1:72 M48A3 Vietnam DONE!

Pawel, it's quite the ambitious project you have going here, but I agree with Rob; don't get in over your head trying to correct the tracks. When they're on, you won't be able to notice it.

Good luck with where you're going with this!

You have quite a project here.  I'll be watching to see how it goes.

I am not an expert by any means. I know too many men who know much more about these machines for me to ever consider myself to be an expert. Having said that, I learned to tank on an M48A5 when I was a kid. I am familiar with it and do know a good deal about the M48A5 and the M60A3TTS (another tank I cut my teeth on).

As far as fixing the Revell track, personally, I would not bother to make this correction. To me it would not be worth the time and effort for a detail that would go unnoticed to the common man. But, on the Esci track, I have used slices of channel strip styrene made by Plastistruct (sp?).

When you cut the channel strip, you end up with U shaped pieces that resemble the center guides of the track. I then glue them in the proper place on the track. You could do the same with the Revell track. You would have to remove the existing center guides and replace them with the channel lock Us.

Of course, the Revell track would not be correct for a Vietnam era tank. You could also detail the inside of the track with strips of styrene to represent the inner rubber track surface.

OK, movin' on with the build!

First there are the road wheels, like seen on the photo below. The sand-coloured ones were stripped off "Old Glue". The funny pink ones are Revell:

See why I broke out the Revell kit?

Then there are the return rollers:

And then I went on to do the sprockets. The double discs for the track's guide teeth are from the Revell kit, the sprockets are from the old Esci kit, narrowed (so as to allow for the double discs) and with mud-release holes cut in them:

Then there's track. The basic Esci/Italeri ones:

And the octagon-style Revell tracks. Note how the guide teeht are incorrectly shown in the middle of each link instead between the links, like the connecting links:

Now I'll have to figure out what to do with the track... As I don't really like neither of them.

OK, that would be it for now, thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks for the info Rob, it's always good to have an expert onboard for a WIP thread! 'Till next time

Paweł

Steel road wheels on an M60 series tank are not uncommon nor a good indicator of when the tank was in use. All steel, all aluminum or a mixture can be seen throughout its lifespan. It would be nice if Revell gave us a Slick 60 M60A0 although to make an early tank, they would need to retool the upper hull to give us the option for early and late style air cleaners. That's one area the Esci M60A1/A2/A3 series was better; the choice between early and late style air cleaners.

I only use the lower hull for sentimental reasons, otherwise it doesn't make any sense... The Revell M60 model is very cool, with correct road wheels and very crisp detail. One thing I don't like about it is the tracks. Not only are they octagon style (no problem here if you want to show a later machine, although road wheels are steel), the biggest problem with them is that the track guide teeth are positioned in the middle of each link, instead of between links.

Infact the M60 is so nice, I started thinking about building a CEV in 1:72 - that would be something, wouldn't it? Have a nice day

Paweł

Yes, I know they are the same kit, just wondering why you were going to mate the new stuff to the old lower hull instead of starting out with the new Italeri hull. Actually, both the old Esci kit and newer Revell M60A1/A3 kits are both pretty good models. The Esci kit holds up especially well, but it is good to see one get decked out.

madmike - thanks for the comment, please stay tuned!

Rob - as you know the Esci and Italeri kits are actually the same thing, so mating "Old Glue"'s lower hull to the Italeri rest is no big  deal. Fitting the Revell suspension is a little more tricky, but it looks like I have at least half of the hard part done by now. I need to adjust the sprockets and find a source for the missing four return rollers yet. Please stay tuned, I need you to tell me what I'm building wrong, when it happens! Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Will be following this build!

Are you going to take the old Esci kit, the Italeri reissue and the Revell kit to create one model? Sounds like quite a project. Good luck with it.

Hello!

Yeah, I know I will! And the cool thing, I didn't even have to wait five minutes for my first comment, cool! Thanks a lot TD4438 and please stay tuned!

Paweł

That M48 builds up real nice.You will enjoy it.