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Hi, I just won this kit on ebay, questions are 1-how good is this kit, is it accurate and are thier any aftermarket upgrades for it. I usually only do 1/48 WWII aircraft and some Cold war era jets,but sometimes I do dive into armor, any help with this kit would help. Thanks Rob

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in general you can't go wrong with tamiya 1/35 armour kits early releases are a bit more basic but still good kits

a good armour site is " armorama " they have reviews of aftermarket stuff and a list of aftermarket suppliers !!

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Tamiya is okay, but can often use just a little refinement.

http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=ED35440

And there is more out there.

HTH

Cheers, Ian

PS-model armour sites

Missing Lynx

http://www.missing-lynx.com/

Armorama

http://www.armorama.com/

Edited by Ian Buick
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The kit is one of Tamiya's better ones, esp. for its age. It goes together well and is pretty accurate. The tracks are poor though with incorrectly placed guide teeth (in the middle of the track block as opposed to between them). AFV Club makes a great set of indi-link plastic replacement tracks for it. There are a few other tweeks you can do to make it look better too. Here is a list of corrections.

Tamiya M48A3 Tweak List

1. Turret height should be increased by approx 1.5mm, which can be done by adding a sheet styrene shim, which can then be sanded to the turret's shape.

2. Fill the motorization slots and holes on the model.

3. Three oval holes should be added to the drive sprockets at the 12, 4 and 8 o'clock positions, these are not present on the model, but were there in real life. Check reference pics for shape and location.

4. It's worth considering replacing the fender stays with PE items or homemade efforts of very thin sheet styrene.

5. Rebuild the stowage basket from thin wire; it really improves the model.

6. Add casting numbers to the turret roof, rear hull, and engine access doors.

7. Glue mantlet in place and fill gap with milliput to represent the canvas cover.

8. Replace the cover, fixing clips with plastic strip and add bolt heads.

9. If shown opened, shave off loader's hatch internal handle and latch mechanism, and replace with brass or plastic strip, rod and tube.

10. Turret water jerry cans have incorrect style filling cap.

11. You could replace the molded on tie downs on the turret with brass items.

12. Use copper wire to add 3 lifting lugs to the commander's cupola, at the 12, 4, and 8 o'clock positions.

13. Shave off and replace the hull stowage bin handles with plastic/brass strip.

14. Fill up the main turret site periscope, as well as the driver's periscopes.

15. Add cast texture to the turret and hull.

16. Replace the awfully incorrect kit tracks with aftermarket ones. The AFV set is great, just make sure you get the correct one, they make two sets that they say can be used on the M48 and M60 tanks. One of them has octagonal shaped pads; the other has chevron shaped pads. The latter (chevron block) are the correct ones for a Vietnam era tank.

17. Suspension height correction. The Tamiya kit was based on a vehicle that did not have the engine installed, as such, it was lighter and rode high on its suspension. The kit is about 3mm too high. To fix it, cut the tabs off the road wheel arms and lower all the arms by 3mm. Each suspension arm damper should also have about 2.5mm removed, they are too long and also make the model sit a little too high. You may also have to remove a couple track blocks on each side to take the slack out of the track.

M48A3suspensioncorrection1.jpg

The advice above to check out Armorama is good advice. ARC is a great forum, but it is an aircraft forum. For armor advice and questions, it is better to go to an armor forum. Armorama is the best out there.

Good luck.

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M48! Love that tank!

r58.jpg

r56.jpg

USMCM48A3002.jpg

P0001111.jpg

there are some of my M48's,

There is a lot you can do with kit. The list above is pretty dead on. On the suspension hieght, I measured the M48A3 in the Patton Musuem and the M48A2 outside both measured the same. Came home and measured the kit when assemblied it was dead on a scale 2 inches to high. I have corrected the height on the last two kits I built and to be honest for the amount of work it is hard to tell the difference when it's on the shelf. Just my two cents. The search light is a little to big and the mounts are simple. Cut it into quarters and reglue. The search light mounts I like the ones in the AMT M60A1 kit for those. Fender storage box handles I use Italeri M47 ones if I can. I enjoy the kit. M48 was used by a lot of countries, so you have a good choice of what you can do.

here is a link to the pictures I have found on the net and some of my own walk arounds. Hope it can help you.

http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp320/29ToyA/M48/

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On the suspesion, if you lower it the correct amount, you will have an accurate model, but as pointed out, you might not see that much of a difference. If you lower it just a bit more, it gives it a nice, heavy 'sit' and makes it look like its actually weighing down the suspension, and not floating on top of it. Its not 100 percent accurate, but it "looks" right. The AFV club tracks are beauties and really add to it as well. One of Tamiya's better early kits, I've built it a number of times. And I didn't see it mentioned, but the bow should come to sharper edge, and not the rounded shape as tamiya molded it. Pics below shows how pointy the nose really is

2746218817_1113e35559.jpg

m-48-a-3-tank.jpg

Edited by JasonB
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That list is why I don't build armor...I don't think there is an armor builder out there who can build one OOB. All the armor guys I know wind up spending more on aftermarket than they did on the original kit...just to take care of that list of things that need fixing. No thanks; I'll stick to aircraft...much simpler.

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That list is why I don't build armor...I don't think there is an armor builder out there who can build one OOB. All the armor guys I know wind up spending more on after market than they did on the original kit...just to take care of that list of things that need fixing. No thanks; I'll stick to aircraft...much simpler.

Wow, as a former full time armor modeler, I couldn't disagree more. Of the 17 things on that list, only one (the after market tracks) isn't scratch building or basic armor building stuff. And like all things, its up to the individual as to how much of it they want to do. I think the after market for aircraft is much crazier than the armor market. I mean, every aircraft kit that comes out seemingly has an after market cockpit released for it, usually costing as much if not more than the kit. Then theres the PE sets, the intakes, the exhausts, correction sets, correction sets for correction sets, etc. To me, much of the detailing involved in armor can be dome with good old basic scratch building and basic modeling skill. Take a look at the list of changes, corrections and after market available for, lets say, the 1/32 Tamiya Phantom kit, and let me know how thats simpler than the list posted here for the M48 kit.

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Jason:

Yeah, I guess you are right...lots of assemblers in the aircraft arena, also. I agree wholeheartedly with you regarding scratchbuilding...too many people would rather spend a whole bunch on something they could make themselves, for free.

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Like the others have said, most of the corrections can be done using scratch-building and good old-school modeling. It depends on what level of modeling you are at and how much you want to put into them. I find that I can not do an OOB build. There is always something that needs correcting. To each their own though.

Edited by HeavyArty
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Here are some shots of an out of the box Tamiya M48 with one I did a little work on

IMG002-1.jpg

IMG003-1.jpg

IMG005-1.jpg

IMG006-1.jpg

Don't know if this will work for you, but I hope you enjoy the kit anyway you build it.

A couple of things I total forgot to say (sorry)

1) fenders are missing a lot of the bolts

2) rear engine deck is missing casting texture and welds

3) front lower center hull should be thickened

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Great, now I will have to pony up the 50.00 after the holiday's, cant resist getting it. Thanks for the site tank. Rob

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Great, now I will have to pony up the 50.00 after the holiday's, cant resist getting it. Thanks for the site tank. Rob

:cheers:

According to Charvat at Missing Lynx you will also need to "The only thing missing to make a reasonable M48A3 Mod B is the reinforced grill doors and taillight housings. To go full out, the fenders need to be cut off of Tamiya upper hull and rebuilt and the M60 style headlights & horseshoe shaped guards need to be added."

HTH

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The kit is one of Tamiya's better ones, esp. for its age. It goes together well and is pretty accurate. The tracks are poor though with incorrectly placed guide teeth (in the middle of the track block as opposed to between them). AFV Club makes a great set of indi-link plastic replacement tracks for it. There are a few other tweeks you can do to make it look better too. Here is a list of corrections.

Tamiya M48A3 Tweak List

...

Many thanks for that list. :thumbsup:

Having built a Tamiya M48 (a short article with pretty bad pictures can be seen here) a long, long time ago I'm quite familiar with the basic kit.

However, as I have plans on building another M48 sometime in the future I'm always collecting hints and tips on how to make a good kit even more accurate. Already have the AFV Club tracks and the Eduard PE. Currently looking for a good aftermarket barrel and some small stuff...

Also, thanks to all other hints and tips on this kit that has been posted in this thread. Very useful! :worship:

Cheers,

Anders

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Many thanks for that list. :thumbsup:

Having built a Tamiya M48 (a short article with pretty bad pictures can be seen here) a long, long time ago I'm quite familiar with the basic kit.

However, as I have plans on building another M48 sometime in the future I'm always collecting hints and tips on how to make a good kit even more accurate. Already have the AFV Club tracks and the Eduard PE. Currently looking for a good aftermarket barrel and some small stuff...

Also, thanks to all other hints and tips on this kit that has been posted in this thread. Very useful! :rofl:

Cheers,

Anders

I do like the markings. :worship:

I can't believe I didn't mention this before. I recommend reading "Praying for slack: a Marine Corps tank commander in Vietnam" By Robert E. Peavey. Not only a great read but pics also of the M48's in the jungle.

Also USMC Tank Crewman 65-70 by Ed Gilbert has some pic's. Ed also has Tank battles of Vietnam, I don't have it yet but it's on my list to get. His other tank books are very good.

HTH

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I do like the markings. :thumbsup:

I can't believe I didn't mention this before. I recommend reading "Praying for slack: a Marine Corps tank commander in Vietnam" By Robert E. Peavey. Not only a great read but pics also of the M48's in the jungle.

Also USMC Tank Crewman 65-70 by Ed Gilbert has some pic's. Ed also has Tank battles of Vietnam, I don't have it yet but it's on my list to get. His other tank books are very good.

HTH

Another good read for inspiration is "Tanks Sergeant" by Ralph Zumbro. He did a tour in Vietnam with the 69th Tank Battalion IIRC. Some neat stories, and also a few interesting pictures.

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