Well the tracks are fitted and the surprising thing is that AFV Club M88 tracks fit perfectly.
In my time I've had M60 tracks that say came from a Tamiya M60A3 not fitting an Italeri M60 ..could have been an Academy one but don't remember now so it was a pleasant surprise and I'm quite happy so far 😊

The dozer blades mounts are in place and nope they ain't exactly or even close to the real way this was mounted to the tanks hull but it still looks good and the fact ya can't see jack I'm not overly concerned about it.
Still have to get the turret all sorted with the normal factory applied bits and bobs then it will be crew modified parts added..spare tracks..ammo cans..fuel and so on .
Then it's damage time ..bent buggered bashed and broke     

Sounds like you're on solid ground. Carry on!

As builds go this one is pretty good.. being a Dragon kit parts fit sweet but I'm still lovin how well the tracks fit..would have made things annoying if they hadn't.
Looking forward to the weekend so I can get back into this 👌

Words! Words! Words!

Where's he pictures?

  

Quote from: Wardukw on March 18, 2024, 10:17:27 AMWell the tracks are fitted and the surprising thing is that AFV Club M88 tracks fit perfectly.
In my time I've had M60 tracks that say came from a Tamiya M60A3 not fitting an Italeri M60 ..could have been an Academy one but don't remember now so it was a pleasant surprise and I'm quite happy so far 😊

The dozer blades mounts are in place and nope they ain't exactly or even close to the real way this was mounted to the tanks hull but it still looks good and the fact ya can't see jack I'm not overly concerned about it.
Still have to get the turret all sorted with the normal factory applied bits and bobs then it will be crew modified parts added..spare tracks..ammo cans..fuel and so on .
Then it's damage time ..bent buggered bashed and broke     

AFV Club's track sets aren't designed to fit only their kits, which isn't surprising as the company started in
the aftermarket accessories end of the industry. 

Quote from: jcf on March 19, 2024, 08:49:05 AM

Quote from: Wardukw on March 18, 2024, 10:17:27 AMWell the tracks are fitted and the surprising thing is that AFV Club M88 tracks fit perfectly.
In my time I've had M60 tracks that say came from a Tamiya M60A3 not fitting an Italeri M60 ..could have been an Academy one but don't remember now so it was a pleasant surprise and I'm quite happy so far 😊

The dozer blades mounts are in place and nope they ain't exactly or even close to the real way this was mounted to the tanks hull but it still looks good and the fact ya can't see jack I'm not overly concerned about it.
Still have to get the turret all sorted with the normal factory applied bits and bobs then it will be crew modified parts added..spare tracks..ammo cans..fuel and so on .
Then it's damage time ..bent buggered bashed and broke     

AFV Club's track sets aren't designed to fit only their kits, which isn't surprising as the company started in
the aftermarket accessories end of the industry.

Yeah Hobby Fan resin is some pretty cool stuff and man do they love to charge for it 
One thing about tracks is with the amount of tanks I've built you do get a pretty good knowledge of the weird things..like early Dragon Panzer IV tracks not fitting later Panzer IV drive sprockets and they should fit as all Panzer  lll and lV are interchangeable.
I've got a set of Dragon P4 winter patten tracks from the early days of Dragon and when I use em finding the sprockets to fit them will be the biggest problem..ive got a few P4s in the stash and there's only one which "might" fit em ..not making any bets though.

More work has taken place...the damage has started ..track guards bent dented and torn..very common damage in the bush ...started with thr crew mods ..weapons mounts and shortly extra storage options as well .
The blade is in place with ond a couple more bits to sort and then I'll scratch build the blade release system for it.
This is a rather simple build so the building side should be done pretty soon ..it's Easter weekend this week so .more days to play 

Right ,,alot more work has taken place and today i have pics to prove it ...its going slowly as im not feeling the great and havent for nearly 2 weeks now and ive no idea what it might be ...oh well another strange thing for this strange person 

I mentioned how well the tracks from AFV Club fitted so heres the results for 2 hrs work.
DSCF4532 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
The gun is just test fitted in this pic ...getting a taste of where i want it to sit  ...it was shortened but 15mm .
DSCF4533 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4534 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
The dozer blade is mounted and its not even close to the real way it was mounted ..but in wiffy world its exactly how it was mounted 
I did have to hack this thing up to within an inch of its life and then rebuild the mounts as this was for a M60 which is not even close to the front hull of a M48 but it didnt turn out all that bad ..i did add the hand crank travel lock for the blade as well as this seems to always be missed out ...yes i saw a pic of a M48 with a dozer and these head lights even tho they are M60 
DSCF4537 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4535 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
Now its stowage and damage time ..track guards bent and mangled ..crew gear all over the place but still not getting in the way of all fighting systems ...all the stowage was almost copied form actual M48s in combat in Vietnam .
DSCF4536 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4538 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4540 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4541 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr
DSCF4543 by Phill Harrison, on Flickr

Still more to add to this in the way of stowage ...C rats boxes to add and tow cables as well ....still have to finish the ammo tray for the commanders 50 cal and sort out some head light guards even tho the tank i saw with these didnt have them at all .

This tank needs one of those hillbilly trailers made from a pickup truck bed!

There, that's it!

Well, they won't be running out of mg ammo or food any time soon, that's for sure!    

That's looking bueno Philll.   

To use the vernacular

Sweet as Bro'

Looking really nice Phil

"Oh my what a long barrel you have" 

Looking good mate 

Thanks guys 
It's been a very long time since I've built a Nam tank so this is a nice change to the norm .

It's Easter Sunday here right now at nearly 7am and I'm about to have my first coffee of the day and I'm already thinking about a couple of crew members for this thing 😅
Guy gave me some links to some Aussie tank crews but they didn't quite meet my needs but they also were very helpful in seeing how these guys looked 😀 ...also the fecking cost 
The great things that really helped was their helmets ..the M113 crews all wore US helmets ..so a big tick there and I've also got some figures with berets..their WW2 British but that's not gonna matter as it's pretty damn close to the real thing .