How
Close Does the Miniature Measure Up to
the Real M60 MBT?
 Technical
Manual 55-2350-215-10-15 provides
transportability drawings that I used to
check the overall dimensions of the
assembled model miniature - more for fun
than anything else. I had already
gleefully charged into building it and
wasn't about to go back and take it apart
again. The Technical Manual information is
useful for future projects though - who
can build just one M60 series model tank?
 The
assembled model M60 tank looks pretty nice
from all angles and that got me curious to
investigate how close it matched the real
vehicle in overall scale.
Measured
from Fender to Fender (minus the Mud Flap)
the model falls some four scale inches
short (3mm) of the posted 273.5 inch
length. In comparing the rest of the model
Hull dimensions, the measurement from the
centerline of the Drive Sprocket to the
centerline of Road Wheel #6 falls some 3.5
inches short in scale as well. The Angle
of Departure and Angle of Approach do come
very close to the TM drawings and the
distance between the Idler Wheel and Road
Wheel #1 matches.
The
TM drawings suggest that the Hull length
is 257 inches - which the ESCI/ERTL/AMT
Hull matches in scale. To correct the
distance between the Drive Sprocket and
Road Wheel #6, and maintain the proper
spacing between the rest of the Road
Wheels and Idler and Return Rollers, would
call for more work than most would
consider warranted to gain a couple of
millimeters. The model kit's basic
assembly looks very nice and the shortage
is not noticable in the final product.
Vertically,
the ESCI/ERTL/AMT model comes out better.
The Hull sits above the posted Ground
Clearance of 14 inches - by a couple of
scale inches. The overall height, measured
from ground to the top of the Sight
Housing on the Commander's Cupola is 126.3
inches - which my finished miniature
matched despite using an aftermarket
Turret and Cupola from another model kit.
Ground to top of Bustle
Stowage Rack at 98.6 inches matched,
Ground to top of Return Roller/Bottom of
upper track run at 54.2 inches matched,
Ground to top of Fender Stowage Bins at
69.1 inches and Ground to top of Air
Cleaner (side-loading) at 72.2 inches
matched as well in miniature.
The model miniature's width
matches up with the TM drawings, with a
scale overall width of 143 inches, Road
Wheel track (outer wheel edge to outer wheel
edge) of 130 inches and Track center to
Track center of 115 inches. The Academy
poly-vinyl track runs I fitted to my
miniature are narrower than the 28 inch
track span posted in the drawing by 2 scale
inches - but look fine in place. All in all,
the measurement exercise was fun and I
didn't feel compelled to mess around with
the Road Wheels and Drivers this time
around. The model kit captures the look and
feel of the M60 MBT.
Finishing
the M60 MBT Miniature - Painting,
Weathering and Markings
I
left all the Road Wheels and as many minor
subassemblies removable for painting as I
could - as most modelers do.
Desiring
to finish my M60 MBT in the dark olive
colors (FS595a) of that time period, I
made a custom mix of Tamiya Acrylic
paints. One ounce XF-62 Olive Drab + .8
ounce XF-1 Flat Black + .2 ounce XF-9 Hull
Red to give a hint of a brownish tone -
but not so overpowering of a hint in
1:35th scale. The tint lent to the paint
finish by adding the Hull Red becomes
apparent in strong lighting conditions.
Unit Commanders ultimately decided to keep
their tanks in these dark colors though
the specification and mix changed. In
consulting photos from the time period I
noted the finishes varied in tone from
near-black to chocolate-colored and I
attempted to come up with a paint mix to
give me different tones depending on the
lighting conditions too.
I
would apply the color coat over a primer
of XF-1 Flat Black. All of this created a
suitably dark olive finish over which to
apply markings. In the top photo at left,
there's little tonal difference between
the dark olive drab and the flat black of
the tracks and Mantlet Cover at this stage
of painting.
I
let my painted parts dry overnight before
proceeding to the next step. Wanting to
begin weathering before attaching the Road
Wheels and Tracks, I decided to perform
initial weathering on the lower Hull and
Tracks with an airbrushed coat of Polly
Scale Dirt (#505208). I thinned this 90%
with distilled water so that I could apply
subtle coats and control the buildup
throughtout the finishing process. Note:
this is an extremely thin paint mixture -
subtle and slow to build up - especially
on a dark finish like this one. It is thin
to allow multiple coats without making the
mistake of overdoing it. Be patient if you
attempt to apply this mixture and allow a
few minutes between coats for the
distilled water to evaporate so that you
can see the paint deposited on the model.
In this
stage, I sprayed the lower Hull between the
Suspension Arms, backs of the Road Wheels,
the Track Runs and the insides of the Drive
Sprockets in uneven and cloudy patterns.
These areas would be finished in the darkest
shade of "dirt" to lend more depth to the
final finish, breaking up otherwise uniform
and uninteresting road wear. I used Vallejo
Acrylic Game Color #51 Black and #994 Dark
Grey to pick out the surfaces of the rubber
track pads that come in contact with the
ground. I sparingly used Vallejo Acrylic
#864 Natural Steel to pick out wear points
on the track Guide Horns, End Connectors and
Drive Sprockets.
Attaching the tight Academy track runs
proved a bit tricky - as it always does
after painting and weathering - because you
don't want to mess up a good thing. Here, I
used White Glue and an assembly jig to get
things lined up properly. The White Glue was
used to glue all the wheels onto their
axles, and give me enough time to coax them
into place for alignment. The alignment jig
is a steel plate with a grid etched into it.
Once the tracks and wheels were put into
position and adjusted - I weighted the Hull
down on the alignment jig and used Armor
Research Company 1:35th scale rulers to set
the vertical alignment of all the Road
Wheels on both sides and used the etched
grid to square everything else up. My
paintbrush cleaning tank worked out fine as
a weight to place on top of the Hull. Since
I was using White Glue for this bond, I left
the Hull in the alignment jig to setup
overnight for strength.
I
wanted to keep the weathering subtle for
my "Slick 60" - so as not to obscure the
details. I treated each item added as a
small model onto itself - and made notes
on materials used to make sure they all
blended together properly. The first piece
of equipment I set into place happened to
be the two Tow Cables. These were painted
in Tamiya acrylic XF-1 Flat Black and
slightly weathered using VLS Corp's
Figment Powder #2 Burnt Umber and Graphite
- before attaching them to the Turret with
a set of tweezers.
In
the interim years, I added a cover for the
Searchlight and some Stowage around the
miniature - just enough for interest, but
not so much as to obscure details. It
seemed like a great deal of modeling
effort to result in so simple looking a
tank in the end. If you weren't familiar
with the details of a "Slick 60" - you
wouldn't likely be impressed with it at
all on a display table with other scale
military miniatures. I like this series of
tanks because of their size - standing
next to one you feel quite dwarfed.
In
September 2010, I decided to revisit my
miniature to change some aspects of the
finish. I felt I flattened the overall sheen
too much when I completed the miniature, so
I sprayed a light coat of Minwax water-based
Polycrylic Satin finish on the Hull, Turret
and Road Wheel faces. Then I followed up
with drybrushing with a 50-50 mix of Vallejo
#882 Middlestone and #889 US Olive Drab
acrylics. Underneath the sponsons, I applied
a light accumulation of MiG #P232 Dry Mud to
mimic areas of drier dirt in contrast to the
earlier VLS Figment weathering. I had to
pickout the Vision Blocks with a bit of
Future Floor Finish again, but that was all
that was needed to add some life to the
finish again. Constructing a new Display
Base breathed new life into an old
miniature.
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The above
photos show the initial weathering - with
the Road Wheels and Return Rollers press-fit
into place for contrast. The first pass of
acrylic gel medium is usually enough to
simulate this level of accumulated mud and
dirt. I decided to apply another thin coat
ahead of the Idler Wheel to eliminate that
pesky joint between the upper and lower
halves of the Hull. It would be hidden after
the tracks were set in place, but it bugged
me being left unaddressed...
I primed
the track runs with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black
and then oversprayed them with a coat of
Polly Scale Dirt. After setting overnight, I
picked out the outer Track Pads with Vallejo
acrylic Game Color #51 Black. This dries
within a few minutes, and I then picked out
the End Connectors, Guide Horns and Guide
Rings on the Drive Sprockets with Vallejo
acrylic #864 Natural Steel - taking care not
to get it one what would be rubber potrions
of the track runs. When dry, I went back and
picked out each of the inner track pads with
Vallejo Black. This took awhile but was
worth it in the end. With everything fitted
together, I then completed the joining of
the track ends underneath the Fenders and
weathered some underside areas before moving
on to applying markings.
In the
end, using the poly-vinyl Academy tracks
didn't save me any time or effort over using
the AFV Club individual track links. Though
I tweaked and messed around with them a fair
bit, the track end connectors still stick
out from underneath the Fenders - a small
amount but still do nonetheless. They do not
do so on the real tank, but in miniature
this doesn't detract from the model's
overall appearance. The track runs should
also rest on top of the Return Rollers, and
will need to be glued down. I used clamps
and 5-minute epoxy for this task and the
result was okay - but I shortly decided to
fit AFV Club individual track links to this
miniature. I was much more satisified with
the result, despite the end connectors
extending out from underneath the Fenders.
For
this minature, I designed and printed my
very first set of dry-transfers. I decided
upon modeling a vehicle belonging to the 3rd
Infantry Division in the mid-1960's. Using a
color plate drawing from Squadron Signal's
M60 in Action reference book as a guide, I
made markings for Company "B", 3rd
Battalion, 64th Armor. I liked the look of
the large red numerals on the turret sides,
red outlined with white and the small tank
silhouette in what I envisioned as chrome
yellow. The bright markings of this time
period hold the same fascination for me as
do the Normandy Invasion chrome yellow codes
used on American tanks in World War II. 64th
Armor at that time had the combination of
markings I was keen on modeling.
 Here is a
scan of a section of a page from Jim Mesko's
M60 in Action reference book published by
Squadron Signal. I have always found these
color plates very inspirational when it
comes to armor modelling - I hope they don't
mind me reproducing a portion of that page
here. As I have not seen a "B" Company tank
from 3-64, I took some liberty in assigning
a Registration Code, Platoon Number and
dubbing my miniature "Babs". Every five
years, I like to model an AFV named "Babs"
one of my wife's nicknames in celebration of
our wedding anniversary. I can always dream
that one M60 MBT out there might have been
dubbed "Babs"...
References &
Acknowledgements
Modeling the M60 MBT is
challenging - as there's little detailed
coverage of the tank in a single book to
really answer all the questions a scale
modeler comes up with. I leaned heavily on
US Army Technical Manuals and Bulletins to
flesh out the finer details of this variant
of the M60 Series. I used Technical Manuals:
55-2350-215-10-15 for
dimensions and measurements.
9-2300-378-35P/1-2 Change 1 and 2 for
Hull details and fittings.
9-2300-378-20P/1,
9-2300-378-35/1 and 9-2300-378-14 for
details on Hull fitings and equipment like
the various types of Air Cleaners, etc...
11-2300-361-15-4 for
Antenna and Radio Installations on the
Turret.
It often isn't enough just
to rely on books for details in modeling a
military vehicle. What I love the most about
AFV's is equally found in the veterans who
crewed them - they're all unique and add a
certain flavor to the subject. I
photographed details and measured fittings
on the M60 MBT in the Military Vehicle
Technology Foundation collection in Portola
Valley, California. Former M60 Tanker Joe
Daneri provided photo details and technical
assistance in supporting details I modeled
for my miniature.
 Though
I didn't yet have this volume in my personal
collection of R.P. Hunnicutt reference
books, borrowing it or checking it out of
your local library is recommended for
modeling any of the Patton series of main
battle tanks. It commands several hundreds
of dollar from Used Book Retailers still
today. One can always hope for another
printing in the future. Special thanks goes
out to Gary Kato, who upon learning that I
was modeling this conversion, offered me his
copy of this volume - and has given me
nearly endless inspiration to continue
modeling tanks from this volume.
 Jim Mesko's
reference produced by Squadron Signal
Publications is a good reference for
modeling the M60 Series of main battle
tanks. It provides general coverage of the
development of the variants and some
in-service photographic coverage.
 Osprey
Publications' coverage of the M60 Series of
main battle tanks also provides some
developmental history and service
photographs of the variants produced
generally useful for the aspiring modeler.
 AFV
Weapons Profile #24 - The M48 - M60 Series
of Main Battle Tanks by Robert J. Icks is
another good, but rare, source of
information for modeling this series of
tanks. In all the listed references, the
Interim Standard M60 isn't covered in depth,
and calls for more than one reference to
suit the modeler's thirst for knowledge and
detail.
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