I bought this from Michaels this last weekend for $15.
I’m pretty sure I’ve built it before when I was a kid. When I opened it I noticed it was awful big for a 1/35. After doing some research I found out it was probably 1/32.
Questions.
Is there a detail set for it? Tracks?
Is it even worth deadling with or should I just get a better kit?
i can’t answer that question. Ginger or Marianne, right?
When I built my most recent one, what stood out?
Shep didn’t know from aftermarket, so I took that attitude.
It represents an A2 I think, which was the last of the gas burners, so that’s cool.
The mantlet needs a dust cover, so get out the tissue and white glue.
Probably the one stupid feature is that the turret side grabs are cast as fins. You know what to do.
Bill
Steve,
I would suggest getting the Tamiya kit for an easy build. That Monogram kit is dinosaur old! I built it around 1977, and thought the best thing about it was the Shep Paine diorama sheet. Sorry, but I do not know of any aftermarket sets for that beast.
One suggestion - snag an unsuspecting kid and build it with him/her. Preferrably some kid you know. Because you know, if not, that’s like kidnapping. [:P]
You probably did build it as a kid, the kit has been around a long time.
The kit is actually 1/35, not 1/32. If you set the Tamiya kit and this one side by side, they are the same size, aside from height. And that’s because Tamiya took their measurements off a tank that had no power pack installed, so the suspension was not compressed to its standard sit height.
No detail set is available is designed for the kit aside from an old long OOP Lo Model set that is more of a conversion set to make it an A2GA2 or A5. You could probably cobble together some upgrades to the kit using different “accessory” type sets such as jerry cans, pioneer tools, crew gear, etc. Plus you’ll have to do some scratch work to correct shortcomings.
Tracks, I have not tried it, but the AFV Club tracks might fit.
Only you can decide if you should go thru with the effort or not. It’s a fun old kit, probably one of the best of that vintage, and looks good if enhanced. But you can easily build it as is and enjoy it.
The Lo Models set was designed for the older Tamiya M48A3 kit and older Tamiya M60A1 kit. You could turn the M48A3 into an M48A5 or a West German “M48A2GA2” but even the instructions show the A3 side loading air cleaners.
I’m using it with this very Monogram kit I got from the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby for a whopping $7.50.
The Lo Model set also allowed you to turn the old OD green Tamiya M60A1 into an M60A3 or M60A3TTS, but once Tamiya released an M60A3 and M60A1 RISE/Passive, the conversions were rather useless.
One of the issues with the old Lo set is that you could either use the parts to update a Tamiya M48A3 into an M48A5, or you could use the parts to update the Tamiya M60A1 into an M60A3/A3TTS, but not both since they share some common parts (air cleaners and the gun mount).
But the M48A2GA2 uses completely separate parts and you’re right, it is best used on the old Monogram kit rather than the Tamiya kit.
As far as a better M48A2, Revell of Germany released three versions of the M48A2 which are all new and much superior to the old Monogram kit (of 1959) or the Tamiya M48A2 (1981).
They released the M48A2GA2 (03236), M48A2/A2C (03206), and M48A2CG (03287). The A2GA2 and A2CG only include West German markings and the A2/A2C includes W. German, US and IDF markings.
I would suggest building it out of box and enjoying it for what it is. There are too many better M48 series kits to spend additional money to upgrade it. The costs of the upgrades will equal the price of the better Dragon or Revell M48 kits.
Yeah, as the guys said trying to improve this is making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
I’d just keep it as a quick, cheap, and dirty build to decompress after one of your epic ship builds Steve.
Thanks guys. I knew I’d get some precise answeres. I was thinking while reading that since I need to improve my armor skills anyway this will allow me to try some new techniques before trying them one anything serious. Who knows, maybe I can actually make something that won’t embarrass me. The figures are horrendous though [:|].
Like said before, and I think you may have said it as well…have fun with it. If it turns into a show stopoer then we can call you Shep Paine, if not well your still sniffing glue and improving in areas ya think you may need work in. Looking forward to how it turns out Steve.
Yeah. This definitely an old one. I think I built this around 1962/ 1963 time frame. Hard to believe that it’s still out there in some form.
Yeah this is an old kit, and I remember when I built mine. Right now I’m in the middle of a garage & basement cleanup and I found this kit in its original box. Somehow the main gun broke off, but I remember using tissue with water and white glue to due the mantlet shroud/cover. Like Stik said, its still a fun kit to build and if you want to enhance it, go right ahead.
I personally wouldn’t waste my time on it. It is very basic and lacks all sorts of details. If you are looking for just a nostalgic build of an ancient kit, go for it. If you want a well-detailed representation of an M48, get one of the newer Dragon kits.
Thanks guys. I’m getting intrested in armor which just adds to the stash. I can just see the armor guys cringe at me getting intrested in armor "oh no, another nebe.
I’v already had a few in the stash and will occasionally build a 1/72 to “clean my pallet”. But I feel like brenching out from mostly ships and aircraft to include some serious armor and “gulp” figures.
Build it and have fun. Like many others here, I built that when I was a kid, around 8 or 9 (so, around 1972). It was my first Monogram armor kit, and my introduction to Shep’s diorama tips, and ideas like scratchbuilding and superdetailing. And I learned that you could bolt a model to a base.
I’ve still got one I built originally in the late 1970s. In 1985, I repainted the model in a psuedo MERDC scheme after I learned how to tank on an M48A5 at Fort Drum, New York.
The original kit was virtually unpainted with the white stars on the OD green plastic. Many had flaked off. I still have this kit on my shelf today, nearly 45 years later. It remains one of my oldest completed kits in my possession.
Looks good Rob. I’ll work mine so I hopefully don’t ruin more expensive kits.
Dang Steve, after that Akagi any armour kit should be as easy as rolling a log!!!
Rob: Very cool. I wish I had some of my stuff from back then. Well, to be honest I still do- they just all got broken down and relegated to the spare parts bin.
$15 is a steal for this nice vintage kit!
Thanks Chad, I have an Idea for a dio set in Vietnam and some tankers.
You could do Peavey’s tank “Pray For Slack” from the book by “Praying For Slack” (good book BTW)
Only a couple of units used M48A2s in Vietnam, and then only for a short while. That’s the variant of the Monogram kit. All the rest used M48A3s as the main type to see service in Vietnam. So far the only photos that I’ve been able to positively ID as A2s in Vietnam were from 5th ID. 1/77 Armor and 4/12 Cav both used A2s when they first arrived in country, but later replaced them with A3s.