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This method allows the ERA to be easily dry fitted to determine the proper height, but not for lateral mouvement. Once the ultimate position has been determined, drop of superglue are deposited at the bottom of the pipes, which goes inside the holes and fixes the ERA group in place for a really solid hold.


Putty and sanding is done at the bottom to make it smooth.


The smoke grenade dischargers are re-installed at the proper location in relation to the ERA position, as best as possible.


The rear ERA group is flat and easier to install. The middle one is complicated because of the long pipes. The front one has an angle, and to make it match reference better, i had to cut loose the ERA tile at the top to make it independent.


The ERA groups on the turret right side are installed. Honestly, this is not for everybody. There are pitfalls are every step.



Comparing the real tank on the left with the model on the right. I see a few improvements that can be made but its close enough. Keep in mind that each tank is a bit different from each other because the ERA tiles can be individually mounted a bit differently by the crews on the vertical braces.


See how the front ERA block is intertwined with the Smoke grenade discharger, the last tile is sliding in the gap between the grenade discharger unit and the metal mount, reproduced here the best i could. I am happy with the result, that was really not easy.


Next step, the turret left side.

Regards, Louis

That’s the mark of a skilled, and talented builder when they make it look easy to everyone else.

Fantastic work Louis!

The added armor looks quite real.

Barry

Thank you Meter Rat and Barry for your encouraging words.


The following post is for the completion of the ERA on the left side of the turret. I had previously done the ERA group after the smoke grenade discharger. Now doing the one in front of it.


The usual study is made.


This group is complicated by the heavily bended pipes at the bottom and by the two independent tiles on top of it.


Brackets are prepared in the usual way.


This was the most complicated ERA group to install. The angles and position is difficult to determine from eyeballing pictures. Things looked good by looking at two important pictures, holes were drilled, dry fit, looking good but then i look at other pictures to cross check distances with other items up and down, left and right on the turret using different angles and i noticed mistakes. I then miscalculated the placement again twice after i had drilled the holes in the turret... Things got ugly real fast. But a bit of putty and everything is back to normal. Once the superglue is applied to the mounting pipes on the turret, there is no way back without tearing up the whole thing, so this cross check step is important before gluing anything. I know the ERA group is probably still 2mm too far from the front, but i decided that it was not worth reworking the position again for the 8 pipes.

The individual ERA tile is then added on top. It's different angle is no mistake, it was reproduced from reference pictures.


The smoke grenade discharger is re-installed according to pictures, the best as possible, and the independent tile is added on top of it.


The ERA is almost done. The remaining groups and tiles to create and install will be on top of the turret and on the mantlet.


Continuing on following post.

Got a shipment from Carson of DKLM today, the official M-60A3 hull upgrade and the missing metal track links have arrived. Now i can stop cannibalizing my M-60A2 kit and give it back everything i had taken from it. Coming with it is the new M-60A3 back plate, which as far as i can see is the same for the M-60A1, but not the M-60A2.


Looking at the covers for the tail lights, i decided to use some Shapeways M-41 Walker Bulldog tail lights i had in stock. The faces are more accurate because the two faces are different between left and right, also noticed on the M-60. But that was not really necessary...


It just needed to be trimmed to fit as a replacement. It is just put on without glue at this time, It will be glued only after painting.


Comparing the new back plate with the old one. It is a major improvement in terms of details, beauty and accuracy. The grills have the 17 blades that they should have, and with a more appropriate thickness. Hinges on the sides are beautiful. I do not see anything that can be improved.


The tracks are finally installed.


The back plate is dry fitted. Not perfect, will need some work to remove a gap at the bottom and a bit of warping at the top.


Be aware that large 3D printed parts like the tow hook mount require epoxy glue because other glues on inventory had absolutely no hold on the parts. Notice the excellent detail on the tow hook, mount, grills and door handles.


Continuing on following post

Parts for the rear inside mud guards.

That's for the curved part going from the rear mud guard to the tail lights. A bit thick but i do not want to trim and weaken them.


Dry fitting, not bad. I am happy to see that it is designed in such a way that the part can be glued to the lower hull without removing the ability to lift the upper hull.


But they need some minor adjustments with the upper hull mud guards.


That's it for now. Next step is to finish the ERA once and for all. Totally fed up with it.

Regards, Louis

Hi everyone,

Ok, time to finish the ERA.

At least 20 detailed pictures of the turret top and mantlet ERA from all angles were required. The layered and angled ERA configuration is complicated for the modeller that wants to position and reproduce the mountings correctly.


I started with the turret top ERA group.


The positioningof parts on a base kit requires some compromises as the distances and sizes of the details on the model are not exactly the same as on the real tank. A couple of mm here and there shows. The idea is to achieve the best compromise.


Turret top ERA group is installed.


Reference picture.


Not bad.

At this point, i just want to finish. The mantlet ERA group and the standalone tiles on the top sides are installed. Holes have been created when no mounting bolts were required. Notice that this configuration is a square tile on the right and a rectangular tile on the left. But i have seen a configuration with two square tiles on both sides.


Continuing on following post

View of the specific mount for the ERA on the front of the mantlet.


The mounts were recreated in plasticard and brass. Note that TONGDE has attempted to reproduce these mount but they inverted the mount, the back plate that bolts to the mantlet is actually facing forward... go figure what happened there.


This is it !! the ERA is finished. I am happy to have done it but its one of those things that i can say never again.


Continuing on following post


Reference picture


Here we can see that the ERA tiles provided with the model are not wide enough by probably 1mm each. So, when the tiles are spread out in a group against one another, it adds up fast. You can see that the distance on the left is not correct. Someone doing this build could correct the size of the tiles before assembly. This difference shows up in other areas, but i have tried to compensate the best i could.

Correcting the engine back plate. A thick re-inforcement plasticard piece is added with epoxy glue to the interior of the back plate to avoid any warping and breakage.


The back plate is now strait.


I mentionned in an earlier post that the turret is too low, the back corners of the turret scratch the rear deck when turning. Now, this need correction because it will eventually ruin the paint job.


This is easily fixed by adding a 1mm thick plasticard ring to the top of the upper hull ring.


Now, the corner of the turret has room to rotate without problems. I think it also makes the turret look better because it actually looked a bit low.


As for the setup for the turret rotation, the rotation wheel is still centered on the rotation unit gear.


And some buffer was also created at the front between the bottom of the mantlet and the storage boxes and the ERA.


Here is a walk around of the ERA mounted on a M-60A1. A lot of work… but at this time, this 1/16 M-60A1 with its scratch built customizations is likely unique. Hope the Marines will like it too.


Continuing on following post

The M-60 experts will notice a few mistakes, but this was really not easy, and the missing 1mm in width on the ERA was the main problem. It shows mainly when ERA groups rejoin each other.

The turret basket was reinstalled.


Notice the two brass metal brackets added to the top center of the basket, seen in references.