How Big is Tall?

Petner and Roco together.

M60A1 with T62.

You can see the M60A1 is also larger than the T62.

Much taller than the T62.

But even the T62 looks tall compared to the T72.
 

T72 vs T60

May late Cold War Soviet tank line up.

Two different T62 tanks flanking a T72 tank.

Roco M60A1 with a T72.  You can see how big the M60 series was.

Bigger allows more crew comfort, thicker armor, more ammo storage, and a better hull down position.

Smaller means harder to see, and harder to hit.  Everything in tank design is a trade off.
 

M48 & M60A2 Got Together

The US Army retired the M60A2 tanks and the M48 AVLB at about the same time.

The M60A2 hulls became the new bridge layer.

The M48 hulls got the old M60A2 turrets and were placed on tank gunnery ranges as targets.

Some were eventually sent to various museums and posts as monument tanks.

I got this photo off the Internet, I don't remember where, and it shows one of these tanks with an M60A2 turret and an M48 hull.  The M60 hull front goes straight across, and M48 hull is boat like, as this one is, the M48 also has the 5 return rollers on top.

I got an HO scale M48 tank kit from a company that I think was named Kawaii, from Japan.  It was not a good kit.  And I got an M60A2 tank model in HO scale from Tomy.  A great kit, but I just needed the hull for a different project.  So I combined the Kawaii turret, and the Tomy hull and some Roco M60A2 bits that were more detailed and used them for this model.  It will be painted as a museum piece for my collection.  I have read that while the M60 and M48 turrets can be swapped onto each other's hulls, the M60A2 version won't work because of technical problems with the air scavenger system to clear out the barrel after firing.  I also have no doubt that in an emergency, Yankee ingenuity would figure out a way to do it if necessary.
 

120S Prototype

The Boley Abrams used the Bradley suspension from their Bradley kit, so one less roadwheel than the Abrams actually had.  They used the same suspension on their M109.

Roco Abrams with the correct roadwheel arrangement.

Boley turret on Roco Abrams hull, it looks a little small.

Roco Abrams turret on the Boley hull.  Turret looks huge!

Roco Abrams turret on Roco M60 series hull with Boley Abrams side skirts, cut down to fit the M60 hull.

This is the model I intend to build.  It is the Roco M60 series upper and lower hull, left and right side tracks, Boley Abrams turret, Roco Abrams machine guns from the machine gun accessory set, and a home cast turret hatch.  In real life they built one of these on a leased M60 hull as a test vehicle and to interest allied nations who fielded M60s and wanted an upgrade.  There were no orders and the vehicle was returned to it's original configuration.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M60-2000_Main_Battle_Tank
 

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.
 

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.

M60 & M60 A1

Roco M60A1 tank.

US Army Cold War workhorse tank.

It did not serve in Viet Nam.

But did soldier just about everywhere else the US Army went for 25 years from the early 1960s.

I think it is a great model, even without the detail parts kit.

 Shown here with dad, the M60 with the turtle turret.  Roco sometimes gave you one or the other or both turrets in a package.

M60A2 or No?

This is the front view of the Tomy M60A2 tank, without the tracks.

This is the MBT (MR) with 105mm gun.  It was essentially the M60A2 with a 105mm gun, just like the M60 and M60A1 carried.

Here is the Tomy model with a Roco M60A1 turret front installed and the M60A1 gun and M60A1 tracks mocked up.  The Tomy kit has return rollers molded into the metal hull so they will have to be removed or the plastic track will need to be cut.  I am considering cutting the plastic track so it will fit the Tomy hull and then casting a few copies so I can make several of these models without having to ruin a platoon of Roco to do it.

The intention was to have the heavy armor and low front sillouette of the M60A2 turret with a conventional gun.  They probably should have dropped the Shillelagh gun/ missile system and went with this instead.