The unOFFICIAL 2011/20012 Veteran's Group Build

CSM, we sat them on the back deck when we pulled the pack back in the field. Mid 1989 would have been the last year I pulled an M60A3TTS pack. In the motor pool, we often used large chock blocks under the pack so it didn't mess up the concrete and could get drip pans under it..

The M48/60 MOS was 19E; 19K is M1, but you don't set the pack on the back deck of an Abrams. M551 Sheridan MOS was an ASI to the 19E, 19D or 19K MOS.

When I went to OBC in 87, they still broke the class into an M60 and an M1 track based on your unit of assignment. Although my battalion I joined in Germany still had the A3, everyone going to Germany or Fort Hood went through M1 training. Everyone staying stateside (less Hood) or Korea went A3. Anyone going to Bragg or NTC went through Tank Commander certification Course (TC3) for the Sheridan. Anyone going to an ACR (2nd, 3rd or 11th) went to Bradley Commander's Cert. Course (BC3). BC3 was also incorporated into the Cavalry Leader Course I took after my advance course. As armor officers we were also trained on the M3 Bradley and M901 ITVs, but BC3 was much more intensive than the M3 training we got during the Cav Weapons phase of OBC.

Yes, a vet's a vet, but it is a lot easier to explain that I was an M1A1 tank platoon leader during the Gulf War than some of the alphabet soup MOSs out there.

stikpusher

Chopper, welcome aboard Which M60 kits are those you will be building? Company and scale? I will add you to the roster here after this post, but if you could please update me regarding the builds.

Top, I cant speak for an M60 getting the packpulled,but IIRC, on our Mech Infantry battalion stuff, the packs would be pulled in the bay, when it was done in the motor pool, and placed on some kind of pallet. If we were in the field and the pack had to be pulled it would be placed on the vehicle tarp, IIRC.

Hey Stickpusher

Both kits will be 1/35 Tamiya kits. Some AM stuff to include tracks. Will have pics coming soon.

Alright...turns out I've got an Academy 1362 M998 in the armor room, that will be the starting point for the M1037. I also have a Concord book about the Humvee in Iraq which gives a good breakdown of all of the different variants. Hopefully I can figure out which of these two boxes is more accurate (and what the differences are between them?). Will post up some pics of each when I get home from vacation.

Oh, I've been having trouble finding Academy kit #13405 (the newer Hummer boxing), and after this weeks' Squadron order, I won't be buying anything again any time soon...

If one of you has a spare to trade away, shoot me a PM! I'd love to be able to do that variant (along with all the others I've already got).

Here's a photo of my M998 that I had already started. This is the Academy kit I bought in 1995, tinkered with a little and stuffed back into a box until stumbling across it in late summer. At the time, it was the only 2 door soft top kit available and was the same type I had as a BMO of an armor battalion.

While my truck had full canvas troop cover and such, when we went to the NTC or into the field at hood, we took the canvas off and left the doors at the motor pool. We left the roof on so we didn't get sunbaked and the radios could stay cooler or drier in the sun or rain.

Here's a more recent photo after doing some work this weekend.

Stik & Rob,

Thanks for the input.  Should be able to make some pallets and chock block out of balsa.  I’m thinking of putting this one on a small base simulating a motor pool with the power pack set just to the side.  I plan to paint this one in the MERDC Summer US & Europe verdant using the silly putty method.  Rob, did any of the A3’s have the non-slip texture paint on the horizontal surfaces similar to what is on today’s M-1A1/2’s?  The reference shots I have of A3’s at Drum & Devens seem to say no.

I should have known better on the K/E etc. designators with the 19 series.   Nowadays I tend to just associate tankers in general w/19K, forgetting that there ever was anything else.  Nice background details in your post explaining what some of the alphabet soup actually means. 

Slow progress working the build this weekend working the hull waiting for filler to cure.  The nice weather has side tracked me too.

Gary

Rob,  nice resurrection and progress on the 998. I have a few kits of that sort that have been in suspended animation for awhile in my collection too.

Top, large fireplace type matches are perfect for scale wood blocks. I used a couple for a joke in progress shot on my jeep build last weekend. Since somebody replied I had left it parked in a bad area and had no tires when I came back.

I'm making good progress on my Duck Hunters track so far. the hull is almost done. I'll get some pics up here this evening.

Stik, I have to disagree about the use of wood. 1SG, I think it's better to use styrene and scrape a little grain into it with a razor saw, or not. Wood, in particular balsa. has too big a grain IMO.

I remember riding in one of those little open trucks at an air show. It had a stencil on the dash; "sudden turns mean sudden death".

With a little sanding work, I think wood can look just fine. After Rob mentioned it, I do now recall the wood blocks being used for that. IIRC they were large pieces, like 6"x 6" and not exactly the stuff you use to build a house, but more like railway ties. I did not have to go thru too many packs being pulled on my tracks, so my memory there is hazy.

Hey guys Still havent come up with a ship model yet but i've been looking in ever so often .

1SG Davis

Stik & Rob,

Thanks for the input.  Should be able to make some pallets and chock block out of balsa.  I’m thinking of putting this one on a small base simulating a motor pool with the power pack set just to the side.  I plan to paint this one in the MERDC Summer US & Europe verdant using the silly putty method.  Rob, did any of the A3’s have the non-slip texture paint on the horizontal surfaces similar to what is on today’s M-1A1/2’s?  The reference shots I have of A3’s at Drum & Devens seem to say no.

I should have known better on the K/E etc. designators with the 19 series.   Nowadays I tend to just associate tankers in general w/19K, forgetting that there ever was anything else.  Nice background details in your post explaining what some of the alphabet soup actually means. 

Slow progress working the build this weekend working the hull waiting for filler to cure.  The nice weather has side tracked me too.

Gary

Non-slip on M60A3TTS was sometimes seen. I think it may have been when the tank came into service and whether it was an original build M60A3TTS or a tank rebuilt into an M60A3TTS. For instance, in my four tank platoon, only one tank had the non-slip. It was my platoon sergeant's tank. He said he had it because he was special, I told him it was because he was old and they didn't want him to fall and break a hip.

His tank was newer than the other tanks. He'd been in the platoon long before I arrived and had been the defacto platoon leader for years and thus had the best tank in the platoon.

I've seen National Guard pristine M60A3TTS tanks with the non-slip.

Here is a Polaroid shot of my old M60A3TTS when I was 2nd Platoon Leader, A Company, 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 8th ID(M). It was taken in the fall of 1988 during REFORGER Certain Challenge. You can see my pack resting on the back deck. Our brakes failed and we almost went through a gasthaus. You have to pull the pack to fix the brakes on old 48/60 series tanks.

Getting going with the M40

So I spent the better part of $ 100 on the kit, the PE and the tracks. I kind of went WTH on those, because if I fail, hey there's always a couple of options. But I'm a ship modeler mostly, and used to things like the HMS Victory- 100 guns nine parts each. Just calls for big sorting trays.

I think a base will be a key element. if only because if/ when it starts to get busted up, it'll be a real loss. And dad will want to handle it.

It should be here just about in time for Xmas, my present to Dad and myself. Ms. Bondo and I just got each other ours- the furnace went DOA last Friday. 20 years of solid service.

Rob Gronovius

 

Here is a Polaroid shot of my old M60A3TTS when I was 2nd Platoon Leader, A Company, 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 8th ID(M). It was taken in the fall of 1988 during REFORGER Certain Challenge. You can see my pack resting on the back deck. Our brakes failed and we almost went through a gasthaus. You have to pull the pack to fix the brakes on old 48/60 series tanks.

If ever an armored vehicle could be a Transformer, it would be a CEV or an 88. Those things are just impressive to watch work the boom crane.

Nice pic there sir.

Here are a fewpicsof my Vulcan track so far. The hull is nearly done.

The suspension is link and length tracks and went together ok. But the roadwheel arms are a bit fiddly. Unfortunately I found some alignment issues after the fact.

Now IIRC, there were two typesof roadwheels in the 113 series family vehicles:bolted rims of an older style and non bolted rims of a newer style. The Italeri rim bolts seemed way overscale (epsecially when compared toTamiya/Academy/AFV Club 113 family roadwheels), so I removed them on most of the road wheels but left a couple wheels of the bolted type for a little variation. 

bondoman

That'd be a horrible time for Ivan to come driving over the hill. Great dio subject. I assume at that state the tank has NO powered systems.

REFORGER would actually be a very bad time for Ivan to come. Many manuever units are out in the field training in the Germany countryside as opposed to sitting in motor pools at the same pre-targeted barracks or even at the major training areas. Additionally, as the name implies, stateside units have "REturn FORces to GERmany" and are already in place versus needing to cross the Atlantic. REFORGER was a time when we could pop out of the woods and end up in someone's back yard. We exited autobahns by leaving the roadway and driving into the woods.

With the pack out, the tank can't move, but the turret can still traverse, main gun can elevate and fire. We pulled the pack while we were on a down moment in the exercise. A little thing like no brakes won't keep an experienced crew out of the fight. Unlike a wheeled vehicle, a tank can use its transmission to brake as well as its own inertia. Tanks maneuver by locking one track or the other to change direction and can even pivot steer with one track rolling forward and the other going backwards.

OK. Here we go. Going to start on these in a few days. Gotta finish up another group build first. Anyway, went to basic training at Ft Knox waaayyy back in 1983 and we used the M60A1. Got to my first unit in Germany where we used the M60A3. M60A1 will be US Army version without all the reactive armor plates. Also going to add some PE stuff and aftermarket tracks. WIP pics to come soon.

Very cool! Those loud, smoke belching roaring beasts! And with some dress up. Looking forward to your work Chopper (and if that Urdan Cupola needs a good home,hit me up offline, I could use one....)

Rob Gronovius

 

We exited autobahns by leaving the roadway and driving into the woods.

With the pack out, the tank can't move, but the turret can still traverse, main gun can elevate and fire. We pulled the pack while we were on a down moment in the exercise.

Finding info online for this is the devil,but I see there's an apu in the 60, ? Maybe an uaapu?

There's no apu on the M60. All US tanks have manual traverse/elevation as well as a "master blaster" manual firing charger. Firing degraded mode is something that is a part of semi-annual tank gunnery and trained constantly.

stikpusher

Well I dont think membership in the CAF requires an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." But yes you are probably the "youngest" WWII aircraft rated aircrewman here...

and IIRC you got some of these too, so a C-130, C-141, and possibly other types such as the UH-1, CH-47, and UH-60 enter as build possibilities

Yeah, got those too.. But all I have O/H is the Crash Hawk... Never jumped it, only did the "Dope on a Rope"...

S'pose I'll go with something from the FA... "Once a Redleg" an' all that .... Put me down for a an M109A3, I reckon... M548 tennative...

Hell on Wheels

The track set came today. You are all nuts! There's eight (8) identical sprues of twenty four (24) links each. Let's see, that's one hundred ninety two (192) links. Each link has a main piece, a center tooth and a pair of connector pieces to the next link, for a total of four (4) pieces each link. Four (4) times one hundred ninety two (192) is seven hundred sixty eight (768) parts. 

First thing will be to cut them all off and sort them into the tray. The instructions say that the end connectors are set up on the sprue at the correct spacing to act as a jig, but it can't be true.

So after thinking about it a bit, I remembered something I wanted to do anyway. Does anyone know if/where I can get a model of a cruise missile? Kind of an odd request, perhaps, I don't think I have ever seen one. Last march my ship launched missiles in support of Odyssey Dawn, and I wanted to build a cruise missile in some fashion as kind of a momento. I'm thinking I might even try to do it launching out of the water, which would be interesting because I have never modeled water before. Anyway, if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be a start. Thanks!

A couple of 1/72 scale bombers came with Cruise missiles, but ALCMs. Monogram's B-1B and Revell's notional B-2 Stealth bomber (looked like a big batarang) came with them I believe.

Atomic Models made a 1/32 scale resin one that will be hard to find. They are long gone.

http://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/atomic.htm

And a veteran has fallen.

At 1655 Wednesday the 30th of November 2011 local time, my grandfather passed away.

R.I.P Mr D. You will be missed.

He was not in the mob for long, but he seemed to make an impression while he was there.

He was with us for a lifetime, and certainly made an impression with us.

Sorry to here about your grandad...hat's off to 'im! 

Farewell Mr D. Rest in Peace that you helped earn.

I have an AMT B-52H that needs a reason to be finished.  This is that reason.

Add me to the gang please!

Jim Williams

B-52H Instructor Radar Navigator

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.. a nice BIG wingy thing!

OK Jim I will add you to the group here. Welcome aboard.

stikpusher

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.. a nice BIG wingy thing!

OK Jim I will add you to the group here. Welcome aboard.

Mikey, very sorry to hear of the passing of your gramps. May he rest in peace.

Slow but steady progress on the hull this week. 

Going to add a little twist to the suspension height fix that most Tamiya hulled M-60’s (&48’s) need to be accurate.  I am also going to try and bring the track back under the fenders.  In my experience with the builds I have done, the track hangs out from 1 to 2mm beyond the edge of the fenders. 

In this picture I have sanded down the final drive housings to take away the required distance.   In building this model with a pulled power pack I also forced myself into having to find another way to hang the drive sprockets.  Normally the “false axle” would go through the back of the hull and be covered and not showing.  I this case because it would have been exposed I cut two stubs of plastic tube and locked them into place with cyano glue.

The hull is about finished as far as construction goes.  I cut off the keyed ends to the suspension arms so they would swing freely in the torsion bar mounts on the hull.  I then clipped the spindle’s down to allow the road wheels to seat further on.  I also shaved some off of the wheel hubs and the torsion bar mounts to make up all the distance I needed.  I put a .100” shim under the front torsion bar mounts and a .125” shim under the rear.  I then set the modified arms in place. This should give it a little rake to take into account the missing engine & trans.  I reshaped the bump stops that were molded into the hull, and drilled and pinned the shocks, mounting the to the appropriate arms.  I also plan on ditching the Tamiya wheels and poly hubs in favor of some wheels from an AMT/ERTL Isreali Blazer kit

s

Rob,  great shot of your ride there, I like the reasoning as to why your PLT SGT got the tank w/non-slip.  Who’s the one passed out on top of the turret?   

998 looks nice too, great to see her getting some bench time after a decade + marinating on the shelf.  I’ve got several like that myself.

Scorpiomickey, my regrets for your families loss…..RIP