Taiwanese M60-2000

[chrisonord]

Turned out grand has that Tom 

[NARSES2]

That does look nice Tom 

[Supertom]

T(h)anks guys. Did a little weathering today:

[Wardukw]

T(h)anks guys. Did a little weathering today:

On a model that small "A little weathering " is exactly right ✅️   
Looking forward to this dude 😀

[Old Wombat]

太好了，我的朋友!


(Tài hǎole, wǒ de péngyǒu!)

[Supertom]

太好了，我的朋友!


(Tài hǎole, wǒ de péngyǒu!)

謝謝!

[Supertom]

The local library printed the skirts. They look way better than my Toybox printer, though there were some malformation that was easily fixed with putty. For 38¢ I can't complain. The plastic's kinda hard though, like they used ABS or something. The outward-facing portion is textured, which unfortunately, was not what I wanted. I'll pick up some spray filler primer tomorrow to smooth out.

[Supertom]

Primer has been applied to the side skirts and painted! This will sit overnight and a gloss coat will go on tomorrow, then weathering and mounting to the tank!

[NARSES2]

  

[Wardukw]

Dude thats looking sweeeeet as hell   

[Supertom]

Dude thats looking sweeeeet as hell   

It's starting to look like something, that's for sure!

Waiting on stuff to dry, so I started to tackle some dangly bits, like the commander's and gunner's machine guns. The guns are decently detailed for 1/72, except for one little detail - the handles are just stumps in the back. I broke out the dremel and stared to add a little more detail. No need to superdetail it, I just wanted to give it a little life:

[Supertom]

Skirts are on! Additionally, the reflective coatings on lenses are self-adhesive holographic vinyl sheets.

[kerick]

Sweet is right! This will get some serious looks from other modelers!

When you get something printed at your library do you design it on your own software or do you use the library's software? Sometimes a part that could be 3D printed would be useful to me but not often enough to invest in a machine.

[Supertom]

Kerick, I designed it at home using TinkerCAD (not the best but good for beginners). I have an old, first-generation Toybox FDM printer that I used to print the rough shapes for size and shape. Once I was happy where it was, I sent the STL files to the library, where they printed the parts for me.

I'd print more stuff with a resin printer, but I'm back to square one on that as the 2nd hand one I bought was damaged internally and I can no longer get curing LCD screens for that model anymore.

[Supertom]

And she's done! The GDL M60-2000, or CM-15 Noble Lion (高貴式戰車), was an upgrade to the Taiwanese Army's aging M60 fleet. Taiwanese doctrine isn't to fight tanks one-on-one (that's a last resort), but rather, they're meant to defend the island like some form of mobile defense gun platform, shooting invading landing craft before they come ashore. A successor to the CM-11 Brave Tiger tank, which was essentially a M60 chassis with an upgraded M48 turret, The CM-15 is the same M60 chassis, with turret adapter ring to accommodate an M1A2 turret (itself upgraded from old M1A2 stocks) to quickly fulfill an urgent need for a more powerful and survivable tank. ERA panels By replacing the CM11's 750hp Continental AVDS-1790-2 engine to a 1200hp AVDS 1790-9 diesel engine, the tank is now able to handle the added weight of the M1A2 turret with the additional GIAT ERA blocks for added survivability.

Armament consists of a fully stabilized M256 120mm smoothbore gun, with 36 rounds in the turret bustle, with a .50cal coaxial machine gun, while the commander has a roof-mounted M2HB .50cal machine gun and an M240B 7.62 machine gun for the gunner station. Defensive systems include M250 smoke grenade launchers. The CM-15's survivability has been in question with the introduction of combat drones, though plans are to introduce drone jamming systems and integration of Rafael TROPHY APS for additional protection.

I saw pictures of this tank while in Singapore, and thought it would be fun project to work on while at home, in addition to having something at the table for SMW2025. I essentially spliced the turret ring on the M60 onto the M1A2's turret, and transferred the M60 kit's ERA panels over, making a few adjustments to fit the M1 turrent's geometry. A Taiwanese roundel from an Italeri Mirage is the only marking on this tank (that's mostly covered in mud). The model has the distinction of being built in three different countries/continents: Asia (Singapore), Europe (UK), and North America (US). It almost got some extra build time in Iceland, except that my flight got cancelled and my replacement flight sent me straight home. For all purposes this is done, but once I get a new 3D printer I'll add 2 extra roadwheels, some jerry cans and other accessories to the bustle rack.

Enjoy and thanks for coming along for the ride!