I had no intention of starting anything else without finishing the three Shermans currently waiting for weathering, but I was poking around in the stash and pulled out one of the two of these Academy kits I snatched up from a consignment a while ago, and by golly one of them had a DEF Model update in it. About ten minutes later I came across an Academy lower hull I’d started for something since forgotten, and that was all it took. I pulled out the boxes of Takom and Dragon spares and had at it.
So far, the lower hull is pretty close and the turret is just begun. The kit itself is not bad, rough in spots but it does have decent new aluminum road wheels and the correct air cleaner housings. I’ve also read that the turret shape is fairly good.
Without getting deep, I’ll just say that the AM stuff is very welcomed, maybe even necessary. The other kit will be used for a Magach project, leaving me with a spare turret. Hmmmm…
Looking good so far. It still takes some work to get a good M60A2, even with all the new versions out there. I hear Academy’s is closer and Dragon’s is pretty bad. The new(ish) AFV Club version is nice, but the cast texture is way overdone. Maybe Takom will come out with a correct one. They seem to have the best M60 tanks currently on the market.
I built one back in '05 and did a bunch of work on it as well.
From my build article:
I used the Tamiya M60A2 turret, Revell (ex-Esci) M60A3 hull (since it is the best one on the market), and a resin CBSS Bulge from fellow modeler Robert Skipper. I added new spot light and mount from an M48A3, new barrel without bore evac and correct length (kit one is 3mm too short), added cast texture to the turret and commander’s cupola, forge mark and casting numbers to turret side, clips for tow cable, cut mud relief holes in sprockets, made tow cables out of ones from another kit and ship’s rigging rope, added wipers to the GPS and Commander’s sight, etc., etc. I used the octagonal block length and link track from the A3 kit as well.
I would have used a Takom hull if I’d seen a good way to do the CBSS bulge, I like them quite a bit. Another reason I’m building this one from the Academy kit: I got two kits and the box of DEF goodies for less than the AFV Club kit, so I’ve got extras, always a plus in my world.
I wasn’t saying to use a Takom hull, just noting they seem to have the best M60 kits now.
On my M60 AVLB a couple years ago, I was able to mate the AFV Club M60A2 rear plate w/CBSS onto the Takom M60 hull w/no issues. It fit perfectly. I bet the Academy one would too.
Yours is looking great and going old school kit-bashing is always good.
Understood, but I would have preferred using a Takom hull, they are pretty good and quick to assemble too. I have another project in mind that the other Academy hull (or parts of) may be useful, and this is something you be be able to help with: I’d heard or read that, as demonstrated by the project you just mentioned and that I checked in on, a lot of AVLBs used former -A2 hulls. I want to do the IDF version, but the only pics I have don’t show the hull rear. Any idea if the IDF bought the whole vehicle from us or did their own conversions?
Good question, unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. I can tell you the US M60(A2) AVLBs were built as a later batch in the late '80s on the A2 hulls. That may help if you can figure out when Israel bought them.
Very cool! And I know that feeling soooooooo well, it’s so easy to pull out something new and start on it instead of finishing what you’re working on off.
Love the M60A2, a local tank museum in Danville, VA has a running ‘Starship’ they pull out every year or so for a demostration where they drive it over a car.
G, sounds fun. And yeah, it’s easy to see what my favorite part of modeling is…
And… I took a good look at the DEF spotlight, spent an hour or so yesterday assembling and swapping it out for the kit part, something I should have done anyway. Pics soon.
I’ve been working on the turret texture and filling seams, fit wasn’t great and the texture went from full-on slick to river rocks. Mr Surfacer to the rescue.
Thanks guys. I’ve done a little more on the turret and TC’s cupola, looking for a good pic of the outside of the TC’s hatch cover now. Everything I have (both Sabot books and some others) all show the hatch either open with the inside visible or if closed, out of the lie of sight of the camera.
anybody know when the A2 got the name STARSHIP? we never called it that in my unit in Germany when i was in an A2 unit 1975-1978.
i have the AFV CLUB one which, if i build it, will be C16, my tank, with 4 color pattern including brown and green road wheels and camo on the lower hull under the fenders, older chevron track and bore evacuator. a lot of firsts with this tank; laser range finder, passive sights, stabilized .50 M85 in the cupola, and target designation.
i always thought they should have been a 4 battery tank destroyer battalion at division level where a battery could be attached to each brigade. engage at 3000+m and start pulling back letting the A1s take over at 2000m. rate of fire was too slow for engagements under 2000m and the 152mm HEAT round was quite slow.
Another question: As far as I can tell, based mostly on the Hunnicut book, the bore evacuator was on the pilot, with the CBSS added early in the testing phases, and then the bore evacuator deleted as unnecessary on later production turrets? I’m thinking about which gun tube to use, the one with or w/o the evacuator. The Academy kit supplies both, one piece and very usable.
Pics today. The smoke launchers were, well… I can’t really describe what a pain they were, but I only launched two or three of the tiny bits into oblivion, not bad for me.
Tow cables are the kit ends with the groove for the kit supplied string fill and drill ed for wire. Brass from DEF and the kit being used. The kit actually has some usable and necessary PE (silver, stainless steel?) included, good on Academy there.
Thank you. Another three hours (whew!) and the turret basket framework is done. I plan on taking a break before I attempt the mesh, all PE supplied in the kit. The amount of pins marks was daunting, and the frame itself was a bit of a Rubik’s cube…
There is a well known photo of an M60A2 all prettied up in the new MASSTER 7th Army scheme. The crew had named their tank “STARSHIP” because of the cutting edge, high technology introduced in the tank, and the tank commander may have been a Star Trek fan.
So, now you have a new, futuristic tank, in a fancy, new camouflage paint scheme with a name straight out of a science fiction television show in a publicity photograph.
People mistakenly think the name of the new tank series is the individual tank’s name. Then they call the M60A2 a “Starship”.
And that’s how the A2 became known as the Starship to the public. But to tankers, it was simply an “A2” to differentiate it between the M48A5, M60, M60A1 and M60A3.
The benefit is that everyone had a hatch (TC, gunner, driver, loader) whereas on a regular tank only the loader, driver and commander have a hatch.
The gun was a missile launcher that could also fire what was akin to a giant shotgun shell. The shape of the turret was to minimize the profile to enemy gunners.
IMG_0827 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0828 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
