Hello Gino! Lookin' good! What colour do you plan for it - desert tan? Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel. Yes, it will be in sand from ODS, just like the reference pic. I plan on marking it as the “Florida Gator” option as I am a University of Florida graduate. Go Gators!!!

Ohhhhhhh cool Gino! And it's great that the kit comes with all the plumbing for the blade hydraulics so you don't have to scratchbuild it like my Esci M60 with the dozer blade.  

Thanks all. I’m glad there is a lot of interest in this one.

Work continues. I have completed the hull w/dozer blade and ERA.

The blade parts are really nice and went together well.

I discovered that if you don’t fully follow the instructions, which would have you glue all the blade parts solid, it can still be left movable. All of the articulating points snap together with pins and holes. As long as you don’t glue the moving parts, you will be good and can place the blade at any position you want.

A few more detail shots.

The ERA plates on the front glacis area.

The rear of the hull w/the relocated tow cables.

That’s it for now. Next up is the turret.

Nice work so far Gino.

Oh that's neat that you can move the blade! Very handy to fit her into a dio if you're not quite sure where you want it. 

Thanks gents. It is going smoothly. I really like these Takom M60 kits. I hope to get some more work done on it this weekend; busy week, not a lot done.

Looking good! I am so jazzed that Takom did this in plastic. I'm currently gathering bits to so a "slick" with a blade, working from a good pic of one in Germany with the blade up, front squatted, tow cables ready.

I got quite a bit done this weekend. I have completed the turret. The way you do the mantlet cover with a PE bolt strip is really nice, and simple. The turret basket is nice when done, but was a bit fiddley to get together and lined with the included PE screen. The rods are really thin and bend easily.

The commander’s cupola is very nice as well. It is very detailed and looks great.

I have moved on to starting the ERA panels. They are very detailed, especially the rails that they attach to. The rails are very nice, with individual connection points for each ERA plate with bolt heads and nuts. The stanchions that they sit off the turret are very well done also.

Work continues on the ERA plates…

Looks to be light years ahead of the Tamiya/Acedemy kits, very nice. Are you planning on painting before attaching the ERA?

Yup, way better than all the older M60 kits, including AFV Club's in my opinion.

I have already started adding the ERA panels.  From what I have seen of actual vehicles, they sprayed everything sand after the ERA was added, even spare road wheels and tow cables.  I plan on doing the same.

I was able to finish the basic build today. Here it is with the ERA all in place. They went together well, with no issues; just like the rest of the kit.

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Here it is all together.

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I am putting the rest of this on hold for a little while though as I just discovered I am out of sand paint. Off to order it and wait as there is no longer a hobby shop anywhere near me.

Looks good and good to hear about how well the ERA plates fit. I've always had to fiddle around with the ones I've had.

And yeah, you never find that dried up paint or empty bottle till right when you need it. I've done inventory on needed paint when I started a project and I still end up bit on the tush much of the time.

The over-sprayed USMC M-60s are an experience.

Close enough to touch, the green is middling evident, and in every shade from new to sun-bleached pale.

Step back to a vehicle-length away, and the color contrast and shodowing might as well be a black preshade.

Have a buddy who used black-green as the preshade, and that actually worked out pretty well.  Especially with sand and dust weathering.

Actual Mileage varies, obviously.

Always love seeing afvs with blades. Does this kit come with workable link tracks or will you be using am ones?

Thanks guys.  No more progress right now.  

Keyserj

Does this kit come with workable link tracks or will you be using am ones?

This one comes with very nice rubber band tracks made of soft vinyl with a metal pin to connect the two ends.  They look very good once put on the tank.  I used them on my M60 AVLB a couple years ago and will use them on this one.

I finished up the M60A1 RISE / Passive w/ERA and M9 Dozer Blade.

I ended up paining it with a rattle can of Rustoleum satin Ivory as I couldn’t get the Testors Model Master Sand any longer; damn Rustoleum for cancelling it.

First, I painted the lower hull, behind the ERA panels and, around the hatches dark green. Then I painted the Ivory, going lightly around the green areas so it would still show in corners, behind the ERA, and on the underside. It is hard to see in the pics, but pretty convincing in person to show a tank that has been hastily over-sprayed sand.

Here is the underside to see what I mean.

Once it was sprayed, I added the decals. Since I am a graduate of the University of Florida, I had to go with the “Florida Gator” option; Go Gators!! The decals went on without any problems and snugged down nicely.

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After the decals, I drybrushed some dark green on areas that would wear to show the sand being worn down to the paint below. Then I drybrushed with a bot of a rusty brown color selectively to show dirt and wear. Next I washed it with an earth brown color and then a sandy color. I drybrushed gun metal and rust onto the blade to show some bare metal on it where it has been rubbed clean by the dirt.

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I added gear from the spares bin; MRE boxes, water boxes, a couple cots, camo net bags, etc. to represent vehicles how they looked in ODS; well laden with lots of junk.

The dozer blade is still movable as well. Here it is with it down in digging position.

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I had fun with this one. The kit overall was a great kit, no issues. I highly recommend the Takom M60s, they are awesome.

Looks great Gino. The worn green underneath looks good and I love the wear on the blade!

Very well done! I agree with you on the Takom M60 kits, good stuff.

Thanks guys. It was a fun build.

HeavyArty

Yup, way better than all the older M60 kits, including AFV Club's in my opinion.

I have already started adding the ERA panels.  From what I have seen of actual vehicles, they sprayed everything sand after the ERA was added, even spare road wheels and tow cables.  I plan on doing the same.

 

AFV Club does give you a full drivers compartment after all unlike Takom. And the metal barrel is nice too. I'm working on the lower hull of the AFV club M60A1 right now and am almost to the point of getting the lower hull done.

All true, but I prefer the better parts breakdown, ease of assembly, and more realistic surface texture of the Takom kits. Also, to me, the driver's area is pretty useless without the rest of the interior.

Very nice Gino.

Looks great.

Thanks gents.

Gino I have the same M60A1 Rise kit minus the dozer blade. I noticed something about the suspension that doesn't make sense parts G12 (retracted Idler wheel adjustment arm ) and G-15 (Extended Idler wheel adjustment arm). When you attach them to their particular assemblies the Idler wheels still stay in the same spot each side even though with the extended hydraulic ram the pin holding the actual Idler wheel should swing forward a couple degrees.  I don't know if anyone ever caught that innacuracy with the kit or not?

I don't think it is an inaccuracy at all.  The suspension is offset between the two side due to the torsion bars.  One side has to extend further forward than the other to keep the two idler wheels in the same plane, just like on the actual tank.

Good looking model!  I really like how the dozer blade turned out.

Thanks.  It was a fun build.