Here is the basic hull. The extended headlights and their guards that are part of the blade kit have been added. As part of the ERA kit, the grenade stowage boxes have also been relocated to the sides of the air cleaner boxes.
On the left rear, you can see the hydraulic reservoir parts, along with the hoses that go down the back of the tank and enter the engine compartment on the left side.
The kit is very complete and even includes the hydraulic hoses that go under the left side of the hull up to the front to raise/lower the blade.
Hi Pawel. Yes, it will be in sand from ODS, just like the reference pic. I plan on marking it as the “Florida Gator” option as I am a University of Florida graduate. Go Gators!!!
Ohhhhhhh cool Gino! And it’s great that the kit comes with all the plumbing for the blade hydraulics so you don’t have to scratchbuild it like my Esci M60 with the dozer blade.
Thanks all. I’m glad there is a lot of interest in this one.
Work continues. I have completed the hull w/dozer blade and ERA.
The blade parts are really nice and went together well.
I discovered that if you don’t fully follow the instructions, which would have you glue all the blade parts solid, it can still be left movable. All of the articulating points snap together with pins and holes. As long as you don’t glue the moving parts, you will be good and can place the blade at any position you want.
Thanks gents. It is going smoothly. I really like these Takom M60 kits. I hope to get some more work done on it this weekend; busy week, not a lot done.
Looking good! I am so jazzed that Takom did this in plastic. I’m currently gathering bits to so a “slick” with a blade, working from a good pic of one in Germany with the blade up, front squatted, tow cables ready.
I got quite a bit done this weekend. I have completed the turret. The way you do the mantlet cover with a PE bolt strip is really nice, and simple. The turret basket is nice when done, but was a bit fiddley to get together and lined with the included PE screen. The rods are really thin and bend easily.
The commander’s cupola is very nice as well. It is very detailed and looks great.
I have moved on to starting the ERA panels. They are very detailed, especially the rails that they attach to. The rails are very nice, with individual connection points for each ERA plate with bolt heads and nuts. The stanchions that they sit off the turret are very well done also.
Yup, way better than all the older M60 kits, including AFV Club’s in my opinion.
I have already started adding the ERA panels. From what I have seen of actual vehicles, they sprayed everything sand after the ERA was added, even spare road wheels and tow cables. I plan on doing the same.
I was able to finish the basic build today. Here it is with the ERA all in place. They went together well, with no issues; just like the rest of the kit.
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Here it is all together.
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I am putting the rest of this on hold for a little while though as I just discovered I am out of sand paint. Off to order it and wait as there is no longer a hobby shop anywhere near me.
Looks good and good to hear about how well the ERA plates fit. I’ve always had to fiddle around with the ones I’ve had.
And yeah, you never find that dried up paint or empty bottle till right when you need it. I’ve done inventory on needed paint when I started a project and I still end up bit on the tush much of the time.
This one comes with very nice rubber band tracks made of soft vinyl with a metal pin to connect the two ends. They look very good once put on the tank. I used them on my M60 AVLB a couple years ago and will use them on this one.
I finished up the M60A1 RISE / Passive w/ERA and M9 Dozer Blade.
I ended up paining it with a rattle can of Rustoleum satin Ivory as I couldn’t get the Testors Model Master Sand any longer; damn Rustoleum for cancelling it.
First, I painted the lower hull, behind the ERA panels and, around the hatches dark green. Then I painted the Ivory, going lightly around the green areas so it would still show in corners, behind the ERA, and on the underside. It is hard to see in the pics, but pretty convincing in person to show a tank that has been hastily over-sprayed sand.
Here is the underside to see what I mean.
Once it was sprayed, I added the decals. Since I am a graduate of the University of Florida, I had to go with the “Florida Gator” option; Go Gators!! The decals went on without any problems and snugged down nicely.
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After the decals, I drybrushed some dark green on areas that would wear to show the sand being worn down to the paint below. Then I drybrushed with a bot of a rusty brown color selectively to show dirt and wear. Next I washed it with an earth brown color and then a sandy color. I drybrushed gun metal and rust onto the blade to show some bare metal on it where it has been rubbed clean by the dirt.
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I added gear from the spares bin; MRE boxes, water boxes, a couple cots, camo net bags, etc. to represent vehicles how they looked in ODS; well laden with lots of junk.
The dozer blade is still movable as well. Here it is with it down in digging position.
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I had fun with this one. The kit overall was a great kit, no issues. I highly recommend the Takom M60s, they are awesome.
