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I would not be standing anywhere near those tow cables during that operation. Those things could cut a man in half if they let loose. Anyway cool build so far and cool video.

Thank you Panzer Fenris. We can feel the tension on those cables indeed.


Continuing with the build, the next posts are for the fender support 2 and 3.


This is the situation between the air filter heads and the front bin. There are 3 issues.

1- the fender support has no relations to the real thing, it just an inclined bar without any details, and molded with the bin.
2- the air intake pipes are not realistic, they should not reach the bottom like this.
3- the air filter frontal top plate is missing a lip to protuse forward, with bolts. I previously left this issue as is when i reworked the air filters two weeks ago. I was still in the mindset that this would be a fast build and that small issues are ok... As i am rebuilding this area, might as well do a better and more complete job. It just takes more time.

The back of the air filters also have a similar fender support molded with the bin.


View of the M60 area in front of the air filters , see the pipes, the protusion on top and the fender support structure and details. It gives a good idea where this build needs to go. I need this area to remain consistent with the other fender supports 1 and 4 created last week.


It was difficult but i manage to clean up the area. It was done very carefully using a Dremel cutting disk, a grinder bit and nail files that i had to cut in sections in order to get to the bottom of the fender. I did a few scratch here and there that needed to be repaired. On any future M60 build, this is one of the first thing i will do to avoid damaging some previous work.


While scavenging the workbench area for any material to use for the little air filter curved intake pipes, i realized that the TONGDE sprue has corners that have the right dimensions. Just need to cut them and reshape with a nail file. No need to go further.



I created 4 air filter intake pipes. These are pretty small.


Installed on the air filters after i reworked the top plate as per reference.


View of the AFV Club 1/35 kit fender support in front of the air filter, providing the specs for these parts that need to be created in 1/16 scale.


Continuing on following post

The fender support behind the air filter are a bit different. It does not look like much but the shapes of these two supports are very complex.


Same as last week, i extrapolated dimensions and created a first template but i had to redo this one twice after some adjustments had to be made to adapt to the TONGDE hull and to correct some mistakes... I was a bit in a rush and i should not have.


After some Dremel, nail file and cutting knife work, i have my core components for the 4 fender supports. Not perfect but good enough. No need for perfection here because these are partly hidden and can only be viewed from the top and sides.


Three of them have this own bracket but for some reason, the one in front of the right air filter has a different arrangement.


The fender supports are installed on the upper hull. I have redone all the bolts on top of the air filter to adjust to the new lenght of the front top plate, and also redid the TONGDE bolts on the central section. I calculated the previous bolts were all too big.



I plugged that ugly hole created when i removed the Com box at the back, and also installed bolt heads on the fenders.


Close up, keep in mind the model is dusty.


The support in the front of the air filter is lower than the one at the rear.


The support at the rear.


Continuing on following post

The bolt heads were redone and repositioned on the extended frontal upper plate, using Meng SPS-005 size 0.8mm with washers on the front, and 1mm with washers in the central section. The ones that were there before were too big.


They require finetuning.


The bracket of the support on the front right side is different, being a larger plate that partially overlaps the air filter, seen on the AFV-Club model. Take note that i also cleaned up the embedded fuel caps. They will be replaced.

Both fender supports in front of the air filters have a small plate on top.


These fender supports were exhausting.


The model as it stands today.

Regards, Louis

Very impressive build indeed.

Great work with those bins. And lovely cat!

Thanks everyone,

While ordering the TONGDE suspension metal upgrade kit from DKLM with metal gearbox and tracks, i noticed that the OKMO M-60A2 turret upgrade that Carson sell comes with optional 3D printed hull upgrade parts for the M-60. Most of these are generic upgrades.

It is interesting because a lot of these are difficult to make. However, the builder still need to properly remove from the model all the parts that need replacement and in some cases like the fenders, this is the hard work. Modelling skills are required to rework the hull and new parts to make them blend better with the hull.

Seen here are the frontal tow and lift hooks, headlights front plates, all fender supports and hatch handles. I also see covers for the driver's periscopes.


What seems to be nice air filter heads, hooks, gun barrel travel lock and a whole new hull back plate with more accurate engine grills and tail lights. However, the bulky bins at the bottom do not apply to M-60A1 or A3. It might include new rollers.


Details on the tail lights and the com box, which can likely be improved. Some of these new parts might require rework. The square boxes for the tail lights are not applicable to the A1 or A3 so the whole rear plate bottom cannot be used as is but most small parts can be salvaged.


Engine deck hinges and more view of the fender supports.


Ah, there are new fuel caps provided.


Detail on the travel lock, hinges and com box.


Even without a full inventory of what is and not included, for $55, it seems to be a good deal considering the work involved to recreate many of these parts. I have asked Carson to sell me a set separately and will of course integrate many of them on this build.

Regards, Louis

I have an M60A2 kit on it's way to me with the detail parts kit, but it's taking forever to get here.

tankme wrote: ↑Mon May 29, 2023 10:58 pm I have an M60A2 kit on it's way to me with the detail parts kit, but it's taking forever to get here.

I could not resist ordering one as well. Usually when they are gone, they're gone.


The following posts are for the pre-planning for the Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA).


The M-60 did not serve in Vietnam, this theatre is limited to the M-48. For those who want to model an M-60 that served in combat, a US Marine Corps M-60A1 during Desert Storm is pretty much the only option, shown here entering Kuwait. At that point, the USMC M-60A1 had the RISE (Reliability Improved Selected Equipment) package with upgraded engine, air filters, gun barrel and when Passive night vision components were added, they are known as "Passive". For Desert Storm, the M-60A1 were equipped with ERA.


I knew the ERA was not applied directly against the armor. As such, the installation for the modeller is very complex. There is a total of 90 ERA blocks mounted on individually shaped metal bars and brackets, most in block groups having different shapes and angles.

As such, i am very grateful to the Verlinden group (Sabot) and PrimePortal for providing critical information that will allow for an accurate model. The plan here is not to create a purely RC vehicle that looks great from 2 meters away, but one that looks great and accurate from 10cm away. It will be a combined RC and scale model, but one that you will not throw against the fence or through the bushes to fight a T-72. Better to use the TONGDE model as is for such fun.


I have to applaud TONGDE who had the guts of creating an M-60A1 version with reactive armor. The first task is to find out the situation regarding the ERA blocks provided and compare against references. This is the first M-60 that i am building so i am learning about the vehicle as i build this one, and sharing info.


View of the ERA provided for the turret. There are gaps that i will mention later.


I am right away noticing these two metal strips on a few block groups.


I have found some rare pictures of ERA with that feature. Most wartime pictures of M-60A1 in Kuwait do not show these but it does not means it was an exception either.


Close up on a ERA block group.


The size of the blocks and groups are pretty good. Each group has a 1 to 2mm scale difference with the 1/35 kit, which is good enough as confirmation. However, the turned corners on all blocks is annoying and bolt heads are not detailed.


I originally wanted to replace all the molded on bolts with brass M0.6 hex bolts with M0.8 washers but when i calculated that i needed about 360 bolts for a total cost of about US $200, i had to drop this idea.


As is will need to create more blocks to fill gaps with what is provided, i need to ensure consistency and improve these at the same time. The only simple and cheap option at this point is to use Meng SPS007 with 1.4mm heads with washers, and to reduce the height of the bolt head. Not ideal.


Continuing on following post.

Despite tons of pictures, a 1/35 kit is essential to sort this out, even if partially.


For the turret, most Academy 1/35 ERA groups had their TONGDE equivalent, exept one.


For some reason, TONGDE forgot the ERA group on top of the turret. It will need to be scratch built. I had to laugh at the Academy instructions who called it the "Passive Armor version". There is no such thing, the armor is Reactive. The M-60A1 that are called "Passive" is because they are equipped with passive night vision instead of the huge light on the mantlet.


Looking at the TONGDE parts provided for the smoke grenade dischargers that are somewhat embedded within the ERA, these are good and bad. The main element is pretty good but the base is inaccurate. The side with two legs side by side is inverted.


And as shown in reference, there is added spacing for the dischargers when ERA is installed. Otherwise, it will be way too deep if the armor is positioned with the right spacing like i am planning to. The base will need to be redone.


Frontal view of the ERA on the turret, its complicated.


Something on the TONGDE instruction caught my attention. The mount for the two ERA block on the mantlet is not right.


Ah, they inverted it... The flat section of the triangular base should be on the mantlet. Looks like someone took some specs for that part but the person doing the design flipped the mount, and its also upside down. This need to be fixed.


Looking at the hull ERA, it should look like this on a M-60A1 with ERA.


Continuing on following post