What are the essential differences, and what is the conversion kit required if you're building the Revell M48A2?

The following details were added at some point od the service life of the vehicles, prior to the addition of the 105mm gun and the new commander's cupola:
Smoke launchers on the turret sides
Extra front and tail lights
The turret basket is split in the middle and there is a container box for the search light.
The search light mounts on the manlet

Here are some photosof former M48A2CG in Greek army service:








IMHO, it is better to use the M48A2CG kit to build this variant and not the simple M48A2C kit.

And here is another photo:

Found a conversion set for the M48A2C kit from Perfect Scale Modellbau:

http://www.perfect-scale.de/de/www-perfect-scale-de-3/M48-A2-CG-Conversion-Kit.html

Thanks! This is going to be a circa 1962 version so I want to be sure. West German I presume?

1962 would be minus the smoke launchers right?

I did one from the old Monogram kit using the Lo model M48A2GA2 conversion for the launchers, searchlight and storage box and the AFV club Bundeswehr accessory sprue from their M41G NATO kit.

By the way, the German searchlight mount is in the M48A2 kit and the holes are on the mantlet piece. There is a dedicated German accessory sprue in tbe M48A2GA2 kit with the box, grenade launchers and lights. It seems Revell at one point intended to include the bits to make a proper M48A2G in the M48A2 kit but didn't for some reason.

For my purpose the tank can be West German or US, and the exact version doesn't matter so long as it is era-appropriate.

The kit out of the box is appropriate for a 1962 US tank. The movie Armored Command (1961) used US active duty M48A2 tanks of USAEUR for the combat sequences.

Thanks! But do you mean the newer Revell kit, or can the older version be used as well?

Both. The plastic in the box is very different but the version depicted is nearly identical. The New Revell kit has German jerry cans and telephone box on the rear fender so you'd have replace those with the appropriate US pieces. They can found in just about every other model of a postwar US tank. The telephone box is literally a box so easy to scratchbuild or even modify from the kit piece.

I have to say the sit of the tank is so very different from that of the Tamiya M48s. It's so nice to have a M48 that isn't sitting up in the sky.