Quick one on the Tamiya kit it gives the option to mount a 50 on top of the commanders turret. Was this normal on M48's in Veitnam or a mod carried out later or used by other forces?

You can have a look here for some info about M48A3s in Vietnam :
http://www.gruntonline.com/US_Forces/US_Armor/armour3.htm

Verlinden and Jaguar (at least) had released Vietnam-era US tank crews but I don't know if they're still available ...Hornet has released a Tankers head set .

HTH
Frenchy

Heya, Davy,

Many of the Army M48A3s in Vietnam had the vision block riser (extra windows!) added beneath the cupola and the .50 mount moved from inside to the exterior topside of the cupola.

That being said, I have read that the Marines fielding M48s in Vietnam were forbidden to utilize this mod. Nonetheless, I have seen a few pix of Marine M48s with the .50 mounted atop the cupola (more dangerous for the TC to operate, but it saved room inside!).

It looks quite cool on the Tamiya kit...which is still pretty good in my book!

Hope this helps!

Aloha

Johnny B

Actually, a standard M2 .50 cal was mounted on top due to developmental problems with the modified M2 with the M10 charging cable. They didn't work out the bugs with the charging cable and they weren't ready for incorporation inside the cupola.

This is the same type of M2 w/M10 charging handle that is used on the Abrams. We still have problems with the charging handle too. The slender cable is prone to fraying and snapping.

depending on unit sop-you had more view(+ field of fire) and reaction time with your 50 mounted outside-
hope this helps
cheers

Hi, I started this M48, but to me it seems a bit out of proportion. Are all the dimensions of this model right?
If you mount the .50 on top of the cupola, would the .50 still be mounted insde or would it be removed?

Cheers
Henk

The .50 cal was mounted on top because the type of .50 cal that went inside was not available. So there would be no .50 inside. The topside .50 cal was welded to the top of the cupola and it would interfere with the interior .50 cal being elevated to max elevation.

Thanks Sabot

Henk

Hi Henk,

I posted this list in another thread on the M48 as well, perhaps it'll be of help to you. It's about the Tamiya M48A3

One thing to bear in mind is that it's sort of a hybrid version. It has the early type headlights and guards, but has the late type infrared light...

Anyway, here are some tweaks worth considering:
1 Turret hight should be increased by approx 1.5mm, which can be done by adding a plasticard shim, which can then be sanded to the turret's shape.

2 Each suspension arm damper should have about 2.5mm removed, they are too long and make the model sit a little too high.

3 Fill the motorisation slots and holes on the model.

4 Three oval holes should be added to the drive sprockets at the 12, 4 and 8 o'clock positions, these are not present on the model, but were there in real life. Check reference pics for shape and location.

5 It's worth considering replacing the fender stays with PE items or homemade efforts of very thin plasticard.

6 Rebuild the stowage basket from thin wire, it really improves the model.

7 Add casting numbers to the turret roof, rear hull, and engine access doors.

8 Glue mantlet in place and fill gap with milliput to represent the canvas cover (or use the Legends item shown above).

9 Replace cover fixing clips with plastic strip and add bolt heads.

10 If shown opened, shave off loader's hatch internal hatch, and replace with brass or plastic strip, rod and tube.

11 Turret water jerrycans have incorrect style filling cap.

12 You could replace the molded on tie downs on the turret with brass items.

13 Use copper wire to add lifting lugs to the commander's cupola, just in front of the front vision ports.

14 Shave off and replace the hull stowage bin handles with plastic/brass strip.

15 Fill up the main turret site periscope, as well as the driver's periscopes.

16 Add cast texture to the turret and hull.

17 Now, assuming you want to build a late version, as this most closely resembles the one you get in the kit, you might want to replace the headlights with those from an M60 kit, but you'd have to create your own brushguards (check reference pics).

18 The late version also had a different muzzle brake, the baffles were slightly anged towards the front. This can be replicated with plastic tube. Although some examples exist of late vehicles with the earlier 90 degree muzzle break, but these are rare.

19 Not so much a tweak, as it is a hint, do not add the barrel for the 50 cal to the commander's cupola, do the other option the kit gives you and position the 50 cal outside and on top of the cupola as most tanks did this, because they felt the 50 cal took up too much space inside the cupola, restricting movement and vision for the commander.

20 Whatever you do, this will increase the looks of your model tremendously, replace the awfully incorrect kittracks with aftermarket ones. The AFV set is great, just make sure you get the correct one, they make two sets that they say can be used on the M48 and M60 tanks. One of them has sort of diamond shaped pads on the links (much like the M1 has now), the other has chevron shaped pads, the latter are the correct ones for a Vietnam era tank.

Good luck!

Thank very much Romanowski, that gives me something to get started with. I build most of it, but never got to the painting stage as it looked so odd. I actualy added both .50's to the cuppola and thought that there was something not qiute right. Now I know what.
Thanks all for your help.

Cheers
Henk