M48 M60A2 Tank

This is my completed Frankentank.

M48 hull.

M60A2 turret.

A design never intended for service.

I think it is interesting to have unusual vehicles in the collection.

 I also plan on making one as a range target version.

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.
 

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.
 

M60 A2 Comparison

 

I have read that the Tomy M60 A2 was more of a toy and not as detailed as the Roco.

Given the turret is a very early version and has no storage basket it is not as detailed as the ten years newer Roco, which is a later version.

But compare the hull detail on this Roco.

Note the little handles and rivets.

And then look at the detail on this tank hull.

Look at the front of these two tanks.  Nearly identical.

I think the two are very comparable.

I seen no loss on detail on this model.  The very earliest drawings of the real vehicle did not have the stowage racks.

Both are the same width and height and length.

M60A2 vs M60A2

The Tomy and Roco M60A2 tanks.

The Tomy cupola is plastic, and so is the gun.

The Roco is all plastic.

Detail on both is very fine, look at the engine grill.

Check out the engine deck.

Note the tools are slightly different and the sizes of the boxes along the fender are a little different.
 

Roco and Tomy HO M60A2

Tomy HO scale M60A2 tank.

This model came out at least ten years before the Roco M60A2.

They are just the same size and the hull is very similar to but not identical to the Roco.

These were like a Hot Wheels car but came as a kit, and you put them together.  Their rubber tracks were very fragile and disintegrated right away.

The real flaw with the kit was the lack of the storage baskets on the rear turret.

But that will actually prove a blessing in disguise later.  Shown here Roco and Tomy.
 

M60A2 the Saga Continues

The Tomy hull was about as good as the Roco.

The Roco turret had a selection for either the early gun, as seen on the Tomy, or the late gun, as I used here on this Roco.

The Roco also had the turret basket luggage rack on the rear, so it was much more detailed.  In very early drawings the M60A2 did not have the turret basket rack.

There was also a proposal to arm this turret with the standard 105mm cannon, particularly as a back up in case the the guided missile system did not work.  The front view was much smaller than in the normal tank.

Here is a mock up of what it may have looked like had it been built.  As far as I have been able to determine, none were ever constructed.
 

M60A2

M60A2 by Tomy.

The tracks we a very fragile, but highly detailed rubber, they broke and disintegrated pretty quickly.

The Roco Minitanks version of the M60A2 tank.

Roco sold the turret as a separate piece, you had to have the M60 tank or buy one.

 The Roco version was much new, at least ten  years after the Tomy kit.

Pterodactyl

Tomy makes a series of dinosaurs.

This flying reptile is the only one I have seen.

It was on sale at Tuesday Morning.

Shown here on a hilltop.

He has hinges on this jaw and wings.