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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

More Hellcat

M18 Hellcat.
M36 by Boley, and M18 Hellcat.
M36 and Roco / Resin M10 with M36 turret.
Front view M36 and M10, even with the bigger turret, still low.
76mm gun and 90mm gun.
Side view, too bad there is not an affordable M18 / M39 and M24 in HO scale.
 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

90mm M10 Hellcat

There was a plan to put the 90mm M36 turret on the Hellcat.
This wonky resin one has the Roco M36 turret on it.
It actually looks really good, I think.
The turret just falls right into place.
But you either have to drill a hole in the resin vehicle or cut off the little locating pin on the bottom of the Roco turret for it to fit, but other than that, no work.
 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Tank Destroyer

I have no idea where these came from.
They have languished in my collection for decades.
They are resin cast M18 Hellcat tank destroyers.
Quality of the model is good, the casting is not very good.
I just recently spray painted them.  Only have two, not much of a company.
The bumps are epoxy resin I used to fill holes in the model
 

Sunday, March 28, 2021

M60 Family Photo

Here is a whole family of M60 series tanks.
There are many more options.
The biggest one missing is the bridge layer.  They are only now going out of service.
I always hoped Roco would do an M728 armored engineer vehicle.  But that never happened.
Also a number of mine clearing vehicles were manufactured, but not in HO as far as I know.
 

Saturday, March 27, 2021

120S Tank

The Roco Boley tank from the rear.
The S120 was the name the tank was eventually given.
It had a 120mm gun.
The model is an easy conversion, hardest part is cutting off the side skirts from the Boley Abrams.
You have to drill our a giant hole for the Abrams turret.  You could, of course, us the Roco Abrams but unless you had another use for the Roco Abrams hull it would be an expensive conversion.
Boley Abrams and the completed S120 on the right.
 

Friday, March 26, 2021

M60-2000 or 120S Tank

Boley M1 Abrams tank.  It was an inexpensive model, but it has a Bradley suspension and the hull then is too short.
Top view shows a turret with no loaders hatch and no machine guns on the turret top.
Here is the turret on a Roco M60 hull and the side skirts are cut off an glued onto the M60 hull sides.
Near the end of the Cold War there were several versions of upgrades of the M60 series of tanks.  With 15,000+ M60 series vehicles having been produced and thousands still in service as the US Abrams tank was replacing the M60 series in US inventories, there was a need to upgrade these tanks if the Cold War were to flare up, or if other nations wanted an improved vehicle but could not afford the Abrams or similar tank.
This is essentially the M60-2000 main battle tank.  It is an M60 tank with an Abrams turret and side skirts, there were other upgrades available but this was the basic version.  It's an interesting looking vehicle and is a good use for the rather wonky Boley Abrams and for some of those spare M60 tanks you may have laying around your collection.  Don't throw away those Roco M60A1 turrets yet, or even those old Roco M60 turrets, more to come!
 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Zymex M60A1

Zylmex M60A1 tank model.
In HO scale.
Tracks and wheels are like the Tomy kits.  Rubber tracks fall apart quickly.
The kit is metal and soft plastic.  The luggage rack is a bit wonky.
The turret bottom does not quite fit the upper turret.
Held together with rivets.
Here with Roco M60 tracks.
I like that it comes with the searchlight, luggage rack, and antenna.  The machine gun is plastic and does not break like the hard plastic Roco one often does.
 

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

M60A1+ by Roco

M60A1 with some of the detail kit added to the tank.
I like the searchlight.
Really makes a nice addition.
This luggage rack broke loose when I was taking photos1
I will have to fix it later.
Still looks good.  Later I will have to fill it with sleeping bags and such.
With little wheel.
Without little wheels.
 

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

M60A1+

The Roco Minitanks upgrade kit to the M60A1 tank.
It is great, it has the wire storage rack for the rear of the turret.
But for some reason my package had the instructions for the M60A2 tank turret!
Which I suppose someone in Austria did not realize was not the same kit.
Header card is right.
Has upgraded headlights, and various tow hooks and travel lock.
I mostly use the search light and the luggage rack.

 With new search light and luggage rack.