Resurrected WIP.... M60A1 w/M9 Dozer....Call'n it DONE

I really like the clean look of this build. Those details are wonderful and I think you've represented the tank very well.

Keep up the good work and gratz on the promotion. 

1SG Davis

Just scored an Italeri M60A1 in my LHS 50% off section.  I'd like to build this up as an early M60A1 with a solid OD paint scheme.  I've got a few questions that I need some help with.

#1 the O/D paint from Tamiya (XF-62) and Model Master (34087) both seem to be a little too "green" when compared to some color pictures of early O/D M-60A1's I've found, the picture's seem to show a darker more brownish O/D.  Is there a different color that matches better?

#2 Could the later T142 octagonal be found on a O/D M60A1 or would I need to use the earlier "chevron" style track?

#3 Would Academy's M9 Dozer Blade set be appropriate to add to an early O/D M60A1?

#4 Does anyone know of some good pictures?  I've found just a few  (Toadmans & Prime Portal pictures seem to be mostly MERDC & Europe 1)

Hope to be able to post some WIP pictures soon.

Thanks,

Gary / 1SG

 

larry

I commanded B 2/64 at Schweinfurt in 1970.  We had a mixture of 60's and A1's.  My 1sgt had the blade tank.  Our markings were OD and we had numerals to denote position in the Bn and company.  My command tank had orange numerals 266 on the turret.  2 for B company, 6 for command section and another 6 for command tank.  the third platoon leader would be 236 and so on.  The third tank in the command seciton was the FO's tank.  We had an arty Lt who commanded that tank.  Silly requirement as I could adjust my own artillery having spent theprevious year in Nam doing just that!

The dozer thank was an M60 and did not roll much as it was so blasted heavy and was often down.

Gary,

Many thanks for your help! I have now all the dimensions and can safely start my next project.

best regards,

Piotr

Piotr,

It was almost a year ago when I scratch built the reservoir and the rectangular housing behind it.  I did It using the eyeball method with the help of many pictures.  on page one of my thread binder001 posted a link to his photo album that has some great shots of a M60A0 with a M9 dozer blade.  There were two nice ones of the reservoir and housing.   Verlindens Warmachines No3 M60A3 book,  it has  four great photos and some very detailed drawings. Rob G also posted some nice drawings that look like they came from the TM.  They show the general layout of all the plumbing.  That all being said,  I have recently purchased a Verlinden M9 Dozer kit that has the reservoir and housing.  The 1/35 scale measurements of the reservoir are 15.2mm long, 12.3mm wide, 9.5mm high.   The 1/35th scale measurements of the rectangular housing are 19mm long, 8.5mm wide, 9mm high.   The wire I used for the plumbing is 14/2 romex copper (the stuff you'd wire your house with) 1.5mm diameter.  to get it 100% strait put one end in a vise, hold the other in a pair of pliers and pull hard. 

hope this helps

Gary

Gary ,

I was following your progress on the build of the M60 blade tank some time ago, as I have the same project in my mind, using the Academy kit with M9 blade. However, I am stuck with some problems I couldn't solve till today.  My question is: how you managed to measure the proper dimension of that rectangular armored box on the left rear fender, protecting the hydraulic lines of the blade? I have the same question concerning the dimensions of oil reservoir on the very end of the left rear fender which you have scratchbuilt as well. 

Did you find the dimensions somewhere or you simply eyeballed the size of these components from photos? Also, what is the diameter of brass wire you used to replicate the piping going from the reservoir to the blade under the belly of the tank?

Thanks for any help, my only source of info is the technical manual of M9 dozer blade which can be foud here:

 http://www.tpub.com/content/operatormanuals/TM-9-2590-209-14-P/index.htm

But it doesn't include any info on component dimensions, so I'm still stuck here. Would you please share me some dimensions if you have them, of course?

Piotr

Very cool build, Dave! I like it a lot.

It looks pretty good.  Nice job so far.  Here is a track painting tutorial that may help you out.  Keep up the good work and keep us posted. 

I like it a LOT!

Used but not abused.

Looks great! A nice dark OD with just enough weathering to look used but maintained. Great balance there!

Gary - Very nice, weathering looks good, the plow blade had a nice, dirty look to it.

As far as the MIG stuff, yep the washes are enamel base and work fine over acrylic paint. Though I use the MIG items I still like to play with the oils!!

As Steve said...look for Turpernoid thinner......Blue Can.

Rounds Complete!!  

You said the turpenoid ate thru the acryl. I think I know what the problem is. This situation has been addressed here before.

It's very EASY to mistakenly get a container of Turpenoid brush cleaner, that is a definite no-no.

That is used to CLEAN brushes, so that is what it is going to do to your paint job too.

Just get turpenoid thinner; it's different.

Turpenoid thinner just thins and is a perfect carrier for oil washes. No kidding, it works perfect.

It's all I ever use.

Weathering and final touches are done.   A grime wash was done with water & flat black Tamiya acrylic with a touch of dish detergent to break the surface tension & control beading.  It seemd to work well.  The dry brushing was a different story. When I finished it looked way too heavy handed.  I ended up toning it down w/OD dry brush and I the went over it with charcoal powder & worked it in with a brush. 

Weathering the tracks and suspension was  my greatest frustration.  I have yet to come close to the other work I've seen here.  I'm going to Give the local model club a shot the begining of next month and see if I can get a few pointers to improve.

 I added some grit to "mud" paint and detailed the dozer blade.  This could really have used some paint chipping & rust but I haven't  that skill yet. 

Small details like antenna's,  fire extinguisher toggles, periscope paint, and headlight/taillight detail were the last step.

Did Italeri mold the rear taillights opposite of how they should be?  All my reference pictures seem to show reverse of how its molded in the kit.

Here's how she looks now.  Any comments or critique is always welcome.

Next up is either a hybrid Italeri lower/Tamiya upper M60A2, or I may tackle an AEF M728 conversion kit I got off E-Bay.

Thats all for now, thanks for look'n in

Gary / CSM

Pawel, Mike, HA, Rob Hans & RBear, great advice from all about my weathering worries.  I’ve tried washes with oil paint thinned with turpinoid and acrylic paint thinned with alcohol, each time the results were less than desired.  The acrylic wash left the tide lines and seemed gritty when the alcohol dried.  The oil wash thinned with the turpinoid ate the acrylic paint on another build. I’ve probably had the best success with powders but still need much more practice.  I went to the MIG USA site and the pre-mixed washes look interesting. I assume they are wet washes, right?  Where can you get them ? I haven’t seen them at my LHS and squadron doesn’t show anything either.   They appear to be enamel based.  Are they okay when used over acrylic paint?  

Rob, been to Hascom AFB many times.  I’m at Fort Devens right now.  According to the IMPS Patriot web site they meet in Billerica now.  I live in the next town over, I plan to drop by for their April meeting and have a look.  

Heavy Arty, I’ve been following your M-48 thread.  Fantastic build, I’ve noticed some interesting conversation that parallels a build idea that’s been in the back of my mind.  I’ll drop in and ask a few questions

Thanks again all for the congrats too

Gary / CSM

Glad to see this one moving along so well. I'm still going to use it (shamelessly and gratefully) as a reference to finish the one I did a couple of years ago without any plumbing for the 'dozer.

I think it looks really good in its current clean state, but it's hard to resist dirtying up something that's sometimes used as earth-moving equipment ......

Nah, we used to mix some diluted black paint and spray areas of the tank that looked too clean. We'd mix our own shade of rust and highlight bolts and welds to bring out the detail. Just kidding.

don't believe in pre-shading.  I have never seen a real tank that looked like it was pre-shaded.  I weather by a series of washes, drybrushing, and powders to bring up the details.  I do all this after the decals are on as well. 

Ditto...  IMHO, it looks cartoonish on armor (aircraft too, for that matter), and gives me the impression that the builder painted it only to photograph it and turns a 3-D object into 2-D one to make it look 3-D again...   K.I.S.S....  Besides, tanks and such (even in small-scales) have enough of their own shadows that it's just extra work...

I do the same as HA, just dark washes, then light highlights on the raised details, then pastels over a factory-fresh paint job (including the decals & markings)...  Tracks- Dark grey-brown rubber with a crusty looking greyish-tan on the steel, VERY little rust anywhere...

BTW, congratulations, Sarn't Major..

Yes, I was a member of IPMS Patriot for four years while I was living on Hanscom AFB. Great bunch of guys who are always eager to help out. I haven't been to one of their club meeting since December 2004 (I left NE in Jan 05) but there were really good modelers who were active in AMPS and IPMS. At the time they met at the community center near the Bedford HS.

Also, depending on your location, Nordland AMPS is an informal club that meets at the Norwell Public Library one Saturday a month (first?). They had one really superb scratch build modeler there named Jim Norian, who built some masterpieces out of sheet styrene.

Congrats on the promotion.  The tank is looking great.  I think you are right on track with the build sequence.  I don't believe in pre-shading.  I have never seen a real tank that looked like it was pre-shaded.  I weather by a series of washes, drybrushing, and powders to bring up the details.  I do all this after the decals are on as well.  Keep up the good work.

Looking outstanding. As far as the weathering....it comes in time. If you don't like to do oil washes, I would suggest going to the MIG USA site. They have pre made washes. Their pigments are great and they have some good how to stuff there also 

To some extent, everything is a fad....do what you like

Congrats on the CSM. The star and wreath are well deserved!!

Rounds Complete!!

Gary, your tank is looking so beeautifully clean now... A great build. Sorry to say it's going to be a little tricky to weather it, now that the decals are on. At least the way I usually do it. I'd recomend a following sequence: 1)preshading 2)decals 3)washes+dry brushing. That's of course not the state of the art today, where you just HAVE to have filters, oil dots, pigments and so on. With pre shading I mean airbrush painting all the recessed portions of the tank some dark colour (dark gray maybe with some tan added should work), and then airbrush painting the center of each flat surface OD. The preshading colour should be darker than OD but lighter than the wash. So that's my 2 cents, probably not very helpful. Anyhow I wish you good luck with the project, I'll be watching and have a nice day

Pawel

Gary,

Congrats on the promotion!

Looking forward to seeing the finished product....

Greg/Caporal/2e REI

7377 Tanker, thought you might be interested in the site about Wildflecken, click on the link or paste it.

http://www.wildfleckenveterans.com/wta.php

The one map on the site shows how close it was to the IGB.  I knew it was close when I went up there for training, but I didn't realize how close it really was.

Gary, you are movin along nicely. I just love that old school OD/white stars look of the vehicle, so can't wait to see it finished. But not only that, what you did resuming the build gives me hope for the various projects sitting in various boxes around my workshop. Happy modelling and have a nice day

Pawel

Top - Glad to see you back at the bench. Looking forward to seeing this one finished!!

Rounds Complete!!

Ah yes, I remember this one......

First off, Thanks all for the input on restarting this thread.  I was a little unsure about restarting it. 

After eight months in a box on my bench I've finally gotten back to this project.  Last June the Army promoted me and then 2 hours later I got a phone call letting me know my new unit was mobilizing me.  It's been very busy to say the least.  Most of my free time internet access has been on restricted networks,  when I could get to this site it was read only with no pictures  . 

Anyway,

To answer Andy's question from last July  about how I got the copper for the under hull plumbing so strait.  Actually it was quite easy.  I cut about 18" and put one end in a bench vise, to the other end I attached a set of vise-grips. One full body weight pull later I had 16" of very strait copper. 

After cleaning all the dust off the turret was the next part of the build.  It was mostly done strait out of the box.  I swapped out the fabric mesh supplied with the kit with some brass, I also added on tow cable clips around the side and back of the turret.  Other than filling a few holes near the stowage bin frame and around the seams that was it

Next came the assembly of the frame work and blade for the dozer  I used the Academy kit, although the price was great ($4.00 as I remember)  there were a few drawbacks.  No plumbing at all (as detailed in previous posts) there were also a lot of stubs left over from the mfr. process as well as some uneven seams.  all in all a lot more filler than I would have expected for so few pieces.  Next go around I may spend the extra $ for the verlinden dozer kit.

Next was a little more detail on the back of the of the blade over and above what the Academy kit provided.  Then I fired up the airbrush and got some more paint on turret and blade & frame.  The last bit to this point was scatching together the manual release below the driver hatch.  This is how she sits now. 

Thats all for now, thanks all for looking in.

Gary / CSM

Rob/Gary - Thanks for the advice on A.E.F. Designs.  I've unexpectedly been out of the loop for the past couple weeks so didn't get a chance to say thanks earlier.  I'm just getting back into semi-serious armor modeling after a number of years hiatus, so I'm really interested in hearing of everybody's experiences, recommendations, and techniques.  Which leads to....

Gary - I keep going back to the bottom picture you posted on 6/22, and the middle one on 6/29.  How did you get copper wire to cooperate like that?  I've never been able to get copper wiring that straight!  Or curve that well!  Great job!

I did a little rumaging through my photos and intended to post some photos from my days with 3/64 which show the flatcar overhang 7377Tanker mentioned, a little bit of the camo pattern we used (which was different from 4/64, but probably close to 1/64), and show the front markings.  Unfortunately Photoshop Elements and my scanner are not talking to each other right now, so I'll post when I get that resolved - if anybody's interested.  Somewhere I've got photos of 4/64, but they're probably in storage along with my M60 TMs and, I seem to remember, an Army pub on camo patterns. 

More shortly (hopefully)

Andy