I got this classic model kit for a Christmas present from my colleague at work:
Funny thing - I’ve never built this one. At home my little daughter liked it a lot, so we started building it around Christmas. She helped me with cutting out parts from sprues, she also sanded the road wheels quite well.
If you take into consideration, that the kit dates back to 1969, it’s impressive how nice the hull top and turret are designed. On the other hand some of the details could definitely use some improvement.
I’ve had a lot of parts left over from my M42 Duster build, like AFV Club rubber tracks and others like that, so I’ll be using those to improve the model without putting in long hours so as not to tire my daughter with the build. I’ll post photos shortly.
Meanwhile I would like to ask you for help - does anybody know any cool paint scheme for this tank? I could paint it OD with white stars, and I’m also thinking about doing it as an ARVN tank, but if anybody could point me to some camo scheme or winter exercise scheme, I would probably go this way.
So - thanks in advance for your help, and please stay tuned for updates.
It is a good starter kit, but, as you said, needs lots of work to bring it up to current standards. At a minimum, I would add the stiffening strips on the sides of the tool boxes. A few small add-ons, but a big improvement.
As to paint schemes, pretty much all US versions were overall OD. I have seen them w/a “whitewash” winter camo scheme and a large green triangle for exercises (can’t find a pic now).
Taiwan used them until recently and had them in a variation of NATO camo.
The final years in Alaskan US Army service was where they were painted white. There is one at the Fairbanks NG Armory with 2 others at the Fort Greeley ranges where obviously one couldn’t get close to examine them.
It’s also a good kit to try stuff on. I was ready to paint an ROK M47 but didn’t want to do something “new” on it so I pulled the Tamiya M41 out of the back of the case that I’d built a while ago and used it to try brush-painting the camo over green. Plus, I have $9 invested in the kit and AFV Club tracks, and it was fun:
Good info on those New Zealand, Taiwan and Saudi tanks, I’ll think about that.
Russ - how about that MERDC - is that how Koreans painted it? As for the economics I think I can beat you with 0$ so far - I got the tank as a gift and the tracks were leftovers!
And I also have some photos for you. Like Gino wrote I added the ribs at the sides, replaced some grabhandles with wire and I also replaced the headlight guards with sheet metal:
On the turret there’s also still some work to do - I plan to replace the jerry cans with something more shapely, for example:
On the hull I have a better pioneer tool rack and I also have to add the exhaust for the APU (missing completely from the kit).
To the best of my knowledge, the M41 never saw any combat in any theater. It was used solely between conflicts. I believe I have a book on it and that is where I found this out while building mine.
