1/35 ESCI M-60A1 "Blazer"

Modeling Subjects Armor
41

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?

42

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.

43

That’ll work.

44

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

I think I know what I wanna do with it. :wink:

45

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.

46

Lol, a giant mine plow or dozer blade would look awesome! [Y]

47

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

48

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

49

Hey Mike, this is becoming a very fine build. You did a great job on the side skirt hinges and other parts. Question: Is that the original kit main gun or was it an aftermarket? Looking forward to the finished model.

50

Thanks for the votes lol. I’m adding the mine plow! Hope to find some time this weekend.

51

Thanks, Tiger! I don’t know where that gun tube came from. It was in the Joffy resin upgrade kit box, but I know that’s not where it originated.

I know it’s longer and has crisper details than the stock gun tube. No idea where it’s from.

52

Update!

I dug into an old Dragon kit I’ve been using for spare parts for years now and picked out the mine plough for this project.

Dragon kit #3516 M1A1 w/ mine plough “Desert Storm”

Being a used kit when I got it the plough had been assembled with CA and not aligned very well. So I had to start with some disassembly before I could clean up the parts and start making sense of it all.

First task, once the frame was cleaned up, was to figure out how to attach it to the hull.

Next I cleaned up the winch drives and attached them to the frame.

After that I had to drill out new holes in the swing arms so they can swing freely. I’ll have to make new pins, as my drill bit is holding them on for now. I put the plough blades on and I think I’m at a good place to stop for now.

So all of that is being held together with tooth picks and a drill bit lol.

I’m pretty happy about this decision and I think it looks rather cool already. I’m going to modify this setup, probably with some sort of scratch build dozer blade for the middle section between the plough blades.

This thing is definitely going to be unique.

53

Hehehe- I LIKE it!!!

54

I’m liking it too. I think I’ll just keep it as a mine plough. Looking at the framework and how it’s put together, it wouldn’t hold a dozer blade anyways. And then there’s the idea of how will the driver see?

I think I’ll keep it as a plough lol.

55

Hey Mike, great work on that mine plough. I like it.

56

Well thank you, sir! There are still a couple of parts that need to go on there and then I’ll start adding welds and details to make it come to life.

57

The mine rake/plow/plough works, good idea, good fit as well.

58

That’s a very cool idea. It adds a another level of nastiness to it.

BK

59

All this history, no offense, missed the biggest reason the ESCI M-60A1/3 was the better model. When Tamiya measured the full sized tank to create their model, the real M60A1 was dry (unfueled). Correspondingly the supension arms on the model places the tank too high for a tank that might actually be in the field but perfect if you’re modeling a museum piece. To fix this accuracy issue is a heroic, in all senses of the word, especially courage, effort. As that this would require filing the half-circle attachment pins on all of the arms, and dry fitting them until all of the arms are at the same height. Also explains why the shock absorbers at the front of the hull of the Tamiya kit for the first road wheel just hang in the air. Esci, on the other hand, measured or used plans of a fueled M60A1, and its kit suspension has the appropriate smaller ground clearance. To my eye, I can immediately spot a Tamiya build because it sits too high versus my reference pictures of the real thing.

FYI, I’m not ordinarly this much of a tank kit buff, but for some reason I’ve been obsessed with the M60A1-3 series tanks and their kits.

60

Good info there!

I did adjust the suspension height and dipped the nose to show the weight of the plough as well.

After my research on the Tamiya M-48A3 I knew this would be necessary.