Tamiya M60A1 build (old)

[stikpusher]

So this was my second build as an “adult”… an 18 year old Private E-1 Grunt at Ft Polk purchased at the PX and built over an off duty weekend in March or April 1984. It was repaired/rebuilt minimally a few years ago after damage sustained in multiple moves over the past four decades. I used the Pactra enamels carried at the PX to best as I could replicate the Spring/Summer Verdent MERDC scheme then worn by most vehicles in 5th ID at the time. The TC figure is from a Tamiya M3 Bradley that I built a year or so later on, and stowage from other Tamiya kits.

[Leon]

Very nicely done! I did this one in the desert camo.

[greg]

It's great that you still have this. (and that you managed to have it follow you to where home has been since).

Not only that, it looks really good!

[chromdome35]

For a second kit, this looks GREAT!!!

Love the back story!

[Tobi]

May 23, 2023 16:46:21 GMT -5 greg said:

It's great that you still have this. (and that you managed to have it follow you to where home has been since).

Not only that, it looks really good!

I was thinking exactly the same!

[stikpusher]

Thanks guys. It’s funny that I thought when I joined the Army I would have to give up the hobby. Lo and behold, after finishing training and I arrived at my first duty station, the PX had a toy section that contained a serious model section well stocked with 1/35 Tamiya armor. They were priced cheaper than any local or mail order hobby store, and tax free! Ah the simple things in life. Yeah this build does have something of a sentimental value to me in hindsight.

[Real G]

Hey Stik,

That kit was my second Tamiya armor kit, and the first one I paid for myself!  I got mine at the Legionnaire, a wargaming shop that also stocked model kits.  IIRC I paid $10.50 for it, a princely sum for a kid in middle school back in 1977!  There was another hobby shop called Hobby Things and Craft Center that had a bunch of built armor kits on the shelves, and the M60A1 was one of them.  I took one look at it and knew I had to have one.  I was so proud of myself getting the clear Scotch tape over the searchlight lens without putting a fingerprint on it!  At the time, the only US tank I could name was the M4 Sherman.  The M60 started my MBT craze, only to be cut short by a lack of Soviet subjects.  The Tamiya T-62 came a little too late, and ESCI kits were hard to get over here.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your Tamiya M60A1 memories!