New to Armor builds - need opinions oh guru's thereof . . .

Sigep Ziggy

No worries, I remember when the Beatles were the new guys. My Dad was in the Air Force in the late 50's and I was too young for Vietnam.

I have a M48A3 in 1/72 scale I think, I'll have to check stash. I like 1/72 armor to display with my 1/72 aircraft models.

 

The 1/72 scale M48 kits are all the same base kit made by Esci in the 1980s. Esci boxed the kits separately; M48A2, M48A2C, M48A2GA2, M48A3, and M48A5. AMT/Ertl reboxed the M48A5 as well.

Italeri then inherited the molds and released the two Vietnam era versions and Revell of Gemrany put all the versions in one box (03170).

Not bad kits and the only game in town for an M48 series, but some of the details are based on 30+ year old molding limitations.

No worries, I remember when the Beatles were the new guys. My Dad was in the Air Force in the late 50's and I was too young for Vietnam.

I have a M48A3 in 1/72 scale I think, I'll have to check stash. I like 1/72 armor to display with my 1/72 aircraft models.

Don't feel bad, every ship I served on and most of those I've worked on, as a diver and otherwise, have been decommissioned, and a good number of them scrapped or sold off. As of four years ago, I have been out longer than I was in, and I did twenty years.

Sigep Ziggy

That's funny, it's the American Legion in Post Falls that has an M60 out front and an M113 too.

 

Ok, that just made me feel old. When  I arrived at my first line unit in the Army, the M60/M113 team was standard issue across most of the Army. The M1/M2 were just entering service in a handful of units. Now they are Legion Post displays.... 

That's funny, it's the American Legion in Post Falls that has an M60 out front and an M113 too.

I was thinking about building one for display at my local VFW, since that is what they have sitting out front. Of course it is all naked and de-mil'ed.

Ah yes Zippy’s.  Where the secret ingredient of their chili is - mayonnaise!  I love their chili!  And they are expanding to Las Vegas.  Maybe Oregon next, since there are so many Hawaii ex-pats living there!

Hope you get your M60A3, regardless which one you choose!

Sorry G, if I knew you were going to answer up I'd have asked for "da kine M60A3 tank brah!

I lived in Pearl City for like five years. I would like to get back over there again. Kinda miss the place,  oh, and Zippy's, for the kamaaina special.

I commanded an M60A3TTS tank platoon as a kid.

The Tamiya kit pictured above is an M60A3TTS as is the superb AFV Club kit. The Tamiya A3 is a fairly simple kit and readily available. The AFV kit is one of the most accurate ones with thousands of little parts and multiple options.

Tamiya also does the USMC M60A1 RISE/Passive kit with ERA, but inside is the same basic M60A3TTS kit with just some Marine specific parts on separate sprues.

The Esci kit is very good, and more for an intermediate builder. It is long out of production and hard to find. The Revell rebox was available for the blink of an eye and was fairly expensive for an older reboxed kit.

I saw the AFV Club kit offered for sale on another site for $50, a reasonable price.

My old A3, A-21, 5/77 Armor, 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) during Reforger 1988.

Two other options:

Not a TTS I think, but an easy kit:

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10131997

A more modern kit (with a lot of parts) but it’s a TTS:

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10404854

Look for the ESCI kit of the M60A3. It is a very nicely molded and detailed kit of the tank, and fits your description perfectly. It has been re boxed and issued by Revell Germany and Italeri after the demise of ESCI.