Matt Sawyer

Interesting photos! You always provide a neat insight to these vehicles Mr. Gronovius.

It was my first tank so I'll always have a soft spot for the M48A5 even though I've had newer, better tanks.

Interesting photos! You always provide a neat insight to these vehicles Mr. Gronovius.

Time for some more WIP images:

Here's some photos of M48A5s I took many years ago. It was a rather neat tank to maneuver in, but I would not have wanted to go to war in it. Kinda like a roadster is a fun car to ride around the countryside in, but you wouldn't want to go on a lengthy cross country road trip in one.

The top picture is a runner that was formerly a Vermont Army National Guard tank at the Patton Museum circa 2005. The bottom photos were from Fort Drum circa 1984 when we were learning how to rail load tanks during annual training. The Vermont Guard did use the Drum tanks during annual training there in the summers.

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Pawel

Hello!

Sorry to tell you that, but IMHO the tank sits way to high now! The road wheel arms should be almost horizontal on a service-ready tank (with an engine in it, fuel, ammo, stowage, crew and so on). I hope it's not too lato to fix it yet...

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank You! I was wondering if the weels were to high, so your second opinion is really valued! Easy change too!

Hello!

Sorry to tell you that, but IMHO the tank sits way to high now! The road wheel arms should be almost horizontal on a service-ready tank (with an engine in it, fuel, ammo, stowage, crew and so on). I hope it's not too lato to fix it yet...

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Oh cool, now this is gonna be interesting!!! 

howdy Everyone! Been a long, long time since I started work on tis project, but after improving my skills and getting a new suspension kit from OKB, I feel pretty good so far in my progress.

Rob Gronovius

 

 

Matt Sawyer

I see. Do you think it would be necessary for the A5, as you did say they were rebuilt A3s? If so I may need to get another set(?)

 

 

 

No, that tensioning wheel was deleted on later tanks like the M48A2C and M48A3. It was removed and the arm mounting spot was plated over.

 

Oh! That's good.

Matt Sawyer

I see. Do you think it would be necessary for the A5, as you did say they were rebuilt A3s? If so I may need to get another set(?)

No, that tensioning wheel was deleted on later tanks like the M48A2C and M48A3. It was removed and the arm mounting spot was plated over.

I see. Do you think it would be necessary for the A5, as you did say they were rebuilt A3s? If so I may need to get another set(?)

Rob, 

That is exactly how I used that piece in my conversion of the basic M48A3 kit to the M48A2 early version.

Bill

No idea what's correct or not Matt but it looks cool, good luck! 

Some of the earlier versions of the M48 had a small idler wheel (which was a support roller) on an arm between the last road wheel and the sprocket. That arm might be the piece.

Well, I might have to get another set of the suspession. It appears I put the shock absorber (I think, see photo below) on the wrong way and had to tear them off and drill new holes (See the second photo). Hmmmm.

Rob,

I stand corrected.  All that I have seen had five return rollers.  Thanks!

Bill

warshipguy

Don't forget that M48A5s had five return rollers per side.  Esci/Ertl 1/72 M48s were molded with only three per side, making them M48A2s.  I am building one as an early M48A2.

Bill 

That's not true; it depends on what the tank began as before it was remanufactured into an M48A5. Here is an old Vermont National Guard M48A5 with three return rollers:

http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/VermontMilitaryMuseum/M48A5PattonTank/pages/01M48A5PattonTank.htm

Okay, thanks! :)

Matt,

They can if you are careful. I recommend checking out an old thread here by Pawel, 

1:72 M48A3 Vietnam DONE!

He does a remarkable job of it.  You might find some helpful advice.

Bill

warshipguy

Don't forget that M48A5s had five return rollers per side.  Esci/Ertl 1/72 M48s were molded with only three per side, making them M48A2s.  I am building one as an early M48A2.

Bill 

 

I see. But the tracks, rollers, road wheels and drive sprocket won't aline properly. A little fustrating I must say.

Don't forget that M48A5s had five return rollers per side.  Esci/Ertl 1/72 M48s were molded with only three per side, making them M48A2s.  I am building one as an early M48A2.

Bill 

All M48A5s were rebuilds from previous M48A3s, so they will have differences based on the production variant they began as. Some even retained the .50 cal turret with vision riser while most had the low profile cupola with M60D machine guns.

warshipguy

Yes, they do. Their shipping rates are also more than reasonable.  Using the Esci M48 kits, I built the entire range of the M48 series of tanks.  I used the OKB wheels and tracks for all of them.  One thing you will have to do to add accuracy to the kits is to build the three lifting hooks on the turret; the ESCI kits don't have  them.  I also strongly recommend looking at Pawel's build of one of these kits. He did an outstanding job!

Bill

 

Been having some trouble with the suspension recently. It seems I put the wrong parts on for the A5 version:

Help!

Hi everyone. Well this M48A5 project has to be paused (as many of you may have guessed) because the susspension resin parts can't be shipped from Bulgaria.

Matt: She continues to come along nicely!

Rob Gronovius

FYI, we threaded the searchlight power cable through the center turret lifting eye.

 

Oh that's interesting! Thanks for the info! I must make that correction now.

GMorrison

So Rob, how many places on an M48 A5 can be used to open a beer bottle?

 

Bill

 

So Rob, how many places on an M48 A5 can be used to open a beer bottle?

Bill

FYI, we threaded the searchlight power cable through the center turret lifting eye.