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1/35 ESCI M-60A1 "Blazer"

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, January 17, 2020 12:31 AM

The Abrams mine plow is designed to be mounted to the M60 series tank as well.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Thursday, January 16, 2020 10:11 PM

Alrighty. Mine plow. WWZ modified. I'm going to enjoy this.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, January 16, 2020 12:45 PM

Lol, a giant mine plow or dozer blade would look awesome! Yes

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Thursday, January 16, 2020 10:17 AM

M. Brindos

I just remembered I have a spare mine plow from a Dragon M-1.

I think I know what I wanna do with it. ;)

 

Ya know, I've got one too, and I have to say the idea occurred to me as well. I think you should do it.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 6:04 PM

I just remembered I have a spare mine plow from a Dragon M-1.

I think I know what I wanna do with it. ;)

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 5:27 PM

That'll work.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 2:47 PM

RBaer

Looks good! I like the hinges, nice and busy.

 

Yeah! I'm going with the idea that you can't see all of the hardware that makes these skirts possible, but I had to show something to make it look plausible lol.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 2:40 PM

I imagine an M-60A4 might look a lot like a Magach 6 or 7. 

I'm also thinking about scratch building a dozer blade of some sort. I know that would take a lot effort, but I'm seeing it in my mind's eye and it would look good on this build.

Opinions?

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    October 2015
  • From: Tacoma, WA.
Posted by M60_ tanker on Monday, January 13, 2020 1:33 PM

Looks like to me, your building a theoretcial M60A4. Should match up with my M60A2E2 if I could stop breaking off pieces everytime I pick it up.

Nothing is impossible as long as somebody else has to do it.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Monday, January 13, 2020 1:33 PM

Looks good! I like the hinges, nice and busy.

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, January 12, 2020 10:05 PM

Thank you, Gamera! I think they're shaping up well, also.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, January 12, 2020 7:44 PM

Those skirts look beautiful- she's coming along great!

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, January 12, 2020 5:37 PM

Thank you very much, Brandon! I can be when I want to. And for this vision I needed skirts. I have some in resin from a conversion kit (which I copied the shape of these skirts for) but the are from a Joffy kit and have a lot of excess resin that has to be sanded off. 

Russ's builds have inspired me to build my own tank and I have an idea of what I'm looking for. Thus, the need to scratch build my own details. I've even begun to sculpt simple items and that's enjoyable as well.

Thanks for the compliment!

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    June 2014
Posted by BrandonK on Sunday, January 12, 2020 10:36 AM

Your are one heck of a scratch builder my friend. Wowzers!!

BK

On the bench:

A lot !! And I mean A LOT!!

2024 Kits on deck / in process / completed   

                         14 / 5 / 2  

                              Tongue Tied

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Saturday, January 11, 2020 10:10 PM

Hinges, welds, and bolt heads.

Took a lot of measuring and time just to puzzle out how these skirts would actually function in the real world.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Thursday, January 9, 2020 6:21 PM

Russ, I plan on reinforcing the fender brackets, but theortically there will be some supports underneath as well. I don't think I'm going to build them though because they won't be seen.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Wednesday, January 8, 2020 7:54 AM
Mike: Looks good with the skirts, I'm interested to see how you do the hangers, bearing in mind the fenders are pretty flimsy. Stik: According to Michael Mass' latest Magach book, none of the M60s received at the time of the YKW went straight into use, not arriving in time. I would have loved to do one in green, in the sand.....

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 2:14 PM

Rob Gronovius

Interestingly to note, while AMT/Ertl gives instructions to make a US tank and provides the camouflage scheme for a 7th Army MASSTER tank, they do not give US decals. Only the IDF markings are provided and you are instructed to put those on the 7th Army camouflage tank. 

That is feasibly possible. The IDF received replacement M60 tanks from US war reserves during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Some very well could have been delivered in that scheme to Israel and pressed immediately into service due to their high battle losses. The same was true for F-4E Phantoms taken from USAF stocks in SEA camo instead of the the usual IDF camo.  After that war ended and time permitted, IDF paint schemes were applied.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 12:09 PM

Gamera

Mike: Looks good!!! Yes

Rob: Thanks! I too found this an interesting history of the kit. 

 

You're welcome. I did an article for Boresight about this series of kits years ago. Before the more recent Italeri and Revell of Germany reissues.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Monday, January 6, 2020 6:17 PM

Thank you very much, Gamera!

I'm figuring where and how to place the hinges for the skirts next.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, January 6, 2020 12:03 PM

Mike: Looks good!!! Yes

Rob: Thanks! I too found this an interesting history of the kit. 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, January 5, 2020 8:17 PM

It's amazing to me that Gunze had the balls to charge so much for a kit they didn't even engineer. 

***

So I got around to scratching up the hinges and latch for the turret box.

I also got all of the hardware attached to the lower hull. I cut off the tow hooks (solid one piece mold) from the tow mounts and drilled out the holes. I'm going to add some shackles later.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Sunday, January 5, 2020 1:45 PM

All three of the original Esci M60 kits have been reissued in the 2000s. Italeri reboxed the M60A1 (#6397) and M60 Blazer (#6391), making the same mistake Esci did by not making a 2 in 1 kit.

Italeri took Esci's mistake one step further by removing certain standard M60 parts so that if you bought the Blazer, you could not make a regular M60A1, only the IDF tank. Previously, if you bought either Esci's M60 Blazer (#5042) or the AMT/Ertl M60 Blazer (#8864), you got all the necessary parts to make the IDF version or the US Army M60A1.

Interestingly to note, while AMT/Ertl gives instructions to make a US tank and provides the camouflage scheme for a 7th Army MASSTER tank, they do not give US decals. Only the IDF markings are provided and you are instructed to put those on the 7th Army camouflage tank.

Another curiosity is the box art. It shows a tank without the Blazer armor, but with the IDF thermal shrouded gun tube, .30 cal and .50 cal machine guns and Urdan cupola. So the box art mixes up versions.

Revell of Germany released the former Esci M60A3TTS, and they did it right. They released it as kit #03057 and included virtually every part necessary to make a US Army M60A3TTS, an OPFOR M60A3 and a USMC M60A1 RISE/Passive tank. They even included the deep water fording snorkel. This kit flew off the shelves and was very hard to find. They included four different marking options and three different camouflage patterns.

An unusual boxing of the Esci M60A1 is one that is very rare. Gunze Sangyo released it as the "High-Tech Model" M60A1 RISE PASSIVE TANK. When this kit came out, it was in the $125-150 range. Since previous Gunze Sangyo "high tech" kits were often Dragon or old Tamiya kits with multimedia parts added, many people who saw this kit assumed it was the Academy copy of the Tamiya M60A1. I've actually read "reviews" written by modelers who say it was the Academy kit. That just tells me they never laid hands and eyes on the kit.

I have one that I bought ten years ago for $35 + $13 s/h. It is Esci kit #5039 with white metal reactive armor, grenade launchers, air cleaners and some sundry detail parts. Even at $48 delivered, I over paid for the kit. A better solution to get this version of the tank would be to find the old Esci M60A1 or Blazer and then buy the ERA sprues from Tamiya USA. That way you don't have to deal with the white metal parts.

That's the long history of what was my favorite tank kit of the 1980s. I bought one when I was a young lieutenant in Germany and M60A3TTS tank platoon leader. It was either released in 1989 or 1990.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Saturday, January 4, 2020 11:31 PM

Well, you have my ear. I love history in general, so this information is being well recieved, I promise.

**

On a side note, I did get the mud holes cut into the drive sprockets.

I also got a little done on the lower hull, gluing on the tow shackles and tail lights.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Saturday, January 4, 2020 7:27 PM

Kit history is a bit of a side hobby for me. Multiple boxings for basically the same kit mystify me; back when Accurate Miniatures entered the market with umpteen Mustang kits, some fly off the shelves and others hit the clearance bin after years collecting dust.

But if they had released those kits with all options in one box, they all would have flown off the shelves. Instead, only a half sold and the unwanted versions didn't.

The difference between the M60A1 and M60A3 kits are literally a handful of parts; gun tube, crosswind sensor, search light, air cleaners and the LRF blister.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Saturday, January 4, 2020 2:52 PM

I totally see what you mean about having all of those in one box. 

I do remember seeing that box for the A3. My father has built that one I think. That was when I was in high school lol.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Saturday, January 4, 2020 1:09 AM

The A3 was the biggest seller. The A1 had the OD green and white star look, but it also may have had the old 7th Army MASSTER camouflage. I know the AMT/Ertl reboxed Blazer included the MASSTER pattern.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Friday, January 3, 2020 2:44 PM

You continue to be a fountain of information, Rob. I remember seeing the Blazer on shelves, but I don't remember seeing the ESCI M-60A1/A3.

You have the explanation for that lol.

Thank you, again.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, January 3, 2020 11:33 AM

I think Esci's biggest downfall in these modern 1/35 scale armor kits is that they basically took one kit, made a couple changes to some sub sprues and reboxed them as different kits.

Like the crappy Lindberg T-55, they gave all the options to make three or four different variants in one box. Sell one kit to people wanting whatever variant, and the kit flies off the shelves.

Esci had a better kit, and one kit sold out quickly and the IDF one died in clearance bins. Likewise with the M60A1/A3. The M60A3 sold quickly and the Blazer died on the shelves. Had they incuded all options in one kit, people wanting any version would have bought it and they would have all sold out.

When AMT/Ertl reboxed the Esci M60A1 Blazer, they included parts and decals to make either a US Army M60A1 or an IDF Blazer. It sold well.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Friday, January 3, 2020 5:35 AM

I love crappy kits lol. I my have to pick that one up just to slap it together and paint it. Or maybe scratch build the heck out of it.

Either way it sounds entertaining and I don't have any 1/35 Soviet armor except for a Dragon Su-85 which I still need to complete the tracks for on one side. 

Rob, thank you again for all of this information. I love to learn.

 

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

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