TONGDE TANKS

[dai phan]

You were warned early on in this thread you would not like the stock looks of the tank. Repeating the same negatives over and over is not accomplishing anything. Best to just move on and work though the issues and make something special of your tanks.

To look good you have to paint the TD tanks, doing so completely change them from cheap looking toy tank to hobby grade looking tank. This has been shown by a number of forum members. Same things is true of HL tanks. Tamiya tanks at $1200 don't even come painted or assembled. It's just what has to be done to have nice looking tanks. Trust me tanks are easy to paint vs planes.

As a few of us have said already the TX is very basic and changing it out for at least a HL 7.0 is recommended.

The smoke system is a HL 7.0 system so it preforms like a 7.0 should.

Recoil can be easy adjusted similar to how HL does it. It comes set to maximum. Read the manual it will explain how to do this

Yes the next step will be getting some upgrade parts from Rich and repaint the tank. I am so impressed how you transformed your tanks to new level and I will try to do the same. Dai

[Rubicon99]

Yes the next step will be getting some upgrade parts from Rich and repaint the tank. I am so impressed how you transformed your tanks to new level and I will try to do the same. Dai

Honestly it's just simple paint and a few of Riches cosmetic upgrades like barrels, search light and such. Nothing major so I know with your modeling background you can transform the M60 into something special.

[dai phan]

Honestly it's just simple paint and a few of Riches cosmetic upgrades like barrels, search light and such. Nothing major so I know with your modeling background you can transform the M60 into something special.

I will paint the 60 to see how it turns out. Will be first time painting other than planes. In fact painting the tank accessories resin parts yesterday was the FIRST for me outside aircraft modelling. I will look for the instruction of a M60 plastic kit to see what color I need to buy. Dai

PS: I look at soime plastic kit of the A3 in 1/35 and except for the camo that is depicted in TD offerings, most were desert tan or green overall.

[dai phan]

Honestly it's just simple paint and a few of Riches cosmetic upgrades like barrels, search light and such. Nothing major so I know with your modeling background you can transform the M60 into something special.

I am still trying to look through the plastic kits instructions online to see a cool scheme. Most are green/tan or the camo already depicted on TD offering. If you come across any really kool looking scheme please let me know. Dai

[dai phan]

I found an interesting scheme with 3 views. Dai

[dai phan]

I just ordered a bunch from Rich. Dai

1. M60 A3 plastic track.
2. Antenna for A3.
3. 50 ammo cans.
4. Spot light for A60
5. Servo recoil and scale barrel.
Dai

[tank_me]

The M60A3 has tons of paint schemes to choose from...MASSTER, MERDC (over 6 different color patterns), 3-tone NATO, desert tan, green only, and Dualtex digital. Those are just the US camo versions.

[dai phan]

The M60A3 has tons of paint schemes to choose from...MASSTER, MERDC (over 6 different color patterns), 3-tone NATO, desert tan, green only, and Dualtex digital. Those are just the US camo versions.

If you have schemes with 3 views, please let me know. I did image search and most come with green ot tan schemes. Dai

[keilau]

The M60A3 has tons of paint schemes to choose from...MASSTER, MERDC (over 6 different color patterns), 3-tone NATO, desert tan, green only, and Dualtex digital. Those are just the US camo versions.

The Army has a manual for anything. That means painting tanks too. Just find it on the net and there you go. You're looking for a Field Manual.

[tdriver113]

This site has a wealth of information and color schemes for the M60 series tank. Scroll to the bottom for the color examples.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/us/m60_patton.php

[tdriver113]

This site has a wealth of information and color schemes for the M60 series tank. Scroll to the bottom for the color examples.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/us/m60_patton.php

Duplicate post. Please delete.

[Rubicon99]

I just ordered a bunch from Rich. Dai

1. M60 A3 plastic track.
2. Antenna for A3.
3. 50 ammo cans.
4. Spot light for A60
5. Servo recoil and scale barrel.
Dai

All great items! I have bought a bunch of these. The servo recoil is by far the smoothest I have ever used on a HL or TD tank.

[Rubicon99]

I am still trying to look through the plastic kits instructions online to see a cool scheme. Most are green/tan or the camo already depicted on TD offering. If you come across any really lool looking scheme please let me know. Dai

This is where the FUN begins. Finding the right "color scheme". TDs grn/blk/brn camo is a poorly done copy of the Taiwan M60 scheme which is in turn simply a standard NATO scheme.

Tamiya makes spot on correct colors for this scheme: NATO green, NATO brown and NATO black. That's it just three colors. I did my passive "ERA" M60A3 in NATO colors as deployed direct from Europe to "Desert Shield" in 1991. It's a bit too "bright" green for the Southwest US where I live and use the tank. If I did it over I would have gone with the Tan/Brown desert scheme a few M60 deployed from the US had. This would have worked better for the terrain I use my tanks in most often.

[RichJohnson]

As far as your stowage kit goes, I would recommend dumping the crates. They are all WWII designed ammo crates and just not appropriate for the M60a3 era. They are also awkward to try and fit in an m60. At most they might have one crate of .50 cans but that would be quite heavy so they likely would break it down and stow the cans.
Gear the the M60 crews would have would be 4 ruck sacks, ie large backpacks, and or, 4 duffel bags. Plenty of tarps and cammo netting, and a large bundle of tarps that would be the “burrito” of their 4 man crew tent. Plus .50 cal cans, some .30 cal cans and possibly repurposed 40mm steel ammo cans or the like. If they were staying in larger tents as a platoon, they would not have the burrito of the 4 man crew tent. That tent would be carried by trucks and put up by the headquarters company. They might also carry Constantine wire, like barbed wire in a roll to wrap around their tank and tent at night and off hours of action during maintenance or replenishment.

i will process your order tomorrow (Monday). Thank you for the order.
idont have the TM number on me right now but I use color and markings of US Army vehicles to draw my cammo, as you saw on the few pictures I posted of my Merdec painted M60a3

[dai phan]

HI all,

The photo on the manual shows these 2 squares on the left side. None is located on the sprues nor in the instructions ! Am I missing something? Dai

[Rubicon99]

HI all,

The photo on the manual shows these 2 squares on the left side. None is located on the sprues nor in the instructions ! Am I missing something? Dai

One is the same part that is from the A3 you asked about the other day. The other should be on one of the spurs. If not then it is loose somewhere which does happen. Given that the entire front hull armor on the IDF M60 "Magach" is completely wrong you can use whatever extra parts are available to fill in the space. Notice on the manual cover the tanks shown has completely different front hull glance armor than the actual product.

We are working with DKLM to encourage TD to go back and fix the "wang era" product development mistake. Or you can see if RichJohnson can get you a more correct 3D printer frontal hull armor group from JVM3Dconcepts. I have their prototype test batch print for the "Magach" on mine. Really nicely done design and printing.

More correct IDF M60 frontal armor:

[dai phan]

One is the same part that is from the A3 you asked about the other day. The other should be on one of the spurs. If not then it is loose somewhere which does happen. Given that the entire front hull armor on the IDF M60 "Magach" is completely wrong you can use whatever extra parts are available to fill in the space. Notice on the manual cover the tanks shown has completely different front hull glance armor than the actual product.

We are working with DKLM to encourage TD to go back and fix the "wang era" product development mistake. Or you can see if RichJohnson can get you a more correct 3D printer frontal hull armor group from JVM3Dconcepts. I have their prototype test batch print for the "Magach" on mine. Really nicely done design and printing.

More correct IDF M60 frontal armor:

The extra piece I was inquiring does not look like one of the 2 pieces on the left of the manual photo. I would like to know what is missing so I can file claim with MRC. These 2 pieces are nowhere mentioned on the manual. Dai

[dai phan]

One is the same part that is from the A3 you asked about the other day. The other should be on one of the spurs. If not then it is loose somewhere which does happen. Given that the entire front hull armor on the IDF M60 "Magach" is completely wrong you can use whatever extra parts are available to fill in the space. Notice on the manual cover the tanks shown has completely different front hull glance armor than the actual product.

We are working with DKLM to encourage TD to go back and fix the "wang era" product development mistake. Or you can see if RichJohnson can get you a more correct 3D printer frontal hull armor group from JVM3Dconcepts. I have their prototype test batch print for the "Magach" on mine. Really nicely done design and printing.

More correct IDF M60 frontal armor:

I use the spare part to close up the hole. For the love of God, this is supposed to be a "scale" tank to some degree but the front is complete fantasy? Dai

[RichJohnson]

Well, first off, none of the rc Tank companies make a perfect scale model, even Tamiya fudges things though they are typically closest, model by model accuracy varies, look at the super Sherman lol.

OK, so with TD and the IDF Magatch 5 M60 they designed a “Representative” model of the tank for a few reasons, and their own manual pictures don’t match the model.
Here is the real facts, based on research and reference in various books trying to document the subject and on the IDF modeling forums of which I am a member, the IDF developed the ERA package kits and applied them to tanks to update them, first the round turret M60 Magatch 5 and then the M60a1/a3 tanks.

THE IDF had a plan, and a design, though it seems when you study photos of the tanks, there were many differences in each tank as to where the panels were installed and arranged, especially on the turret.

The story I hear retold most is, basically the panels have bolt tabs attached and they align the first one on the hull or turret and guys hold it in place while it’s spot is marked, then Paint ground off and the bolt tabs welded on to the tank, Then the next panel, then the next panel and down the line till they reach the end. And depending on how close they were in placing that first panel in its spot on the drawing is how accurate the rest of the panels come out to be, it was not rocket science so there are variations in almost every turret and sometimes in the hull.
It seems TD probably figured this out or were just confused, also, they initially designed their m60 with the headlights too far forward by a few millimeters. This throws off the front for installing a perfectly accurate front armor pack.
TD probably came up with a close representation for the armor to make it look close enough, as most rc tank makers do.

Now, when it comes to the tank Rubicon posted, he wanted to build the M60A1 based Magatch 6b. So he had started with the armor kit TD supplies with the the IDF tank and then figured out which parts he could use and what he would need to have custom made, He used my 3D design company contact JVM3d concepts to come up with an accurate armor kit for his model. Most of the panels are custom made and it was a lot of trial and error back and forth with JVM3d. But they fairly enjoy serving our hobby, they like the side work to fill in between their commercial jobs and the owner is a model builder of a different genre so he likes to cater to us to a degree. Rubicons tank model came out amazing but he did learn along the way the various suttle differences between almost every tank on where armor plates are mounted etc. also that was how he figured out the headlights are just a little too far forward of the guard. He had to cut them off and move them back a few millimeters. But he now has a tank model that is very accurate and matches at least one series of photos of a specific tank.
One thing that people learn with Cold War IDF armor is, there is a theme more than a standard, and the theme often varies tank to tank.

A lot of us have said that the TD M60 is close enough to improve upon and make a nice rc model. It is an excellent runner and with a little modeling improvement it can be a great looking tank model.

[tank_me]

Pretty much every model company is guilty of using multiple vehicles as reference and muddling up the details between models. Even the Tamiya 1/16 Abrams has part inconsistencies between the M1A1, the M1A2, and the M1A2 SEP.

There are other compromises for manufacturers to be able to inject plastic for molding reliably, save cost, and make the parts durable. These companies don't make the tanks for enthusiasts, they make them for mass market focusing on children. I say that because otherwise they wouldn't include a BB option. The enthusiast side is much smaller than the mass market side and the masses like things that shoot.

Modeling tanks is more about deciding whether or not you care about accuracy or you don't. If you don't...go wild. If you do then it's more about choosing one tank and depicting it at a point in time because that tank is not the same in depot as it is in the field IMO. Soldiers make mods to their vehicles to make them better for their mission, but that doesn't mean that mod is good for a mission in a different theater of operations. I'm a little in the middle of these philosophies. I like my tanks to be plausible, but they don't have to be exact to a specific tank. I like to see that a rope is holding that gizmo to the tank, I don't want to see stowage mounted on parts of the tank that limit the tank's ability to do it's job, I like plausible camo/markings, and I like my tanks to be fairly reliable. If it's a choice between reliability and accuracy, I personally go with reliability. My tanks are used for battles and that in itself messes with rivet counting.

Bottom line is that all of these tanks are "toys" and not scale models. Closing the gap between toy and scale model is up to the owner *if* that's what the owner wants. Lots of folks are content to buy a tank and just use it till it breaks.