don't like the texturing on it. Academy supposedly had a couple but I couldn't find any.

I'm looking at these two Tamiya ones. Can you guys tell if the A3 is still a good kit, or if the A1 can be done for US Army, without the RA and decals ect?

I'm not in any hurry so may be if there are new ones coming out from Takom who just released the M47 or maybe Meng?

Thanks guys.



Can't find this Academy one. Not on their website either.

Italeri makes one. It was previously available under the Esci, Revell and Amt/ertl labels. There were M60A1 Blazer M60A1 and M60A3 boxings.

Academy's kit is listed as #1349 or #13240 M60A1 Rise/passive. Though it has the ERA you can build a 1970s-80s USAEUR M60A1 from it.

The Dragon M60 is the original configuration of the M60 with the rounded turret , also known as the "slick " M60 or M60A0.

Academy kits are copies of the Tamiya kits, which in themselves are old moldings. They all come with new tooled parts, usually accessories or small details, but the basic kits are...challenging. The biggest problem is the suspension rides too high (supposedly the tank that was measured by Tamiya had no fuel, ammo, (or engine?) in it and when Academy copied it, they did not correct this. Lots of reviews on line on how to correct these kits.

The old Esci kits are better-ish OOB, but still have issues.

AFV Club is your best bet OOB.

I am not a M60 connoisseur, my advice is very basic.

I've found that it wasn't too hard to make the texture on the AFV Club M60A1 more subtle (although I have to say that I've seen a very wide range of cast textures on M60A1s and M60A3s that I've visited over the years).

The AFV Club M60s are not the simplest of kits, but the detail and accuracy of them is unparalleled. It's by far the best series of M60s out there. It's too bad they haven't released an M60 with reactive armour or an M60 Slick yet, but I'm sure they are coming.

Cheers,

Scott

Which M60 kit you get depends on when you want it to depict. The AFV Club ones are the best currently on the market. The Esci (Italeri, Revell reboxes) were the best up until AFV Club's offerings. The older Tamiya and Academy ones can come out nicely as well with a little extra work.

The M60A1 kits (not the Tamiya USMC version w/ERA) represent ones used from about '64 to about '80 by the US Army and up to the early '90s by the USMC. In the mid to late 70's most of these were upgraded to M60A1 RISE/Passive with upgraded engines, top-loading air filters, smoke grenade launchers and their stowage boxes, and a few other parts (RISE - Reliability Improvement of Selected Equipment) and IR sights (Passive). These were used all over Europe and with many US allies.

The M60A3 was a further upgrade introduced in 1978. It included the addition of smoke grenade launchers, a thermal shroud for the main gun and a new rangefinder and ballistic computer with meteorological sensor on the turret roof. Soon after its introduction a new sub-variant entered service. The M60A3 with Tank Thermal Sight (TTS). It incorporated a hybrid solid-state ballistic computer, laser rangefinder, and a turret stabilization system. The M60A3 was primarily a US Army version used from the early '80s into the early '90s across Europe and in Operation Desert Storm. A few (one Bn's worth) of M60A3TTS were also given to the USMC for use in ODS to augment their M60A1 RISE/Passive tanks w/ERA (as in the Tamiya kit shown below).

This version was specifically a USMC M60A1 RISE/Passive used in ODS.

If you leave the ERA off and relocate the smoke grenade storage boxes to the upper rear sides of the turret, it could also represent a late US Army M60A1 RISE/Passive as well.

Like others said if you can find the Italeri/Revell reissues of ESCI kit of M60A1 or M60A3 on Ebay, those will be better than the Tamiya or Academy ones - no height issues or track inaccuracy issues and more accurate hull.

Academy's M60A3s are out of the production I think. Even though most parts are copies of Tamiya kit (including the height, hull and track link errors), they have added some improved parts. Academy's USMC M60A1 with ERA (there's one with a dozer blade and one without) is a better kit than the Tamiya's original one b/c Academy added its improved parts.

AFV club offerings are great but a bit complex to build and will cost double the Academy, Tamiya and ESCI-reissue offerings.

So if I were to rank them:

1. Best - Italeri/Revell Germany/ESCI M60A1 or M60A3
2. OK - Academy USMC M60A1
3. OK but not as good as #2 - Tamiya USMC M60A1
4. Needs some work - Tamiya M60A3

And take a look at this blog post: http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/modern/jcm60/jcm60.htm
And my recent thread: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/259816#2203254

Hope this helps.

James

As an old M60A1 Platoon Leader during the Cold War in Europe, I can unequivocally say the AFV club kit is the best kit of an M60A1 on the market. And at one point or another I've built all the Tamiya, Academy and Italeri kits over the years. I too think the AFV casting is a little heavy for the armor plate, but a few swipes with some sandpaper will take that down just fine. The kits all have some inaccuracies. As far as the Dragon kit goes, it's the only pure M60 on the market-- and does not have an M48 turret as you said it does-- it was the first generation M60 turret, with a larger turret and an extended bustle that looks similar to an M48. But it too has some inaccuraciesand shape issues. The AFV kit is in fact more detailed, and more expensive, but you get what you pay for-- and it's worth it if accuracy is what you seek.
VR, Russ

As the author of the very dated Missing Lynx article I can also say that out of the box, the best kit out there for the A1 and A3 is now the AFV Club kit, excess texture notwithstanding. A coat of Mr.Surfacer and a little sanding will take care of that. The accuracy and details are just so much better. If you want a plain M60, Dragon is the only game in town, unless you want to kitbash.

Jim

Italeri has reboxed the M60A1 and M60A1 with Israeli blazer armor, originaly released by Esci.
Nowadays Italeri only offers the Israeli version, but if I;m not mistaken you can make a US M60A1 from the contents.
http://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2216&idCategoria=3&idSottocategoria=0

Revell has rereleased the Esci M0A3 in the past.
Try Ebay.

Obviously the AFV Club kits are more refined, but it depends on what you want to spend.
All kits could benefit from indidividual tracks, btw.

That's one nice thing about the AFV Club kits-- they offer individual tracks as a separate item for both types of M60 series tracks designed to fit thier kit, but they can also be used with other kits as well.
VR, Russ

I you decide to build the IDF version after all, consider replacing the decals. They're completely out of register.

could allways try the latest release from Dragon (IDF m60 slick.

http://www.dragon-models.com/d-m-item.asp?pid=DRA3581

Errrmmm..."Six-Day War" anniversary...?

Thanks very much guys, thats a huge help. I'm surprised the Tamiya one is inacurate and I would have bought that one and no doubt regretted it. I had a close look at the AFV Club one and really didn't like the look of it. The parts just didn't have that nice, crisp look that for instance Tamiya and Meng do.

I contacted the Modelling News and they said they thought it was likely Takom had one in the works so I will wait and content myself with an M48 in the meantime. That was on my list as well.

Thanks again.

For the record . . . again. It was only eleven (11) M60A3 tanks without ERA taken from the US Army by the USMC in Saudi Arabia January 1991.

Mike sends . . .

Hi Mike! Haven't seen you post for a while (or not as often as before). How have you been?
So for those 11 M60A3s, did USMC put ERAs on them or use them as they were during ODS?

Your looking at a kit which has its origins with a first release back in 1970, is it really surprising that the newer kits will be better!

Cold War Europe?
Don't forget the M60A2.
The AFV club version, is the only one worth the money.

Phil

The AFV Club M60A1 and M60A3 kits are by far the best on the market right now. As far as which M60 version to use for the Cold War, either one would be correct, as both saw service in Germany.

The AMPS Atlanta club project this year is the AFV M60A1. I am the lead on the project and will be covering building the M60A1, M60A1 RISE and M60A1 Rise(Passive) versions.

If you would like to follow the build, you can do so here:

http://www.ampsatlanta.org/club-projects.html

The nice thing about following a club build, is that the project leader will guide you through the build and alert you to problems, tricks, and enhancements. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy your model build.

In fact one of the things I cover is a simple way to fix the "texture" problem on the model.

I hope you will join us.

Dave

I recently build the AFV M60A2 after following Carl's blog. The kit can be a bit fiddly but I does build into a great looking model. I would suggest the AFV kits too. Mark

I used the Tamiya M60A3 kit to build a tribute model for a co-worker who was a driver of one while assigned to 3rd AD "back in the day". Not the first M60 I've built over the years, but it came together well enough to tell the viewer what it was, where it was and who it was for.

I used a stock M60A1 from Italeri as the hull to support a conversion for an M728 CEV, back in 2002. The conversion was from a company in Colorado that is no longer in business. It, too, sat a tad too high as others have mentioned.

I am currently awash in the various late releases of the M60 series, both AFV and Dragon. M60 Dragon, M60A1 AFV, M60A2 AFV (completed, complicated but well-detailed), and M48A2 just for grins. Now that damn M67 flame tank is calling my cell phone and not leaving messages..........

And yesterday I picked up the Dragon Lance carrier, which I had forgotten I'd ordered from Burbank House of Hobbies! So many kits.....

Dave, thanks for sharing this! Very helpful stuff!

James

I have a picture somewhere of a M60A3 painted Forest Green in Camp Pendleton during Desert Storm. I used to think what was an Army Tank doing on base, now I now. Thanks for the info.
I need to go dig up those pics, now, which shoe box are they in lol.