Building this M60A1 for a friend who drove them for the USMC (2nd Tanks) in the early 80’s. TAKOM’s M60A1 with plow and ERA (minus the ERA). Hataka MERDC paint set (Orange Line) and AMMO weathering. Any and all critiques are welcome.
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you’ve done a fantastic job on that kit my comment is you should have lowered the suspension ay the front of the vehicle to take into account the additional weight ay the front caused by the plow/blade.
kind regards Klaus
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Nice build. MERDC looks great. Weathering on the blade very well done. The rest of the tank seems a bit clean and in my opinion could use some dusting but hey, if that’s the way you want it then it’s ok. 
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Really like the paint job! It’s fantastic
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Love the wear and weathering on the blafe.
Ken
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Great job on the MERDC camo and on the dozer blade weathering.
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Noice build Tom.
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Looking great. I really like the Takom M60 kits.
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Excellent job Tom. Camo came great and that blade looks fantastic.
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Excellent build!
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Great build Tom @tcpyro6, looks very nice and I like the finish on the dozer blade and the cam colours
Just a quick note on the dozer blade and the weight etc that you mentioned David… Can’t speak for M60s with a blade fitted but when fitted to Chieftain or Challenger, there is no front down aspect because of a dozer blade being fitted…they are pretty much perfectly balanced out weight wise… So they will always have a level look…most tanks are slightly biased to being rear heavy anyway due to the engine and gearbox’s being in the rear.
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Very nice work! Thank you for sharing. Other than the road wheels needing some more dusting, it looks fine to me.
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@Johnnych01 i’ve seen the front end dip on M48’s that had the dozerblade fitted during the Vietnam war and since the M48 and M60 are part of the Patton family i figured they had similar characteristics.
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Can confirm. 19E armor crewmen. First tank was M60A3 TTS with dozer blade. Very front heavy.
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Fair points David @Klaus-Adler & Raymond @PanVet34 … If you seen it and experienced it first hand thats the icing on the cake… I was just going from what I’ve worked with…
Raymond, just how front heavy were they then with a blade fitted, did it effect the handling at all ? On Chieftain it had no real effect except stopping distance was a lot longer…
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Nice build! MERDC is perfect and the weathering on that plow blade is excellent!
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Maybe I am remembering it wrong since it’s been a few years but the one I was assigned to looked heavier in the front and drove different. I was only assigned to that tank for about 6 months before we turned them over to the National Guard and got brand new M1IP’s fresh off the factory floor.
Edit:
I started as the loader, typical FNG position, but the driver kept dropping the barrel into the ground during my first gunnery because they brake different because of the weight. The driver got fired while we were down range and I had to switched with him. No pressure. It was the XO’s tank.
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@Johnnych01 i saw it in one of my first reference books about the vietnam war on an M48, if i could find the book (it’s up in the attic some place) i could post a copy of the black and white picture)
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M48A1 w/M8 Dozer Blade (themech.org)
This one is at the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum at Camp Pendleton, Ca.
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