Hello Mark!

It might help you to know, that I have this AFV kit in progress here: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/165990.aspx

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you pawel. I'll be following you.  :)

I am sure I am going to enjoy this one. M, did you get the "aftershock" panzer iv yet ?

Mike, very cool! I've been eyeing this kit too but have way too much stuff in the stash so I'm resisting buying one. AFV Club has the spring loaded retraction feature in their Hellcat model too, I'm not sure how many other kits have it. 

From my limited sample size of AFV kits, I found them over-engineered. They didn't need to over detail IMHO.

Hello!

Comparing this particular kit to others showing the same tank (Tamiya, Academy, ESCI), you might say it's overengineered - but if so, I like the way it's overengineered. Like the driver's hatch is a separate part allowing you to show it open or closed, easily. Then the scope insert in said hatch is another part, allowing you to show the periscope looking straight or to side - easily. Then the periscope and its cover are separate parts, allowing you to show the periscope installed or removed - easily. We might argue if making the rear deck 11 separate parts instead of one (not counting the handles!) is good or bad, but you would buy that if you wanted to install the engine kit in your model. Bonus - the insides of the grilles are detailed too. And the list goes on, so like I said - I like the way that kit is overengineered and I wish for more kits like that. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Paweł

What you consider overengineered, I call detailed.  I would much prefer a kit with lots of details than a kit with all the details molded on, ala Tamiya.  I get pleasure out of building the most detailed kit I can, whether the detail is in the kit or has to be added.  I'll take an AFV Club kit over most others any day.

Okay. Progress has been made. 

I was wrong about this suspension. This is way mare complex than the M-103 lol. First, all of the parts actually work! As you will see there is a lot of parts on this lower hull.



All of the parts line up without issue. I did have to ream out all of the shaft holes to help things move better, and each of the torsion bars is a little on the thick side. At first I thought this was bad engineering, but then I realized this was done most intentionally, as I filed each down to where they slid in without any problems. If they had tried to make this fit the first time without cleaning the seams it would all be too loose and wobbly.





The only place I had problems was with a couple of gaps around the bump stops at the back of the hull.



I did drill out a few places and add my own pins to strengthen the links.



I color coded the swing arms so I can put them back in the correct places later.



I started in the interior by building up the driver's seat. There are a few VERY finicky little levers and I replaced one of them with some stiff wire. I built up the knobs with super glue and then coated them with some thick paint to smooth them out and let gravity shape them into lovely little spheres.

I've also started adding some texture to the inside hull. I'm going to leave it a bit over-exaggerated so it's easier to see later on.





After getting all of that squared away I primed the driver's seat and got out my new Neo AB. Excited as a schoolboy, I loaded up the AB with some light grey and ran into a most familiar problem.



Spattering! Again! Are you kidding me?!!

Well since this is a brand spanking-new AB I decided instead to check into my compressor. I carefully took it all apart and found a problem.



Seems I blew out the piston seal. It's not completely destroyed, but I've lost a lot of pressure without realizing it. I took some measurements and cut out a couple of new seals made of thick paper, greased the inside of the compression chamber with some thick silicone lube left over from my days airsofting, reassembled the entire unit and pushed the "on" button. Bingo! Now my compressor works a little better than it did when it was brand new right out of the box. Who knew?





I am seriously impressed with how this AB works in comparison with my old one. The difference is like night and day.

Now this is where I'm going to have to pause as I'm going to have to scratch build some of the forward ammo storage tubes. They sit to the left and right of the driver and can be seen clearly, so I just need to dig up some reference photos to go by and fill up all of that space that shouldn't be empty.

hard stripe

I am sure I am going to enjoy this one. M, did you get the "aftershock" panzer iv yet ?

Not yet. But when I do, you will know about it lol.

Pawel

Hello!

Comparing this particular kit to others showing the same tank (Tamiya, Academy, ESCI), you might say it's overengineered - but if so, I like the way it's overengineered. Like the driver's hatch is a separate part allowing you to show it open or closed, easily. Then the scope insert in said hatch is another part, allowing you to show the periscope looking straight or to side - easily. Then the periscope and its cover are separate parts, allowing you to show the periscope installed or removed - easily. We might argue if making the rear deck 11 separate parts instead of one (not counting the handles!) is good or bad, but you would buy that if you wanted to install the engine kit in your model. Bonus - the insides of the grilles are detailed too. And the list goes on, so like I said - I like the way that kit is overengineered and I wish for more kits like that. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Paweł

 

I didn't like it at first, but I quickly realized that you can make almost every part function with a little drill and some wire. If I wanted to, I could make every hinge on this thing actually work as they do on the real tank. For example; I could have made the driver's seat fold and unflold just like the real thing.

That's not over-engineering. That's excellent engineering.

I also think that they could have toned it down in a few areas however. Some of this detail is just a bit much for even my tastes lol. I'm not looking forward to all of those super tiny handles that go on the engine covers lol.

M. Brindos

Now this is where I'm going to have to pause as I'm going to have to scratch build some of the forward ammo storage tubes. They sit to the left and right of the driver and can be seen clearly, so I just need to dig up some reference photos to go by and fill up all of that space that shouldn't be empty.

 

I added the leather arm rests to the Driver's Seat post and then gave it all a dark grey wash.



A quick coat of Krylon Camo Flat Black shows me that I have definitely embellished the texture inside the Driver's compartment. I think I will tone it down a bit. Once I get the LED lighting installed later on I don't want the shadows of those peaks casting too large, or long shadows. :D

I can see in my picture just how much shadow will show up and that's a bit too much.

Hello Mike!

Lookin' good! I especially like those armrests. I'd also agree about making that texture finer - the scale can be very unforgiving sometimes. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you Pawel.  :)

My Dad dug up some pictures of an M-60A1 trainer. You can see the storage tubes and everything that is visible looking down the hatch.

There is a load of stuff crammed in there and this is going to be interesting building all of that stuff. I've got the time [shrug] lol.

Hello!

You can never get enough real thing photos on the Net, so thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to your detailing here! Pity the CEV which I'm building had a totally different layout here. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

M. Brindos- If you want to scare yourself,look at Aber photo-etch. A good friend of mine laughed as he gave me (yeah,no charge,I don't owe him any money or favors) the Aber set for the DML Firefly Sherman. I HAVE TO MAKE SPRINGS FOR THE FENDERS!,replace all the periscopes..............

If you are looking for pics,besides prime portal, try The Chieftan's Hatch on you tube.

Mike, some nice detail going in there.

Allen, if you think Aber are bad, you should try Voyager PE.  Actually, on second thoughts, no, don't, not if you value your sanity.

Very cool work there Mike, great photos too. 

Thanks for the comments my friends. So far, so good!  :)

I've got all of the Driver's compartment kit parts finished except for the instrument panel. I've just got it primed, painted , and sealed - ready for washes and detailing.


^ The seat and fire extinguisher are looking quite fabulous. Almost bang-on from my reference pics.


^ Dry fitting of the parts looks good. but in this picture I needed to do a bit of chipping. Not too much, but enough to show its been used.


^ Post chipping.


^ Test fitting with the upper hull showed me that the Driver's seat post is a bit short to meet the locating tab (same issue Pawel had). I added some styrene to the top of the post and it now clicks into place and doesn't move around.


^ From the top down through the hatch.


^ This is one of my favorite shots. This looks really close to my references. Aside form all the parts and wires that are missing. The color and wear look just right.


^ I'm working on the instrument panel next and the I will start the work on the rest of the parts that attach to the top hull.

Thanks for checking in!

M. thanks for the trip down memory lane in the drivers compartment. I remember very well the escape hatch falling out while running in convoy, between 25 & 30 mph.

You suddenly relize that the 3/8" pin holding your set up went to the lowest bidder of a military contract.

I'm not sure how to take that lol. 

I've heard stories of the hatch falling out before, but no one has ever put it quite that way lol.

Hello Mike!

Nice looking interior, man! Interesting idea with this "highlight" of white and darker shadow outside! What's coming on now? Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you very much Pawel!

Yeah that turned out pretty good. I was just trying to make it feel more clauserphobic in there. What's up next is that I'm still trying to find some tubing of an accurate scale to use for the ammo storage tubes so I can build those. Heck if I know what I'm going to do about everything BEHIND the driver's seat that will be far easier to see than anything in the front ever will be.

My Dad bought a set of Valkyrie figures and even though they are "Viet Nam Marines" I believe with some small effort they will work just fine for this project. One figure only needs sleeves and he's golden. Good poses except that the driver is a bust only. My plan is to have him out of the vehicle so you can look into the interior when I'm finished so I'm going to have to find another figure for him.

If I do anything you like, such as the forced shadows in the Driver's compartment, please use it yourself if you are so inclined. 

The figure set came in yesterday. Dad Ordered a set of Viet Nam era Marine Tankers, made by Valkyrie Miniatures, to go with this build. They are very well represented and I'd say that quality is just a bare notch under the Alpine figure I have, and a big improvement over MiniArt figures. My only complaint is the microphone booms are attached to the casting block in a difficult to remove way. I would have preferred PE instead of the fragile resin mics that are provided. Pity because they are so well detailed.




Excellent photos on the box show you just how well these figures can look. Sculpted by Gu Hee Jung in Korea, they show a wonderful talent for detail and I can only complain of their skinny faces and pointy chins. Some more variations in their facial structures would have been nice to see, but I'm not going to mark these down in points because of it.




I only had to use a bit of filler on the neck joint, but I had to build up the Mic Boom with a little thin styrene because when I removed it from the casting block I did manage to loose a bit of it. I'm just happy I didn't break in into pieces.


^ This thing is not easy to detach from the casting block without damage. PE would actually have been a better choice for this part.

So I'm thinking of trading out the Loader's arms, for arms with sleeves, and that's all I'm going to need to do to pass this guy off as regular ARMY. Unless someone points out any glaring issues as to why they can't be ARMY, I'm confident these figures will do very nicely.

Amazing Mike, simply amazing ... 

Very nice looking set of figures there- looking forward to seeing you work your magic on them Mike! 

Really nice detail here Mike! I"m jealous of that fire extinguisher--I can never get mine to look right!

The project is coming along very nicely!

Thanks Dave, Gam, and Karl!

Karl, the extinguisher was first painted white and then I used Testors flat red as a base. I gave it a black wash after painting the dirty gold/brass on it, and then I layered on some Crimson acrylic to brighten up the tank, and then followed that up with a gloss coat.

For your next extinguisher try some thin coats of a bright red/orange (80%red) mix over a red base and you'll get what you're looking for.

As for the figures, I started converting the second figure into an Army tanker. I snagged some arms from a Dragon M1A1 tanker figure and carved off all of the details, added seams and cuffs along with buttons and button holes that the fatigue blouse should have from that period. I used a spare head from the MiniArt winter German set I'm still not finished with yet and carved off the scarf from his neck which removed what little hair he had so I scratched that back in and reshaped the hat into something I remember seeing a lot as a small child. I still need to do more shaping of the hat, but he's mostly done. I've got him posed to be leaning up against the frontal slope of the hull staring at something interesting on the ground lol.






So far so good. I hope its accurate enough when I'm done.

I like the work you've posted so far.  I was lucky enough to have two platoon of M60s and a company of them too.  All of it in the 80s and 90s ... if you're looking for that ear M60 crewman, we had different CVC helmets then than those who served in VietNam.  I like the level of detail you're incorporating, great stuff!

Helo Mike!

Those figs are looking good, but that's your specialty, isn't it? I'll use your idea about painting the interior shadows, but in my next builds - I feel it's too late for the CEV, as the hull is already closed up. I'm trying to figure out a nice pose for the driver of my tank, too. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks Pawel  :D

I found out yesterday evening that these figures are actually for the next build (Tamiya M-48A3) and not this one. After all those hours of converting that one figure, He's going to be in another build lol.

At least he's ready for painting.

OPP's. O well Mike, will save you some time on that build.

Fantastic detail Mike,should be a gem once you power thru it.

Update time, Gentlemen! I've got quite a bit done since I've been away from the net and you'll get to see what I've done up til now. This might be a bit of a read so bare with me lol.

I finished the driver's display panels three days ago and I used some imagination as well as one reference picture... so I ended up copying one gauge four times. I think it looks good for being hand painted, but a package came in today that would've saved me the trouble lol.





So then there's that huge open space behind the driver that needed filling. What sits behind the driver is the storage boxes for the periscopes the resides on the turret basket floor just under the gun breach. What I didn't know two days ago that I know now is that there are two boxes. One stacked on the other. The bottom one is for the IR periscopes and the top one is for the regular ones. Looks like I'm not quite as finished as I thought I was lol. No problem as I will correct this issue in the near future.

For scale perspective I made the turret basket a bit smaller than it should be, and its lower in the hull than it should be as well, because there should be a big box of batteries that fits under the turret basket and you wouldn't see too much of it anyways. So I'm sticking with forced perspective to achieve the effect I'm looking for, which is to make it all look much more cramped than it is.





There are a lot of indents for unknown parts that don't go in this kit and I decided not only to fill them, but to add some texture to the inside. You'll never see it, but what they heck, right? May as well do it for the cool factor lol. I added a brace for the steering bracket and this will also never be seen, but it needs more support so, again, why not.




I decided to make the hatch function a little smoother and removed the plastic slide bar to replace it with a piece of large paper clip. This way I can leave it out until I finally close up the hull halves and I don't have to worry about getting any paint in places I don't want it.



I added some lever I have seen in my reference photos (to the left of the hatch opening in the above picture). I think it's for locking the Driver's hatch. I used a sprue tab, a bit of stretched sprue, a staple for the handle, and some super glue for the knob. At some point I had taken the driver's speedometer and tachometer off of the sprue, but for the life of me I can't remember doing it and I can't find them on my desk where I put all of the other small parts I've been working with. I made up some new ones from some sprue tabs I had kept (they come in handy a lot) and drilled out the faces for some lenses to come later. If I find the original parts before I close up the hull I'll switch these out then.



The upper hull was painted and I test fitted the hatch assembly to make sure all was well.



The lower hull has a bad toe-in that makes the upper hull half a bit too tricky to get together with all of these small, fragile parts and it squeezes the turret ring upwards so that the turret wobbles from side to side and creates a gap where there should be none. This simply will not do! I cut a Popsicle stick to 60mm and sanded it down ever so slightly, a little bit at a time, until it stretched the lower hull enough to eliminate that awful toe. I dry-fitted that stick till I was very happy about it and after I glued it in I found that there is still a touch of a gap. D'oh! WTH??! So when you guys in the future get to this point measure that stick to 59mm and that should fix the problem. Ignore the 58.75mm written on the stick - its incorrect. I'll be fixing this in time.



I also worked on the lower turret. I filled in holes and added texture. You won't see much, if any, of this once the figures are in place, but it makes me feel better to know you can't see any holes. Also you will see where I added standing boards where the loader's and TC's seats should approximately be.




I test fitted a stand-in figure to make sure I got the measurements right. Looks like all is well so far.



I started working on the TC's Cupola by filling in holes and using strips of styrene I re-lined the turret and added padding. I added some texture here as well and this time, you will be able to see it even after the figure is standing in it.



A few bits and pieces I've been working on. The drivers steering bar is a delicate little thing and I've broken the stupid thing twice already and its not even installed yet. The PE for the MG cooling jacket is a major PITA(!!!!!!!) without etch tools, but I eventually sorted it out. It took a little over an hours worth of patience just for that ridiculous little detail. The spare helmet is left over from the Dragon M1A1 kit and is too modern for this build, but it was fun to put together and it'll be a nice accessory for something else in the future (no, I don't know what yet). The TC's sight box to the far right is a tedious little thing to assemble, but its the most accurate one I've ever seen not made of resin. The water cooler and the other box are from my Dad's spares box and I'm not sure If I'll be using them yet, but they certainly would fill some space in the turret basket later on.



Then there was this lovely package that arrived a day early, and guess what? There are my ammo storage tubes, stencils (some assembly required lol), and transfers with ALL of the proper gauges (in black and white!). Dad even thought of the stencils for the ammo cans lol. I may have more work to do than I thought lol.




So this is where I finally left off today. Cutting out 10 30mm long ammo storage tubes. Now all I have to do is study my references and build these things into the front of the tank. I know, why go through all of this when you can't see it? Well some lighting is going in here just for that purpose. 


Well my friends, this is just the beginning and I'm already feeling like this is going to take some serious time. Be patient with me lol.

PETER M WALTON

I like the work you've posted so far.  I was lucky enough to have two platoons of M60s and a company of them too.  All of it in the 80s and 90s ... if you're looking for that era M60 crewman, we had different CVC helmets then than those who served in VietNam.  I like the level of detail you're incorporating, great stuff!

 

Sorry I didn't see your comment sooner Peter. You've probably already seen it, but these figures won't be used for this build after all. That was my mistake. SO... the figure I modified now has the wrong hat, which was wrong anyways (More closely resembles the type the AF was issued in that period, but still not quite accurate even for that). This figure will end up having his hat painted up like some type of baseball or Beer hat from the early 70's lol.

I hope the details will measure up to your standards when I'm finished. After all, I have the advantage of having my own Dad for a reference as he also used to command these beasts. (3^3^35)  :)

Hello Mike!

Nice progress here! I like your creative use of wood here :-) I use those sticks in my builds, too. My hull didn't need this much prying to join the halves, so I guess there is some variation in the measurements/warp of this place of the hull from model to model. I see you build your model in a little different sequence than I go with mine - that's cool, I can take a look at what you're doing and learn, I like it. I'm currently working on the track, that's a lot of work, plus I broke out the dozer blade - that needs soe tweaking, too. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I love the interior- both the kit parts and even more so what you've added. I've been doodling around with an Esci M60 that looks good on the outside but has no interior at all.

Awesome job so far.  I just ordered the AFV Club M60A1 myself and will be following this build.  Keep up the great work on it.  The interior looks great so far.

Gamera - while the Esci kit is nice, in comparison to the AFV Club kit it doesn't look good - the suspension is very basic, and the underside of the hull lacks detail - those are the first things that I noticed.

Paweł

Thanks for the help Pawel! I only paid twenty bucks US for the Esci kit so I'm not too upset about the lacking detail. It's more for practice and an easy build than any expectations of a masterpiece. 

Thank you guys! Your continued support is awsome and I love it lol.

This kit may seem like a monster, but I'm quickly finding that I love it. The wealth of detail lends itself so well to added bits and bobs. I just wish they had included some sort of basic turret details that I could build from as well. There are few things I'm not looking forward to having to build yet, but so far it has been absolutely a blast to build this thing from the inside-out.

Now for a small update;

I've got the TC's MG all painted up and generously rubbed down with a soft lead pencil. I love how easy this is.




With some careful measurements, I began constructing the ammo storage tubes.




I used the Archer transfers and redid the gauges on the driver's IP. I found they are a dream to work with after using the decal paper provided.



Test fitting the ammo tubes. I only have them laying in there for this picture, but it starting to look quite crowded in there as it should.



And this is where I left off today. I have the ammo tubes painted in the light and shadow technique, clear coated, and just waiting to cure a bit before weathering.



More goodies to come, but progress is good and I'm loving all of this detail that's going into this. How often to we get to go hog wild on the inside of a tank? lol
Thanks for looking-in and keep modelling my friends.

I'll need to remove the lower tubes. I wasn't thinking of anything but filling up the space and I have one tube too many on each rack. [sigh], good thing I didn't already glue them in there lol.

Mike I'm sorry but I haven't a lot of time and just seen your amazing work, the detail and the figures are awesome. When I get a second I'm going to spend some time and start right from the beginning. 

Terry

No need to apologize for anything Terry. I only got into your Morser build today as well. lol

Fantastic....I too have that set of gauge transfers and seems like I go to them a lot. Some beautiful detail on the ineterior and I see what you mean on those finicky levers and parts. I dont think we use a pencil or graphite enough, they give a beautiful worn sheen to a simulated metal part and it's so cool to have a dad who's really into it. Can't wait for the rest of the build. 

Terry 

Thank you Terry.  :)

I hope I will not disappoint.

Todays update;

I was told that the ammo storage tubes were a light gold/brass color and so that's what I painted them up as. After installing them I noticed that even though I measured out both sides the same I had a lot of extra space still left over on the left side beside the driver's seat. The reason was that I measured the side with the driver's IP, and the side with the driver's seat doesn't measure out the same. Well that was a sort of easy fix. I just made up a rack of three to fill the space. That way they hang down below the seat post attachment. This is going to make installing the seat a bit more tricky later, but I think I can handle it.






I burned some time waiting for the new ammo tube assembly to cure and built this steering linkage bar thingy.



And then added more texture to the inside of the turret and built a radio rack and a shelf where I need to fit as close to 16 more ammo tubes.



Now I know you guys are paying real close attention, but you must understand that I'm not building anything that you can call accurate. I have made approximate shapes in approximate locations because most of it will not be seen when I'm done. I'm taking pretty liberal artistic license with a lot of this stuff, so please don't take any of what I'm doing as how things should be done. What I'm doing in this tank is more fun than it is anything else lol. Things are the wrong shape and not in exact positions at all. But if I inspire anyone to try any of my tricks on their own builds then I am honored indeed.

But all said, I'm really hoping it will really look freakin' cool when its finished. Thanks for looking mates, and keep modelling!

OH, I almost forgot! I had a special delivery today as well.



And I'm told there is more on the way in the mail.

Hello Mike!

I like your approach - something is still better than an empty space, when the real thing is crammed full, and the references are not so easy to come by, either. All models are inaccurate in some way, and it's up to the builder to say how accurate he wants to get. And still - a built model with it's inaccuracies is still better than a more accurate one that doesn't get built!

By the way - what colour do you plan for your M60? I'm not sure if you wrote about it before?

You've got quite a lot of goodies for the M48! I'm just wondering, that you start the old Tamiya instead of the new Dragon - I believe that would save you a lot of work.

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

Looks great Mike, love all the extra stuff you're cramming in there!

Mike, I love those special deliveries. So coool.. 

Geez, I'm glad I finally made time to come look at this, very nice work. I'm especially impressed with all the interior adds, "gizmology" at its finest.

Pawel

Hello Mike!

I like your approach - something is still better than an empty space, when the real thing is crammed full, and the references are not so easy to come by, either. All models are inaccurate in some way, and it's up to the builder to say how accurate he wants to get. And still - a built model with it's inaccuracies is still better than a more accurate one that doesn't get built!

By the way - what colour do you plan for your M60? I'm not sure if you wrote about it before?

You've got quite a lot of goodies for the M48! I'm just wondering, that you start the old Tamiya instead of the new Dragon - I believe that would save you a lot of work.

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

 

Agreed. It just looked far too spacious in there! I'd like to claim its gotten away from me with all of that junk in there, but I had a really fun time making all of it and it looks great even if it's not 100% true to the real deal.

I'm going for the MERDC scheme they used in Europe. This will be my Dad's tank. Markings and all.

My Dad has been collecting all of these goodies himself before Dragon released their kit. What you see on that table is his assortment of goodies he's been buying and planning to put together for over a year lol. He's got another 4 or 5 turrets laying around as well. He's got me building tanks for a while lol.

Gamera

Looks great Mike, love all the extra stuff you're cramming in there!

 

Thank you Gamera!

Bish

Some more nice work there Mike. That's some really nice scratch building and I do like the look of that MG.

Thanks Bish. I'm not the best scratch builder, but I enjoy it. I love the way it looks before you clear it. So shiny and metallic looking the way it catches the light lol.

jibber

Mike, I love those special deliveries. So coool..

Me too! I just got another package in the mail this afternoon. I've now got some Mig washes to play with and MicroMask.

RBaer

Geez, I'm glad I finally made time to come look at this, very nice work. I'm especially impressed with all the interior adds, "gizmology" at its finest.

Thank you Baer. I'm glad you like it. I do like cluttering things up lol. The M-48A3 is not going to get this treatment on the inside. I'm not even sure if I'll be building anything like this again. Definitly not any time soon, that's for sure lol.

Now for todays update;

I've been working on detailing the inside of the TC's cupola. Using the Legend Productions resin cupola as a visual aid I've been copying everything inside of it. There are two reasons for making my own copies, for one the Legend cupola is a bit smaller in dimension than the AFVC cupola, and the second is that I don't want to use the Legend pieces on the AFVC cupola because it will be harder to copy them back to the Legend cupola once their installed in another model. This method just makes better sense.

I've got the ammo feed made up and installed and I'm working on the smaller pieces still. I was distracted for a while last night as I waited for glue and paint to dry, by cutting a huge hole in the front of the Tamiya M-48A3 turret so I can install the Legend Productions mantlet and searchlight set.


^ This distracted me for a few hours.








Bonus points for anyone who knows what this PE bracket is for.



I painted the new set of ammo storage tubes a lighter shade of brass on purpose. Its all part of my plan.
Its looking good and stuffed in there now.




And I started up work on this Verlinden searchlight. As much as I love Verlinden upgrades he seems to leave a lot of details unfinished sometimes. Such as this searchlight. It would have been nice not to have to blend kit parts to it to finish it.

Dad has a full set of LED lights on order so I'm almost ready to close up this front hull section. Also, I plan on completely re-fabricating the turret basket again. I'll add the battery box and make all of the other details over again. The current one sits too low and isn't going to work as well as I wanted it to. So there's a lot more to come in the future.

Keep modelling, my friends. 

More distraction lol. I took a break last night and this morning I only lined up the mantlet on the M-48.

Hello Mike!

Nice work with the cupola - I guess I'll have to repeat at least some of it on my CEV - but this time the TC is going to sit in the hatch, blocking the view, so tel's see how this turns out.

By the way - I want to grab the bonus! The bracket is a machine pistol holder. You might want to check this out:

http://combatengineervehicle.tpub.com/TM-9-2350-222-20-1-5/TM-9-2350-222-20-1-50257.htm

Good luck with your build, and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

Hello Mike!

Nice work with the cupola - I guess I'll have to repeat at least some of it on my CEV - but this time the TC is going to sit in the hatch, blocking the view, so tel's see how this turns out.

By the way - I want to grab the bonus! The bracket is a machine pistol holder. You might want to check this out:

http://combatengineervehicle.tpub.com/TM-9-2350-222-20-1-5/TM-9-2350-222-20-1-50257.htm

Good luck with your build, and have a nice day

Paweł

 

I'm not sure what pose the TC figure I will be using will have yet as he's still in developemnt I assume, but AVFC included the sights and MG so I figure I may as well finish the job lol.

You are correct about that bracket, Pawel. My Dad pointed it out to me in one of my reference photos. Thanks to Dragon for including it with their M1A1 kit lol.



Specifically, the M3 "Grease Gun".

P.S. it looks like I missed the upper bracket. :/

Hi Mike, I haven't been around for awhile but I thiought I'd check in. I stand in awe at your M60 project and glad to see you got the M48A3 (I trained on it also) The M3 "grease gun" does not look like any that I carried, you might want to check with your dad about it. I could be wrong because I have been asleep since then -long ago-.

I check in later.    73   dt

I am in awe of everything you've done thus far.  Absolutely amazing!  

I'm glad you enjoy your NEO Iwata Gravity Feed.  I too love that AB, I am contemplating purchasing the NEO Iwata TRN1 Side Feed Handgun AB as I can better grip that AB.  I'll keep you up to date on that purchase.  

I went to an artist studio of which this particular artist exclusively uses Iwata AB.  I tried his Custom Micron and it was a dream to just hold.  I think the only other AB that can come close is the top of the line German made Harder and Steenbeck AB.  

Once again, a fantastic job on a great kit, I'll keep up to date on this wonderful build sir!

Toshi 

  Amour builders are plain nuts ( and bolts ), but in a good way.  Watching a normal armour build with pe and indi track links is witnessing first hand a masochistic ritual.  Then there are those, like yourself, that up the crazy by going inside the tank.

      I dont know a lot about tanks so I won't comment much, but I am following and your work is fantastic.                                              

                                    knox

I've got the lighting and I'm getting ready to install it soon.  :)

I've wasted a lot of time building up the figures that come with the M-48. They're actually still decent figures to work with. Some rescribing, carving in new details, and a few scratch built add-ons and they don't look too shabby.

It did take some work to get that old Tamiya .50 to look good enough to use. I had to fill in the troughs on the upper and lower cooling jacket and re-drill the holes. I made a new rear sight block, added a longer charging handle, and swiped a shield from the Academy acc. kit. The MG mounting post is just a bit of sprue drilled-out and I added the welds to the bottom to give it credibility. All of this consumed my time recently and I'm not 100% happy with it, but it will probably look much better with paint on it lol.

I worked on the lens of the searchlight. Taped both sides and very carefully cut out a circle with my trusty siscors.

Com box(?) and gun elevation are installed.

And I built the turret rotation handle and put that in there too.

Then I tried, very unsuccesfully, to make bullets for the MG. Of all the stuff I've scrathed up this has been the most frustrating challenge thus far. I've tried using different meterials in different methods, but I just can't seem to make them convincing enough. Using the metal rod had the best consistency, but proved to be the hardest to get lined up right.

For some nice .50 cal belts, check out the Academy U.S. MG set.  It has some really nice .30 and .50 guns, mounts ammo cans and .30 cal and .50 cal belts.

Bish

That's some lovely work there Mike. Not sure if I missed it before, what's with the clear cupola, is that an AM part.

 

That comes with the AFVC kit. I've got my hands on some liquid masking meterial so I can have tose spill a touch of light in there once its painted. I tried Tamiya tape, but I only managed to get two ports cut out. The tape just didn't want to stay put on the tiny little slits on the inside so I gave up on that method.

Thank you Arty! I will see if I can get my Dad to put that on order. Those MG's will come in handy later as well as those belts will now.   :)  Thank you for that!

This is an awesome build, really looking forward to see how you install the lights and light the interior to show off all that work.

For the ammo have you looked into the Live Resin stuff?  They have linked .50cal belts that also come with individual rounds and spent cases in the same set.  I don't know if this turret was similar to the "Star Wars" turret with M85 on the AAVP7A1 but we had feed chute to guide the rounds and subsequently take a toll of skin and blood from the user.  But, Live Resin also offers a .50cal feed chute if that is needed too.

Thank you for that info deatillio! I will look into Live Resin as well.

I'm glad you like what I've done so far. I've had a lot of great input from my Dad what things were and what they did. So many little details that have function! Its been a real pleasure so far every time he visits and tells me about some new part I'm building and how it should really look and what it did. It helps me figure out the best ways to replicate the pieces.

I pulled out the old turret basket floor. You can see where I made guide marks (which I did not use) with various Sharpies and how they beld through the paint.

It came out without any damage to the model or the basket floor. I may use it for something els in the future, but I don't know.

I made a rough mock-up of the correct layout last night before bed time. I've included the three round readyrack as well as the main upright storage and on the left side is the purge cannister that sits in front of the gunner's position.

I cleaned it up this morning and it's looking good.

This should look fantastic after its painted.  :)

I've got the ready rack shaping up.

And I've got the latch-knobs for the drawers on there and I'll cut them to length tomorrow. I wish I had some details for the floor where the gunner sits. A chair would be nice too lol. I'll have to see if I can find some reference pictures.

That does it for today I think.  :)

Lots of impressive detail and loving care going into this build, Mike. It's shaping up to be really impressive!

Hi mike, I haven't been around much I am still checking the progress on your magnificent work. I jsut started a tamiya 1:48  M26 kit with a lot more parts than I am used to with my other tanks but I am taking my time. You are doing a great job.

I'll be back.    dt  73

Karl, Hard Stripe, thank you very, very much!  :D

I got the electronics sorted out. I settled on a configuration last night and I'm getting really close to finishing up the interior.

Besides painting the turret basket I just need to make the battery box and get this assembly located and installed.

And one of those moment you all have been waiting for; The driver's compartment under it's own power!

Wow, all the detail you added looks even better with the lighting! 

I know, right? LMAO! I feel as giddy as a schoolgirl about it LMAO!! That's the neatest thing I've ever done with a model and I like it a lot LOL!

Even if the figures are standing in the hatches of the turret you'll still be able to see the light spill into the turret. I didn't get any pictures, but I had to see if it would lol. This kit does have a fully detailed gun breach and the radios I stuffed in the back of the turret show up a bit even unpainted. I can't wait to start getting  a bit farther into this build. This is going to be cool.  :)

Mike thats so cool, just brilliant. When Radio Shack went out of business I scooped up a handful of micro switches and some other things to try out when I get a chance, looks like yours was easy enough after you worked it out.

Terry

lol, thanks Terry! I had a heck of a time remembering my basic electronics! I actually had to resolder that switch two times lol. The first time I wired it up it would have been a constant two lights on, until the battery was disconnected. The second time was because I found that one of the leads on the white LED had come off in the bag and it only had one wire on it lol. The third time I concentrated really hard and then soldered it all back together using the switch "correctly" to channel the pos (+) flow and ran the grounds to common.

When it was all done and finally worked I found that the white LED blinked and cut out intermittently. I found that the Pico, or Micro, LED wasn't soldered on one side. That was a nerve wracking job of reconnecting that super tiny solder joint with my huge soldering iron lol. But I finally got it to just touch the spot and it reconnected solidly.

So quality control on some of these Pico lights is a little loose, but its nothing that can't be fixed by someone, who like me, doesn't have a lot of experience soldering tiny little circuts. If careful enough, one can manage.

We have a store down here in Olympia called ERI (Electronic Resources Incorporated) that is exaclty what Radio Shack began its life as. Gadgets, gizmos, and doo-dads galore. The only cell phone parts they carry are batteries lol. No RC cars or helicopters anywhere in sight lol. I picked up a couple of switches, two industrial grade 9v batteries that should last for years, two potentiometers (which I did not use afterall), and the only thing they didn't have were 9v battery connectors. Fotunately I already had some from an older electric airsoft gun that I rigged to run on 18v for fun.

I also found two more micro switches in the box with the 9v connectors, so I'm good for a little while lol. I'm seriously considering using one of these Pico lights to power on the searchlight on the M-48 later. It sounds like fun lol.

Wow Mike,this build is off the hook,all the details and even lighting,just outstanding.

Thank you Tojo!  :D

The lighting is a neally neat addition. Now you've got me all jazzed to do an interior on a build.......

You totally should Baer! With your technical abilties it would be amazing. Those pico lights are really freakin' tiny and I can fit them into the headlights and maybe even shoehorn one into a tail light if I got crazy enough. I can think of hundreds of possibilities to use these lights on.
With the utilization of a Potentiameter you can even turn down their brightness for whatever application you want. They already come with bridge rectifiers installed so you really can't screw them up by accident either. They are very user friendly. You just need to supply 7v-15v and they work perfectly.

Now on to an update...

ii got back to work on the turret basket this morning. I eyeballed a good position as there is now way to get an accurate measurement in the hull with the equipment I have at hand, but I did get it really well centered. I drilled a shallow depression for a peg and built up a location post for it to slide into.

I braced that with more scraps of my thickest styrene and glued the ever livin' crud out of it to make sure it never breaks loose.

So now it sits fairly level and rotates left and right, but not completely 360 degrees. I'm going to leave it unglued so I can change it's position in relation to the turret above. I would attach it to the turret, but since its not completely centered that will only cause problems later so I'm going to avoid that frustration before it happens lol.

So now I need to work on the battery box. The challenge for this piece is going to be getting it to be level on that concave hull floor. Once I get that figured out I need to figure out how to make the few batteries that will barely show.

I've got some reference pictures coming in soon so I guess I'll be making an almost complete turret floor. Also, my hydraulic resevoir is too short and I'll need to make a new one of those.

No worries! :)

I couldn't pry the old reservoir off the turret floor without damaging it, so I had to add to what is already there. That leaves a really noticable gap so what I've done is to wrap it in the thinnest tape I've got and try to pull it off as being almost unnoticable  :P

I've also added some fittings for the hydraulic lines that will hang in mid air out of sight later. Fortunately I think I'll be able to get away with it this time (even though it sets off my OCD like a firecracker) because the turret will not be illuminated except from the driver's compartment and seeing where they go shouldn't be an issue.

Trust me, if this ends up bugging me too much I WILL fix it.

This morning I decided that I needed to add another detail to the driver's compartment that stands out in my reference photos. To the right of the driver's seat on the hull floor is a handle that looks like an e-brake in any modern vehicle with four wheels. What it is, is the manual fuel system priming pump handle.



This tiny little handle is easily seen sitting next to the seat on the floor with many lines of plumbing running out of it, like so many of the other objects in this vehicle.

Hello Mike!

NIce pump - could you please show me, where it should be installed? Thanks for sharing and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

Hello Mike!

NIce pump - could you please show me, where it should be installed? Thanks for sharing and have a nice day

Paweł

 

You bet I will. I have to wait for the glue to cure so I can finish shaping this part. Right now you see the basic parts I used to assemble the general structure of it. It will look different when I'm done.

I will show you where it goes as soon as I get it installed.  :)

Until then I can tell you that it goes right next to the seat on the floor in an almost direct line back from the cruise control knob, next to the gear selector on the torsion bar cover.

Looking directly down the hatch you can see it clearly.

Bish - Thank you! :D

I was chatting with my Dad on the phone yesterday when he said that, as per the norm in this industry, someone will eventually come along and make a full interior detail kit for this model. "if they do, we'll build it again" he said lol.

The lighting was his idea. He wanted to show what little detail it already came with. Its my desire that has brought it this far into the detail though. What good is it to just see 1/4th of the detail that should be there? When the lighting will show all that is missing?

Well... I don't know. But if I build it, they will come. Right? lol

Nevermind my wierdness. Its been a very unusual morning.

Okay Pawel, this is where that handle should approximately be located.

I haven't painted it and its not yet glued in. But that's about the right size and location. Only in the real vehicle there would be some lines going in and out of it.

Mike I had a thought on your bullets. What if you use some plastic stock at the right diamter and use one of those cheap pencil sharpeners to make a nice point then it would be a matter of sanding the nose a bit, maybe a round scribe where the projectile meets the casing.  Just a thought, really great work Mike.

I had thought of that, certainly, but that's not the problem I'm running into. I can't seem to keep them aligned unless they're in a straight line lol.

I think I will be having some Live Resin deliviered when Dad finds them back in stock at Sprue Bros. Those are the best and most realistic products I have ever seen. Spent brass and disintergrating links as well, I hope. :)

It all depends on what he wants in this dio and how much detail he wants in it.  :)  I'd be happy with the Academy set lol.

Great Dad...

He's decided to model vicariously through me lol. Which means I have another 4 or 5 versions of the M-60 to build for him.

He'll have a heck of a collection when I'm done lol.

Hello!

At least you can rest assured that you're not building only for your own! Plus, you've got the greatest reference material there is. Thanks for the pump location, I guess I'll also have to build one now :-) Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you Pawel. :)

I'm expecting a few more deliveries over the rest of the week I am told. Which does happen to include the afore mentioned bits from Live Resin. Looks like I've got the green light on that lol.

Also some dio accessories such as a cobblestone base and some "ruins". We'll have to see what I do with those later.  :D

Alrighty! I finally have an update for this thread.

Today I got the "That's close enough" from Dad on the turret basket. Once the figures are in the hatches you will barely get a peek at it anyways even with the lights on. So I can finally move forward and get this stuff painted up and installed.  :)

I've got the turret basket and the battery box in primer this morning.

I used the ammo storage bin from the Dragon M1 and shaved it down til it fit. This is completely inaccurate but the little bit of it you can see looks good in there through the hatch opening. Beats a big black space by a mile, so that gets a "pass" from Dad as well.

And then there's that battery box I had to build. This appearently looks really close to what it should look like and I had no reference pictures on this piece. "Lucky"

Tomorrow I will begin to get these parts painted and ready for installation. Then I can finalize the wiring and close up the forward hull.

Wow, some really tremendous detailing, Mike. Quite a project you have going on!

One question---why does your text sometimes come out underlined? It's kinda hard to read like that..

Thanks Karl. Its not nearly as detailed as it could be though. Just the basics in there and they're not even accurate lol.

??? I don't have anything underlined ???

I've got the turret basket and the battery box in primer this morning.

I used the ammo storage bin from the Dragon M1 and shaved it down til it fit. This is completely inaccurate but the little bit of it you can see looks good in there through the hatch opening. Beats a big black space by a mile, so that gets a "pass" from Dad as well.

And then there's that battery box I had to build. This appearently looks really close to what it should look like and I had no reference pictures on this piece. "Lucky"

Tomorrow I will begin to get these parts painted and ready for installation. Then I can finalize the wiring and close up the forward hull.

 

not underlined??

Yes u do!!haha

Wonderfull details u have here...u some pictures of T26e4 that you build in your collection?

Hello Mike!

Nice detail! Now I have to scratchbuild some of that too - I'm leaving the driver out of his hatch, so I'd like to show the viewer something nice!

As for those underlined lines - somehow they are formatted as links, and so they are underlined. Did you set them up as links yourself, or did the new format do it for you?

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks guys! :)

They are not showing up as underlined to me at all. Not on my screen anyways. That's odd.

I still haven't got these pieces into the paint dept. lol I need to get on that so I can move forward.  :)

No update today. I had to change something and it went back into primer again. :/

I sprayed some light grey/white over a medium grey this morning and I have some good results. I'm sure this will look pretty good after I add some mild weathering to make it match the rest of the inside and get the details painted.

I did not get any pictures yet of the view from the top hatches but it doesn't look too shabby already.

The shading is light and subtle just the way I prefer it. I'm back on track. :)

Details painted and cleared in preparation for weathering.

Nothing fancy or special going on here quite yet. Thanks for looking. :)

Here are the results of my first time spraying metallics through my AB. I mixed up my own brass color and the color looked right, but obviously I didn't know what I was doing. lol

After I stripped the paint off I decided to go with straight Testors gold diluted to 50% and it sprayed on much better than my previous concoction. There is still a slight bit of orange peel but I'm overall much happier with this result.

Note: Modern U.S. tank ammunition comes in steel cases and not brass. In the late 70's it was not uncommon in Western Europe for U.S. tanks to be carrying older ammunition in brass instead of the newer steel casings because they just wanted to use up the old stock of ammo. All modern ammo should be steel in color except for the H.E.P. rounds which are the "Bullet" shaped rounds in the front of the rack. The other ammo I have painted in brass is accurate for this time period. Besides, I had already painted them brass before I recieved this information.

Sorry for that last picture being blurry. I couldn't sit still enough and that was the best shot I could get.  :(

The empty shell casings look good.  The color and finish look fine to me.  One thing though, do you plan on leaving them piled up inside the turret like that?  If so, the loader has nowhere to stand.  Usually, the loader will leave his hatch open and toss them out there as soon as they are fired.  He usually didn't leave them in the turret due to the cramped space and nowhere to stand if he did.

No I'm not leaving them in there, Arty. That was just for those pictures. I plan on having them tossed out of the tank once I have a base to put this build on.

I did notice that no U.S. tank has any kind of brass catcher in the turrets at all. I felt it was safe to assume that meant that they don't let them pile up inside.

Even if I had thought they did, your words of advice certainly would change my mind on that subject.  :) You would know better than I, right? Thank you for having my back on that!

Hello!

Lots of good info here! I didn't know that about the shell casings! How about that ready rack - do the rounds just stand there on their bases or are they secured in any way?

In my CEV I have a different arrangement but I also have rubber pads on the floor, so I'm wondering about that.

Gino - how about a situation, where the top hatch couldn't be open? I don't know, like in an NBC situation, or airburst rounds exploding overhead or something like that?

Mike - good luck with your build, it's looking really good, and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

Gino - how about a situation, where the top hatch couldn't be open? I don't know, like in an NBC situation, or airburst rounds exploding overhead or something like that?

The hatch may be left partly opened and then closed again after the round is ejected.  The NBC situation wouldn't matter as the M60 series did not have overpressure and the turret/hull are not sealed from NBC contamination.

Pawel - Yes. There is a folding rack that attaches to the turret ring that holds them in place up top. They lift out of the way when the loader needs to grab a round. I haven't added it because my basket isn't attached to the turret ring as it should be and it would just cause problems. Besides, it's up and above where you can see it from the driver's position so you wouldn't see it anyways.

I haven't seen any rubber pads on the floor in any of my references, but they are mostly of the training simulator and a lot of details are missing. My Dad has been filling in the gaps and pointing out what should be different for the actual combat vehicles.

Arty- That's some info I didn't have yet. Thank you! I was also wondering about that.

I've been watching a lot of videos and documentaries on these tanks and there always seems to be hatches left open at all times in every situation where you think it would be much wiser to shut them.

Seems the honest answer is, that when they are all closed you can't see hardly anything at all. Those hatches are almost ALWAYS open because the crew values being able to see and that gives them greater combat awareness. Even if that means you can take an RPG to the loaders hatch and get your crew killed.

I've got the front hull glued on and all of the interior installed. However I did not anticipate one problem that I can not now fix. The driver's vison blocks, since they are clear parts, allow light to show through where the paint is thinnest. I'm just going to have to suck it up on that one as I didn't test for this. I was mainly concentrating on not leaving parts out that I had set aside weeks ago, such as the driver's hatch and the steering bar.

But I do have a couple of good pics and the interior looks sufficiently busy.

I'm okay with this. Not bad at all. Could be much better, but since you'd really have to look very close to see it, "That'll do pig, that'll do." lol

Unbelievable detail,can't believe that interior is going to be closed up.

That's what the lights are for.  :D

Yesterday I decided I was going to start adding the suspension. I started with the front left control arm by gluing the shock in place to set the arm heighth. Today I started gluing in the right side control arm in the same manner. Um, crud. I had forgotten that there are two different sizes of shock absorbers on this model.

There are four short ones and two long ones. The long ones go in the back. D'oh!!

^ You can kinda see my mistake here after I did a bit of surgery to get the correct size shock on here.

The engine cover fits like a glove and I'm pretty possitive that my plan to make it removable for operating the switch and changing out batteries is going to work out just as planned.... so far.

Thanks for looking-in at this craziness, gentlemen. :)

I've got the engine grills installed and it comes apart in one piece so I can access the battery and power switch.

It took my the better part of yesterday to get all of these lifting handles on the rear deck. I've been dreading this since I started this build. I was afraid they would just break into pieces upon removal, but that didn't happen once. Trimming the tabs off was easier than I thought it would be and I didn't have one problem.

I added pins to the four corner wheels just to make sure they don't pop off later under stress of the tracks.

And that's where I'm at now. Thanks for looking! :)

Fenders, air filters, and stowage bins. Not a lot accomplished in the last few days, but I must admit these details do not need much in the way of improvement at all. I haven't found one thing yet that I need to replace on this kit with AM parts.

The only exceptions being the parts that were requested to be added such as the Def Models M-48 steel wheels and the Verlinden AN/VSS-3 searchlight.

So far the only things I've excluded from the build are the air cleaner dust accumulator sights and the nozzle for the bilge pump up near the driver's hatch. Since the dust accumulator sights are not supposed to be there on the A1 and the bilge pump was not included on the AOS which I am modelling. (wish I'd written down the parts numbers for you all)

The air cleaners are the best OOB I've ever seen and the bins fit without any issues at all.

She's lookin' good Mike! 

Thank you, Gamera.  :)

The battery box fits between the two bulges on the inside of the hull that the bumb stops fit into on the outside. I'll be painting it all black later to finish it off.

Thanks, Bish.

I needed to make it so the battery wouldn't go sliding into my turret basket lol.

Hello Mike!

Now I know what those little thingies on the air cleaners are. I don't need those on my CEV neither - I've just forgotten to fill the mounting hole for them. I'll do that now.  The parts meant here are F7 and K32 on both sides. The billge pump nozzle - would it be the B4? Would that part be there on my late-sixties CEV?

As for the AOS variant - I read it should sport the top loading air cleaners?

Your model is lookin' good - good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel!  :D

Yes, I think that part is for the bilge pump is B4. It sticks out by the heater exhaust. Not sure if you should have that for the CEV or not.

Funny you should mention that top loading air filters lol! I just got the call about that and the steel wheels. I need to change the boxes out and the wheels need to be aluminum. Those steel wheels were supposed to be for my M-48 build. [sigh] I need to build 'em one at a time I guess lol. Miscommunication is a shot trap.

Good thing I didn't glue any of these parts on yet lol.

I started replacing the side loaders with these resin top loaders by Tank Workshop.

They look great and they are meant to fit, so I'm saving the resin pieces for something else.

And now to start sanding road wheels... again.

[groan]

Hello Mike!

So that's the question now - bilge or not to bilge? :D

Those steel wheels are really beautiful - the M48 will benefit from them. And the AFV Club gives you two sets anyhow - ain't that lovable? And yeah, that kit is so good in places, that it's hard to add aftermarket sometimes - I've noticed that too.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I'm not sure when the bilge was added or if it was like other options that simply depended on who added the upgrades. To answer that question you'd need to have a source reference or specific photo I assume.

If only I'd been paying attention I wouldn't have cut all of those axles off, dangit lol. But yes, those M-48 wheels are beautifully done. Cudos to Def Model for those.

As to the adding of AM parts... I figured I'd just slap those resin top loaders on there and be done with it, but they are not as nice as the kit parts. They are that well detailed. So I pulled the kit's side loaders apart and I'm happy with what AFVC has provided.

If this is any indication of the dedication to accuracy they have then I'm a fan.

I finished cleaning up the aluminum road wheels late this afternoon.

Got one side primered in black.

And then moved on to other details that are not threatening to put me to sleep lol.

I'm still not finding anything that NEEDS replacement by anything any better than what has been provided here.

That's... really good.

Continuing my work on the hull there are a couple of PE parts that the instructions don't clearly explain. The diagram shows them bent in an odd way and leaves us builders up to interpreting it.

I believe these are simply splash guards and I jambed them into position with a little super glue.

The Tanker Telephone Box was a little tricky to install because of the back deck being removable. I couldn't glue everything together as I should and I settled with what made sense.

As you can see I sanded off a little too much from the box and the door doesn't sit flush on this side of it. I'll fix that once everything is solid.

Also make sure you scrape these locating impressions off of the fenders. There are no parts in this kit that go there.

So I'm just to the point where I need to finish off the front of the hull and I can finish off the priming and start on the turret hardware.

I thought I'd share the notes I've made in the instructions for future builders. There are quite a few things that need correction and I'm hoping this will help avoid confusion for others who have the kit.

^ This is the first mistake you will run into. If you get these backwards it will be noticable because they sit at different angles. Facing down they should angle towards the back of the hull.

^ These plates are not even labeled... at all. However they are easy to find in the sprues and difficult to mistake for anything else.

^ If you go looking for these where the instructions tell you to, you'll think you've already clipped them off and not remembered when because those parts are actually used elsewhere, earlier in the build. That caused me a lot of confusion and I replaced them with some scratch build pieces before finding them on the correct sprue.

^ Parts F7 and K32 are not needed on an M-60A1 unless its a late model, such as the RISE. Part B9 is also incorrectly labeled as B6. Once again, you'll go looking for a missing part if you follow the instructions.

^ And again, don't go looking for E9. You've already used it elsewhere.

^ Part B4 is not needed for early production M-60A1's and is not found on the AOS.

I had thought the fact that the headlights alone (that were a five part assembly) were overengineered a bit, but these have got to be the most accurate replicas right out of a box that I know of.

What brand is your liquid masking fluid?  Can it work on aircraft canopies as well?  The headlights, and of course the build as a whole is out of this world.  I've never seen such detail before.

By the way, thank you again for the rescue on the Abrams.  When I look at it it brings laughter and joy!  It was a blast to build.  I seen a Tamiya tank at Hobby Lobby, if it's still there I'll scoope it up, as well as the USS Arizona.

Toshi

P.S. Liquid Dawn Soap!  LOL!  Amazing!

Microscale Industries - Micro Mask. Its the blue bottle in the background of some of my pictures on the laft side of my messy workspace.

Yes, you sure can use it on canopies! Reverse your masking and use strips of tape to mask your  framework and then add the liquid masking fluid. Give that 15~20 mintes to dry and pull off the tape. Bingo! Your canopy is masked. Works really well for curved clear surfaces. You'll love the stuff and I think they have some at Hobby Lobby.  :)

Thank you for the kind words, my friend. For the record, I am not "the man" I am just "a man" lol. I just have more experience.  :)

I will look forward to anything you build. Armor, aircraft, or Arizona! I may not always have something to say, but I do still keep an eye on what you're up to lol.

Dawn is your friend lol. It is really amazing stuff and works for a long list of things. Including super old shirt stains (months or years old). Got an old grease stained sweatshirt? Cover the stains in Dawn for 24 hours and wash as normal. Stains gone! LOL

Thank you again for letting me help you with your Abrams, Toshi. Thank you for trusting my advice.  :)

The hull is primed and ready for painting. I still have the wheels and tracks off because I'm not done working on them yet.

For those of you who think the casting texture is too over the top, it will smooth out a bit if you use surface primer. So don't fret over the casting texture. Its really quite nice after its leveled out a bit.

So now that the hull is temporarily out of the way I started on the turret again. The first thing I decided I was going to fix was the main gun and mantlet issue. AFV Club provides you with two options; Covered or not covered. Since so few of these vehicles did anything without their dust covers on I really have no choice here. Unfortunately the covered mantlet is made of vinyl instead of plastic so you can utilize AFVC's gimicky raise/depress function.

This has led me to further modify the mantlet insert, by shimming it so the gun tube isn't trying to shoot down imaginary aircraft. Which is a big pet peeve of my employer for this build lol.

Another new thing that isn't addressed in the instructions properly is the assembly of the gun tube to the breach. They would have you assemble the breach halves first and then slide the gun tube into it, which will not work because of the notch that is present in the gun tube that aligns in the breach. You must assemble the breach halves OVER the gun tube.

Parts E43 and E44 must be assembled over the notch of the gun tube before moving forward with the other assembly steps. I suggest clamping the two halves and letting the glue set before attaching anything else. This will save you a little trouble before it starts.

After all of that was sorted out I got a cote of light grey started on the interior of the turret and that is where I left off for this morning.

You're making great progress Mike. Thanks for pointing out the issues in the kit, hopefully will save me some grief whenever I get around to mine. 

as with MC apologies for not getting into this sooner. OMG i can smell the diesel fumes and grease from my armor days in the BRD '75-'78. my plt had 4 A1s and 2 M60s still in "desert" camo and somewhat beat up. lots of chipping and wear on the internals which were white. we did have black rubber floor mats and we would have carried 4 or 5 different rounds; APDS, HEAT, HEP, WP, maybe some BEEHIVE but unlikely.

if they are doing an A2 in this detail it goes to the top of my list. we transitioned to M60A2s in Jul75.

love the lighting. 

Looking real good so far MB. One small critique on your interior colors. All the 105mm tank rounds that I came acrose back then had a white metal and not brass casing. I dont know if they were an aluminum alloy, or what, but they werecnot brass or any similar yellow metal.

stikpusher

Looking real good so far MB. One small critique on your interior colors. All the 105mm tank rounds that I came acrose back then had a white metal and not brass casing. I dont know if they were an aluminum alloy, or what, but they werecnot brass or any similar yellow metal.

 

Actually, in the time period this is being built for, (75-77) the HEP rounds did have brass casings. We were using up old ammo. And the actual round was painted OD Green.

 The SABOT and HEAT rounds were steel, and were painted black. Smoke rounds were painted an almost pea green.

At that time, SOP was to fire HEP buttoned up. Good thing, because the tank next to me had a round detonate in the gun tube, blowing off the first third or the tube and it landed about 10 feet in front of the control jepp located 50 meters behind the tanks. Threw the gun out of battery and blew cherry juice all over the inside of the turret and crew. Nobody was hurt.

Very nice work, Mike. I am also very impressed with the detail in this kit, very very nice.

I guess I need to suck it up and buy one.

Gamera

You're making great progress Mike. Thanks for pointing out the issues in the kit, hopefully will save me some grief whenever I get around to mine. 

 

And in continuing that trend I have another mistake to point out for you all.

Parts E22 are for the loader's hatch. And watch out for the instructions telling you to add it to the wrong side of the hatch hinge as well. If you add it where it says to, you'll run into trouble because the hatch won't fit anymore. Add part E25 to the opposite side of the hatch and you'll be fine.

I've got the radios and the turret ammo rack painted up.

Using a wide flat brush I varied the white paint on the turret walls to break up the monotone look of it.

Painted the hull an overall Olive Drab (Tamiya XF-62) and this will be my base color. It is appropriate for the time period.

I've got the white wash in the TC's cupola and I need to get into detailing it next.

View of the inside before weathering.

And after the weathering. It's blown out of proportion so you can see it later.

The gun breach was finished with a dark grey, covered in graphite pencil, washed with AK interactive enamel wash for "NATO Camoflauge Vehicles" (which is an enamel black wash) and then finalized with a last round of graphite on the edges.

The last thing I did this morning was to glue the turret halves together with the gun mount race. I'll do some touch-ups after this is dried up and solid. After that I will proceed to get the main gun installed and work on the mantlet cover, blending into the modified gun race.

Hello Mike!

The interior is looking good! Also lots of good info on the tank gun ammo - that's not so easy to find on the internet!

I don't know about that OD colour - looks too green for me. My favourite is the Humbrol 66 covered by a black wash. Matches perfectly with an old OD MG ammo can.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Yeah I usually prefer an O.D. the leans more towards the brown side of the spectrum, but it will be perfect for the 7th Army camo scheme this tank will have. I'm told it's pretty close to the right color and that's good enough for me.

I was orriginally thinking I was going ot have to use a medium green to get the right color for the camo, but it won't be necessary now. This OD will work well.

I'll be using my own mix of red-brown and sand yellow, with Tamiya NATO black and the base of Tamiya OD. 7th Army colors were pretty close to that of what the Germans were using on their M-48A2GA2's in that same time period. Remnants from WWII German armor I suspect, but I can't confirm that.

I'm almost itching to get started on that camo lol.

Last thing I installed last night was the hydraulic ram for the main gun. Before I painted it I made a (in hindsight - poor) decision to pry it onto the rest of the gun carriage. Low, and behold; it works like its supposed to. Neat-o! lol.

Then I couldn't get it off. Dangit. I'll just paint it in position and let go of the OCD that screams at me in my head about how I didn't paint it first and I"ll miss some spots. Even though you'll never see them. Ever.

Well, that only means one thing; time to move forward.

From here on out it should be fairly simple and straight forward build. I read ahead in the instructions and it's not comlicated. Just a lot of fragile parts for the basket, mainly.

And that's where she sits for now.

The camouflage pattern for the 7th Corps (7th Army, West Germany) has just hit my desk! There is a lot more Brown and Sand in it than I would've thought. I always suspected there would more Green in the pattern.

Sorry for coloring in the top view, but I needed a better visual to see how this is going to look. I should've taken a picture before I did this.

FOUR COLOR CAMOUFLAGE PATTERNS

Color Codes

This is a page from the manual itself. It even has included the dozer blade paint patterns.

when i got to 3-33AR 3AD in JAN75 my tanks were painted that pattern with lots of sand. when we brushed repainted them we had to use the same percentages. the sand was stupid so we looked at our load plan and those parts of the tank that would be hidden when loaded up with personal gear, spare road wheels, spare track blocks, 5 gal oil and transmission jerry cans was painted sand so we could hide it. that pattern was on the way out and we painted our new A2s this pattern.

http://www.cybermodeler.com/armor/m60/m60a2_profile02.shtml 

 note the camo on the underhull as well as flowing the pattern color into the road wheels. this will be my pattern on my Academy A2 and hopefully the AFV Club one if they do one. and one of them will be relatively new and clean. and we NEVER multi colored any wheels or tire hubs. the tops, down to the ridge, of the oil cans were red or yellow depending on what was in them. the gun mantlet was a plastic material and a dull grayish green, not any of the camo colors.

same pattern would work for A1s IIRC the other 2 tank battalions kept that sandy scheme and they were beat up. (i was the mortar plt ldr at that point and we mortar folks did not associate with mere DATs. [:D

BTW 2-32AR had M47 turret extension cargo bins welded to the center of the bussle rack. 

the chipping on the interior is looking good. ours were really beat up. think about being on a tactical exercise for 3 weeks, getting in and out fast at times. where would the loader, gunner and TC put their feet. those places would be all dinged up. actually after 3 weeks in the rain it's all mud brown, no matter how hard you try to keep the muddy overshoes out of there.

add grease around the turret ring gears and add some clear darkish red to simulate the leaking of hydraulic fluid from the accumulator. it was called cherry juice because of the color and, as the Israelis found out, quite flammable. 

fenders were usually in good shape, rear ones might be beat up from backing into the ocassional tree. Geez now i am going to have to go out and find a diesl truck, inhale some exhaust fumes and wax nostalgic.

ps no spell check makes me look dumber than usual. so be it.

i have TB 746-95-1 dtd MAY76 which is the 4 color painting pattern for arty, trucks and spt vehicles.

Good info, Wayne!

From what I've been told so far the 35thAR didn't paint anything below the fenders as "it would just be muddy anyways". I also have a few pictures that clearly show they were first hand painted.

Hello!

Lots of good info here!

I'd like to recommend a book - it's got a picture on the cover that you would surely like:

It also has a photo illustrating what wayne wrote:

I hope it helps - good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

That is some excellent info and thanks for those pictures, Pawel. That really helps with the visual.

Definately more tan than I had thought and those really look like the colors I have made up for this project.

Excellent!!

Hi mike, I have been lurking while doing my tamiya 1:48 m26 & now the matilda .

I stand amazed at your lighting detail, the red reminds me of night firing @ knox(may it rest in peace) & Hood. The brass shell caseings are good for that track, & I have stumbled over many of them while loading, We could not throw them out of the loaders hatch on the ranges I fired at. I have a brass 90mm I might have fired out of the M48 during a cycle @ knox.

I let my steel 105 get away a long time ago but now have a brass 105.  Every time I find myself gripeing about small parts I look at your magnificent work & and try to take my time.  Thanks for posting your work.        73   dt

M. Brindos

That is some excellent info and thanks for those pictures, Pawel. That really helps with the visual.

Definately more tan than I had thought and those really look like the colors I have made up for this project.

Excellent!!

 

Yes, teh scheme is very reminisicent of German WWII Tri Color Schemes, with a bit of black thrown in...

that pattern is the one on my tanks when i got to Germany in January '75 though mine were really beat up as we were getting new A2s in July. I can't remember how long the two A1 battalions kept this pattern and don't remember what pattern CSC and HQ vehicles were painted.

i may have to move my Acadeny A2 higher in the queue.

Wow, I'm unobservant on pain pills....

Thank you guys for the input! Very, very much appreciated!!

I've stalled on the turret assembly for now, but I did get a ton of great pictures while I was at the Fort Lewis Military Museum. Lots of pics of the 2 M-60's on base (one was over by the Cavalry Barracks in a parking lot), an M-728 CEV, M-103A2, an M4 sherman (with duckbills on both sides of the tracks!), and an M-5 Stuart.

It was a good day.  :)

project looks great!! wanted to salute the effort on the compressor piston though, not many are willing to dig in on that stuff. 7

Thanks! lol

Yeah, its still running like a champ. I'm a mechanic as well a modeller and I've had previous experience fixing tools too. I'm a tinker in general lol.

Sorry for taking so long to update this thread. Its been busy.




The searchlight is attached and I had some issues with the plastic kit troop rails being far too fragile. Since the turret has to be removed to open the battery compartment the rails had to be able to stand up to being handled. I used some brass rod and soldered the rails after drilling pilot holes and setting the posts in super glue. I found out you have to be real quick or things will melt quite quickly.



The turret basket is a challenge to assemble. The parts are thin and fragile on their own, but after they are all assembled the finished structure is more solid and easier to handle.




I used Tamiya Acrylics for the camouflage. NATO Green, NATO Brown, NATO Black, and the tan was a mix of Dark Yellow, Khaki, and a few drops of white in the mix.




I followed the camo scheme as close as I could. I did add a bit of artistic license to it however as it needed a bit more "interpretation" to fit the shape of the M-60.









It needs more details painted and then I'll get to some mild weathering before it goes in the base/case that's planned for it. I think it looks like a Tiger, which is Bad A**, and in this final shot it looks great next to the M-48A2! 



Thanks for looking!

Happy Holidays!!

looking good Mike

just some observations. that is an upgraded searchlight, smaller than what we had on our 60s, A1s, and A2s. ours were awful to work with, large and heavy.

That's the newer top loading air cleaner box instead of the older side loading.

if you are going to stow ammo in the turret anything can go in the stand up ready racks to the left of the gun. IF YOU ARE GOING TO STOW WP it has to be in the standup ready racks. the chemicals would shift id stowed horizontally in the hull racks or turret rear stowage racks. 

how the hell do i remember some of this stuff and at the same time lose my car keys. that was rhetorical given likely responses from my friends.

Thanks Wayne!  :)

This is an M-60A1 AOS, so the VSS-3 searchlight and the top loading air cleaners are correct for this variant. This is the tank my father commanded in Bamberg ('74-'77) and I've yet to add the markings for his tank 1^3^35 - C-35 as I'm still working on building the stencils. As you can see in my last picture I just used the stencils on the M-48A2 for the 5-1^77 that I'm also working on.

The stencils are awesome, but since they are for WWII armor they are sometimes a bit large lol.

Wayne, I would follow your advice to the letter, if this build was not already planned out by the man who commanded it in real life lol. I love it when you relate your ACTUAL experience with these vehicles! So when I start my M-60 slick I'm hoping you have some experience to share with me as I build that one.  :)

M. Brindos

Thanks Wayne!  :)

This is an M-60A1 AOS, so the VSS-3 searchlight and the top loading air cleaners are correct for this variant. This is the tank my father commanded in Bamberg ('74-'77) and I've yet to add the markings for his tank 1^3^35 - C-35 as I'm still working on building the stencils. As you can see in my last picture I just used the stencils on the M-48A2 for the 5-1^77 that I'm also working on.

Wayne, I would follow your advice to the letter, if this build was not already planned out by the man who commanded it in real life lol. I love it when you relate your ACTUAL experience with these vehicles! So when I start my M-60 slick I'm hoping you have some experience to share with me as I build that one.  :)

 

M. Brindos

Thanks Wayne!  :)

This is an M-60A1 AOS, so the VSS-3 searchlight and the top loading air cleaners are correct for this variant. This is the tank my father commanded in Bamberg ('74-'77) and I've yet to add the markings for his tank 1^3^35 - C-35 as I'm still working on building the stencils. As you can see in my last picture I just used the stencils on the M-48A2 for the 5-1^77 that I'm also working on.

The stencils are awesome, but since they are for WWII armor they are sometimes a bit large lol.

Wayne, I would follow your advice to the letter, if this build was not already planned out by the man who commanded it in real life lol. I love it when you relate your ACTUAL experience with these vehicles! So when I start my M-60 slick I'm hoping you have some experience to share with me as I build that one.  :)

 

Understand. my platoon had stock 60s and A1s (until we got brand new A2s in the summer of '75).  all our heaters worked because thy were new. ask him about that next time you chat. BTW i also kept a flat piece of wood in the .50 ammo ready box in the cupola. it fit under the heater exhaust pipe so we could heat up coffee in a canteen cup

going to have to make markings for C-16 3-33AR 3AD when i build MY A2.