I’m also courious, did the Taiwanese pull the M60A3 turrets and add the M48 ones, or did they just buy the hulls. And if so, were are the M60A3 turrets at? Same with the M60A2 turrets.
Glad you guys are getting a lot out of this build and it is generating some great discussions.
As to the ROC M48H / CM-11:
"The Republic of China (Taiwan) established the Armored Vehicle Development Center in 1980, and was tasked to develop military armored vehicles, and had cooperated with General Dynamics to develop the CM-11. The development of the tank has two main purposes, first was to avoid the limitations set by the US-PRC Joint Communique (17 August Communique), and second was to allow the ROCA to acquire Second Generation MBTs.
The CM-11 is a hybrid tank using the M48A3 turret with the M60A3 tank hull, combined with the new M1 Abrams tank’s Fire-Control System (FCS). The United States designated it as M48H, where the “H” means Hybrid, and the Republic of China designated it CM-11 and named it Brave Tiger."
No idea what happened to the other tank parts, but it sounds like they were built in the US and my guess is they were left to the boneyard or melted down.
As a sub post, I had a friend who served in the California National Guard on M48A3 tanks back in the 70’s.
They did their two week training at Camp Irwin, now the NTC. Because the M48’s had blank rounds, they would take cases of softballs and grease them up and fire at each other. Lot of fun until you had to punch the gun tubes. He said they were Amazingly accurate at 1000 meters.
Yes, the M48 turrets that were excess after some of the M48A3s were converted into M48 AVLBs that were not made into M48A5s. So there were extra M48 turrets.
Then when the M60A2 was cancelled, the Army decided to use those excess A2 hulls to become M60 AVLBs. The A2 hulls were newer so they were better bases for the AVLBs.
So the excess straight M60 (aka “Slick 60s”) that were going to be made into M60A2s no longer had a use and the hulls were extra.
Now there are excess M48 turrets because the hulls were made into AVLBs and there are excess M60 hulls that were going to be made into M60A2s, but were cancelled.
So, you mate the excess M48 turret to the excess M60 hull and sell it to Taiwan. The turrets were brought up to M60A3 standards and the hulls were as well.
Well that explains that.
More info I didn’t have. Thank you.
It’s not like there are a whole lot of them, several hundred only. Probably the equivalent of a US Army armor division worth of tanks. The Texas National Guard probably has a larger armored force.
Now that all makes sense, rebuilding and combining the surplus inventory old turrets and hulls. And then adding the newer gun and fire control systems. Thank you for the backstory.
You also have to remember, some of these tank combinations were in case the Cold War got hot and we had to slap them together and equip follow on National Guard and Reserve divisions with actual tanks. Those types of units didn’t really have dedicated tanks to equip the entire division. Just a token set of equipment at a training base that they trained with.
I was able to get some paint on it this weekend. It will be in the MERDC Winter Verdant scheme. The green and tan are airbrushed. The sand and black squiggles are by hand.
I also painted the road wheels alternating tan and green as they will alternate on the hull.
Next up is some detail painting, adding the accessories, and weathering.
Oh cool, I was wondering if she’s get MERDC or a more bland scheme.
Went and dragged out the Dragon M48A3 from the stash Friday.
What a great thread. So much info and not to mention the great build.
The MERDC scheme looks sharp. Whose paints are you using?
Thanks guys. So far so good.
For the paints, I am using Testors Model Master enamels. The colors are as follows: green = Medium Green (FS34102), tan = Dark Tan (FS30219), sand = Armor Sand (FS30277), and black = Flat Black (FS37038). Once weathered and toned down a bit, they should look spot on for the MERDC Winter Verdant scheme.
Cool! Going to have to write those down for when I attempt a MERDC scheme. Thanks!!!
Finally I am back at it on this one. Its crazy how life gets in the way. I had a week-long business trip to Germany and then the Thanksgiving holiday was upon us, etc., etc., etc…
I have a question at this point. Hopefully the guys who were there (John, Rob) can answer it.
For the bumper numbers, was the background white or sand? In the below pic, it looks white.
I would say sand/buff. I can’t remember if it was ‘84 or or ‘85 when we were told to add a “buff” background for the bumper codes. The paint we were given was some GI stuff, and literally was labeled ”buff” along with the NSN and all the other GI labeling info on the can. Before then, the bumper codes were stenciled directly onto the MERDC paint color of the areas. Some of us painted the backgounds and others painted the bumper codes using stencils we made in the HHC mechanics bay. They had a stencil cutting tool in there.
Sand backgrounds, but can be even that almond appliance spray paint color from a rattle can bought from the PX and not neccessarily Army issued paint.
No idea on the bumper numbers but glad to see you still moving on this. I was scrolling though the posts the other day and wondered if something came up and you had to drop it.
Thanks for the color clarification and encouragement guys. I hope to have it done soon and will post more pics.
I have completed my M48A5 in Korea, late '80s. I made the bumper numbers myself using computer decal paper over sand paint. It is marked as a tank from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. AKA - B Co, 2nd Tank.
It is hard to see in the pics, but I extended the MERDC camo onto the sides of the lower hull below the fenders. For weathering, I used a dark brown wash and then a lighter sandy-brown drybrush to bring up the details. Let me know what you think.
