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Excellent work Louis!!

Hi, thank you !

Continuing with the turret top detailing.

The frontal sight. Shape and dimensions extrapolated from the 1/35 kit and references.



The guard for the len is shown lowered.


The serial and factory cast markings as shown on the 1/35 Academy kit.


I was planning to use these Archer 1/16 US armor (WW2) Resin surface decals that i picked up last year.


Upon closer inspection, i found that the raised markings were too thin for this model. And the letter size did not fit the look and feel i wanted. And applying decals on a rough cast surface is problematic.


I therefore decided to go back to Plastruct lettering in 2, 4 and 6mm sizes superglued to the hull. The letters are smaller than the advertized size. Some compromise is needed to achieve some result.


Serial and factory cast markings are applied. I used numbers i had available on my leftover sprue, i did not picked a real vehicle number.


This little plate was redone in plasticard pre-shaped roundels purchased at Spruebrothers. It really saves time. I used 0.8mm brass bolts.


It is rare to find someone that does a walkaround of a vehicle and this person actually climbs on the vehicle to take close up of the turret top. Most pictures are taken from the ground. This is a picture of the antenna base at the back. Looks like a MX-6707/VRC antenna base.


The 1/35 kit confirms an MX-6707/VRC antenna base, although the level of detail is limited.


Continuing on following post.

Comparing the inaccurate TONGDE antenna on the left with a Shapeways MX-6707 on the right that can be purchased for $15.50 for a set of 4. Believe me, that little curved coil is impossible to recreate with wire.


Although very detailed, it is weak and can be easily broken. I usually reinforce it with an internal metal tube. The antenna base is slowly drilled through, carefully removing any accumulation of dust at every 0.5mm of drilling. Dust accumulation inside the thin base while the drill is in action will expand and destroy the base.


A brass tube is inserted, of the right size just enough to be able to insert and hold a Heng Long Antenna.


Base temporarily shown on the turret. It will be permanently glued at the end of the build to avoid any damage while manupulating the model during construction.


I could replace this vent but it would likely damage the turret while doing so. I decided to only improve the top, showing embedded bolts instead of raised bolt heads, as seen in reference picture.


I studied the guards provided by TONGDE and compared them to the 1/35 Academy kit. I concluded that they are pretty good, accurate in size and shape. Although a bit too thick, i would not be able to do better. So, they were just cleaned up, injection pin filled with putty and installed as is. I need to install a couple of bolts on them, as seen in reference.


I earlier thought that the TONGDE loader's hatch was ugly and would need replacement but after analysis with this picture below and the 1/35 kit, it is actually very good. The area just need some additional details on each side of the hinge. I am still missing the rain gutter from the hatch to the side. I have to find a way to do it cleanly.

That's it for now.

Next step, the commander's cupola.

Regards, Louis

This continues to be remarkable work, Louis. Thanks, too, for the tips on the Archer casting identifiers and the Shapeways antenna mount.

How did I miss this thread? Your build reports are always great and superbly photographed.

Hi, thank you very much for your interest and comments. Hope this build can be of help to anyone rebuilding this M60.

The following set of posts are for the M19 commander's cupola. This item is a model on its own and requires a lot of work. It is the least accurate part of the TONGDE M60.

First task is to perform some research and compare to what TONGDE has provided.

The M19 cupola is cast and a bit rough. You can see below that the cupola is round, but the visors require flat surfaces.


Suberb picture of an M60A1 with details of the right side, view under the cupola mantlet and overall view of the mounting brackets for the ERA.


Opened M19 cupola hatch. Notice the structure of the hinges and the lack of handles on the hatch.


Left side view.


Right side of the TONGDE cupola. The base is there with overall good dimensions, but not much details. The lack of flat surfaces for the visors is a major dissapointment. It is the first thing i noticed when i saw pictures of the model earlier this year. It would not have required much more effort. Now, every owner of this model has an M60 with curved visors on the cupola... The handle on the hatch must have been added for convenience for those wanting to open the hatch, but it has to go.


A small design mistake on the hinge that need correction. That section on the right need to move to the left.


The mantlet cover is weakly detailed and has embedded turret component. The whole frontal area needs rework. Notice the curved visors. Sorry, but i just can't stand it.


Breaking the cupola apart. Easy, the two halves are not glued, just held with screws. Ah, thank you.


But that hinge is glued tight. Hard to remove without some destruction, but i managed.



Continuing on following post

Before going any further, i have assembled the Academy M-60A1 1/35 cupola to help me with the build of the 1/16 version.


No way around it, those curved visors have to go and replaced with flat surfaces as close as possible as those seen in references.


The scary part of the build...

The Dremel is used on all visors. A curved area next to the mantlet was also straitened.


The cupola is given the Testor's putty treatment like the turret.


After the first sanding and clean up, you can already see where this is going.


Second putty application and sanding. A bit more smoother.


To see more clearly, a Tamiya grey enamel primer was sprayed on it, and the cupola was given its third application of putty. I think it will eventually require about 5 application phases to get it right but i am moving on with the visors.


Continuing on following posts.

Nice close up view of a visor.


I made them in 1mm plasticard, it is more resistant this way while i am carving them. They will be reduced in thickness later.


Need 8 visors, plus a few extras, and i picked the best ones.


Installed on the turret, looks ok for now but need slow rework to get to acceptable level at close ups. Lots of scratches and little holes to fill and polish on the turret, apparent only on close up pictures.


Reworking the hinge. A thick brass rod is used to replace the plastic one that had to be cut.


Corrected.


The machine gun mantlet... will do my best.


A whole section of the front of the turret is missing, and needs to be added.


The reworked cupola at stage 3. Still need at least two more putty application and fine tuning using close up pictures.



Continuing on following post

Hinge details. I think the brass hooks might be a bit oversized. I will check that.


Mantlet details.


The M19 cupola of the M-60A1 is equipped with an 12.7mm M85 machine gun. It is very different than the Browning M2 and much lighter. We can see that the barrel is quite thin and notice the large muzzle.


View of the M85 machine gun.


The machine gun coming with the model is bad. It's more like a 30mm cannon.



The more tricky part to do is the sleeve, done with a 4mm aluminum tube.


Bunch of tubing required to build the M85. It include a 2mm brass tube for the barrel, a 3mm brass tube to fit between the barrel and the 4mm sleeve. Then a bunch of tubing to fit the mantlet.

Believe it or not but the TONGDE muzzle is reused. First, cut from the barrel. Cut the muzzle in two halves. Create the thin slice with a nail file and glue the two halves together and make it fit the 2mm barrel.


And here is the finished machine gun.


Continuing on following post

Some more views of the cupola at stage 3. As mentioned earlier, i still need to finetune the turret cast texture, remove scratches that i am still finding, and also do improvements here and there. I think it is going somewhere. Not perfect yet but it is a definite improvement.


View of the cast markings on the Academy 1/35 kit cupola.


I tried to do something similar using 2mm Plastruct letters. My letter sprue is almost empty and i had to use what's available. I could not reuse the same numbers as shown on the 1/35 kit. Hope the Marines will forgive me, but it probably does not matter to anyone...


The turret as it stands today.


That's it for now. While i am waiting for the gun barrel from Germany, i will switch to the upper hull.

Regards, Louis