I fixed my link above.
In my humble opinion I believe the Takom M60 series models are the best out there as far as detail, texture and build. The only slight issue I had was the bustle rack PE, but what I did was use their jig to form it, then tweaked it by rolling it out with different size exacto blade handles on my Tamiya cutting mat, it was pretty much drop-in after that.
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Here is an old article that does a side-by-side comparison of the three M60 kits at the time; Tamiya, Academy, and Esci. You can see how the old kits stack up. BLUF: Esci was the best, followed by the Academy (barely) and lastly, Tamiya.
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/modern/jcm60/jcm60.htm
I couldn’t agree more.
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Your 100% correct, the Takom M60 with ERA is a joy to build.
ok, ok fineeeeee i’ll get the Takom M60! let me sell a kidney and start a gofundme 
I’m going to get the abrams with mine plow for sure.
I’ll keep an eye out for an Takom M60 w/ ERA that’s somewhat reasonable in price
Like I said earlier the Academy M60 w/ ERA is a fairly good kit, and I found it for cheaper then the Takom one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-35-ACADEMY-USMC-M60A1-with-RISE-PASSIVE-ARMOR-MODEL-KIT-1349/273735093534?hash=item3fbbe20d1e:g:NWMAAOSwyXhZ0siK
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You get what you pay for. To each their own.
http://www.hobbyworld-usa.com/Store/index.php?id_product=9199&controller=product
Anyone have any experience with this store? It’s a reasonably priced Takom M60 but it’s availability is “on demand”
Not personally, but it seems to be a great price.
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it is, but I don’t quite understand “on demand”. Seems like a way of saying “will order it for you”. I’m used to in stock, sold out, or notify when available 
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I have built all of Takom’s M60 based kit save the newest and can attest to the quality and relative ease of assembly. I have thoroughly enjoyed every build. I highly recommend them.
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I can also say, don’t hold your nose at the ESCI/Italeri/Revell/ AMT-ERTL M60 kits. They are better than the Tamiya and Academy kits, as mentioned above. If you can find one for a good price, they build up very nicely.
Academy did sell their M9 Dozer blade as a separate item at one point in time. Perhaps there are some still floating around to be found. And Dragon offered up the Track Width Mine Plow as a separate item to fit on whichever tank you prefer.
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The Academy M9 blade is incomplete. It does not include the hydraulic reservoir on the left rear fender, nor the hoses that go to the distribution box on the lower front glacis plate. This is due to it originally being billed and designed as an M728 CEV, which has all the hydraulics internally-mounted inside the hull. The rest of the CEV parts were never produced though.
Parts are available on Shapeways though.
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Worst case, that reservoir does not look too hard to scratch build.
Turns out “on demand” means backordered…
something you don’t find out until they send you an email AFTER they take your money.
Edit: spoke with them on the phone, immediately went to a very helpful and understanding gentleman who issued a refund.
So I change my mind, buyer beware.
Dang thats unfortunate, sorry to hear about that. Hope you get a refund.
Apparently he has them on order but there’s an issue with the shipment. He was very helpful and a refund was given so I won’t go to them first, but the customer service was excellent.
I do wish they’d just say “backordered” rather than “on demand”… just a poor choice of words
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You get what you pay for. The Academy kit is junk compared to any of the Takom kits. They can be found for the same price or just a little more.
@Beentheredonethat your right the Academy kit is vastly inferior to the Takom ones but as you can see in these pictures it can be built as a somewhat presentable model.
(I built this kit OOB about a month ago.)
I think you ought to find me one then. All i’ve come up with so far, is a $98 kit from China on eBay. They’re out of stock everywhere I can find