just finished building a tamiya m48a3 which i totally enjoyed doing . I tried using pastels for the first time and i think the result is quite good , any comments will be welcome

Keith-- nice subject, wonderful kit and a great job by you. How did you apply the pastels? Did you wet the surface first them apply?
thanks
DJ

Looks good. Good job on the weathering and painting. Oly thing that doesn't look realistic is the two roadwheels stacked. How are they held on in actuality. They would usually be held on by a spare track guide hrn, but it can only hold one at a time.

Kinda like this, on a modern M1A1.


Good job overall.

Gino--- Is this at Fort Riley and who destroyed that M-1A1?
DJ

Not sure where it is from or who did it. I found it on the web a while ago. It is a USMC M1A1HC though, look at the smoke launchers.

I'd guess it is the 1st Tank Battalion at Pendelton. They sure did a job on her.

Hey Gino, how do you know its a "Heavy"? Out here.

I am assuming it is, looks like it to me. I can't tell if it has DU armor or not. Either way it is a USMC M1A1. If you know further, please enlighten us with your superior knowledge.

My Dear Sir--- Sorry to say that In the area of the USMC and their operation of armor , I am blissfully ignorant. I know more about field artillery employment which is to say little (never could quite figure out GSR). Suffice it to say, crewmen wear their kevlar helmets when replacing track related items-- such as the idler wheel and track. Track items have a nasty way of dropping on the unprotected. I assume you field artillery lads do the same thing even though it would take a real genius to break an M-109. Back to the subject at hand, it looks like they are get ready to replace the track as I note the chain on the arm. One other petty irritant, but relevant point for future BCT leaders. Do not allow crew members to stand on the top of the turret, get in the habit of doing this and you become an easy target. Tankers are too precious to be wasted.
Your humble servant
DJ

DJ,
My response was no directed at you. I was replying to the all knowing MSG (Ret) Mike Mummey, USMC. He has all the answers we seek.

thank you for the comments ,regarding the pastels i mixed them with thinner first

Hey Keith,
Nice looking Patton. Give yourself a well deserved pat on the back.
Joe

Keith,

Looks great. That kit was one of my favorites years ago. You have done it justice!

Gino-- No slight taken. I appreciate and attempt to add to the humor in our exchanges. I can only guess how they destroyed their idler wheel....but, thankfully I am not doing the report of survey on her.
DJ

Howdy Keith, I like your Jarhead M48A3 just the way it is, nice build of a classic Tamiya kit. It is OK to have the two spare roadwheels stacked like that too. I have seen them either bolted, tied or chained together like your model to save room on the "Grunt" rail for spare track. The USMC M1A1 picture that Panzer Gino posted just shows one way of mounting the wheel using a spare end connector.
Brother DJ, it is funny how some peoples first thought at seeing the pictured M1A1 tank is filling out paperwork and and investigating the cause. I just had a flash back to my AOB years with 2/16 CAV. Button that chin strap LT! What we are shown is a text book example of recovering a tank(short tracking) that has suffered suspension damage(broken compensating idler link) while training. That is what happens when you take the big toys out of the box. It can now be driven under its own power to the maintenance collection point without the use of an '88'.
By the way Gino, it is a "Common" but it aint' "Heavy", remember what happens when we assume?. And it is "MSgt" in the Marines, we are not hung up on the three letter thing . . .yet. Consider yourself enlightened. Happy USMC modeling Keith. Out here.

Good job on the M48A3. A very nice first result with the pastels.

Thanks for sharing

[quote]Brother DJ, it is funny how some peoples first thought at seeing the pictured M1A1 tank is filling out paperwork and and investigating the cause. I just had a flash back to my AOB years with 2/16 CAV. Button that chin strap LT! What we are shown is a text book example of recovering a tank(short tracking) that has suffered suspension damage(broken compensating idler link) while training. That is what happens when you take the big toys out of the box. It can now be driven under its own power to the maintenance collection point without the use of an '88'.
[quote]

Amigo--- people who follow procedures live a lot longer around heavy machinery. Keep your helmet on, button your chin strap and your head will not suffer too much pain when someone drops a wrench off the deck on you as you work on the track. Practice not silohuetting yourself on the turret and someday, somewhere you may not be an easy target for some bad guy clown. As for your observation on what happened, you are speculating just like the rest of us. If that is your "textbook" example of how to recover a vehicle, you missed a step at AOB. Be real careful when you take a heavy piece of equipment (hardly a big toy) out of the motor pool. Guys like me have to fill out a whole bunch of paper when you break them. Negligent operation of a vehicle hardly constitutes realistic training.
Happy modeling.
DJ

Mummey, Instead of trying to prove that you are the God of Armored Warfare and know all (not!), how about actually posting some useful info on how to tell it is not a Heavy? As DJ says above, you are also assuming what happened to the broke tank. Oh wait, let me guess, you were there and took the picture, then you grabbed the tow cable and drug it back to the motorpool all by yourself. OOHRAY!!

Hey DJ and Gino, my apologies for the late response but it was my turn to go out and check the fenceline yesterday. DJ Amigo, you professed blissful ignorance of USMC armor in your first post and I took that to be a truth. I am also pretty well versed in, practiced and enforced the standard during my time. The book basics were always instilled in my my charges, regardless of grade, service or nationality. However, your response to my post validates my observations regarding yours. Big heavy things still break, even without being negligent.
Gino, we are on a last name basis now? It is so like being back on a HS sports team. I have nothing to prove, I know what I know and what I have done. I continue to communicate with those in the USMC armor community both CONUS and deployed on a weekly basis. I still make the 690 mile drive west to board a real live tank and visit the warriors as much as I my budget will allow. In the course of these communications and visits stories and expierences are related to me. Even mundane things like a specific vehicle recovery involving Reservists on their weekend drill at Camp Pendleton. It still has not sunk in with you that there are only two active duty tank battalions and six reserve companies in my Marine Corps. Dude, that is not a whole lot of people. And the three fast means of communication in the Corps are Telephone, Teletype and Tell a Tanker, even a retired one. Just as most soldiers who have trained for years at Hood, Bliss, Lewis or Knox can tell you the nick name and grid for most every terrain feature on post, I can do the same for my former arenas. If you like I can send you six digits with designator for the spot that the tank pictured is sitting at. I too may have also crashed one there in my distant past. Nasty piece of terrain to the south. And you have not been paying attention to my words, they short tracked the beast and drove her to the barn. So if I told you how to tell it is a "Light" would you remember tomorrow? Probably not. These are my last words on this subject. And my apologies to Keith aka Trucker for his thread getting jacked. Again, Happy USMC modeling. Out here.

Looks great mate. Used to love these tanks years ago when all you saw was Vietnam dios.

Des

Some of us still are.

Gino


And we thank you for your service. But those of us that have served before you still have knowledge so with that said lets stick to the hobby and let the recrminations end!