Patton vs. 'Cong

Historical Background

On 27 February 1951, the Ordnance Technical Committee Minutes (OTCM) Directive #33791 initiated the design of a new tank designated 90mm Gun Tank T48. Although basically deriving from the existing M46 and M47 medium tanks, the T48 featured redesigned hull with a longer, lower and more sloped front, a new hemispherical turret and a new suspension. It was to be powered by a petrol engine. The bow machine gun, long the feature of American (and just about any other nations' tanks), was removed. The deletion of the bow machine gun meant that the crew was reduced to four. Following tests, OTCM #34765 on 2 April 1953 standardised the T48 as the third member of the Patton tank family as the M48. Production of the M48 actually started in April 1952. However, the first 100 M48s were found to have poor ballistics protection and therefore had to be relegated to crew and gunnery training duties, designated M48C.

The M48, although basically derived from the M47, was a completely new design. The turret was a departure from the previous lozenge-shaped turret - being a lower, more hemispheric shape with much reduced shot traps. Made of cast steel, the turret was 7 inches thick at the front, 3 inches sides and 2 inches on the rear. The armament comprised of a 90mm T54 tank gun (the M48A3 was armed with the M41 90mm gunk while the M48A5 was armed with the M68 105mm gun), an M73 7.62mm machinegun co-axially mounted with the main gun and a M2 machinegun in the commander's cupola. 60, 5,900 and 500 rounds were provided for each gun respectively. From the M48A1 onwards, the M2 machinegun was mounted on the M1 cupola, allowing the commander to operate the machinegun from inside the turret. The armour of the M48 took into account intelligence reports on the performance of the D-10T 100mm gun arming the T-54/55 series, being generally raised from 4 inch to 4.3 inch.The glacis was well-sloped with a curvy 'beak'. The driver, now being the sole crew inside the hull, was relocated to the middle driving position. The rest of the crew remain at their customary positions.

The M48 was powered by a Continental AVSI-1790-6 air-cooled twin-turbo V12 petrol engine rated at 810hp. Fuel capacity of the tank was 200 US gallons. However the usage of petrol engine meant that the M48, up to the A2 version, was severely limited in range; just 70 miles. Furthermore, like the Sherman of World War 2, a hit to engine will easily ignite the tank. Add to that, the low-flashpoint fluid used in the hydraulic system inside the turret can also be ignited if the hydraulic lines were severed by enemy fire. The problems with the engine resulted in a re-engining program for some of the M48s. The petrol engine was replaced with a Continental AVDS-1790-2 diesel engine rated at 750hp. At the same time the hydraulic fluid was replaced with a more fire-resistant fluid. The resulting version was the M48A3. Although the program was started in 1959, the US military only received the first M48A3 in 1963. 1,019 M48A1 and A2s were converted to A3 standard.

The M48 first saw action in 1965, in Vietnam and during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. In Vietnam, the M48 was first deployed by the USMC, landing the 1st and 3rd Tank Battalions in 1965. The US Army deployed three battalions: the 1-77th Armor near the DMZ, the 1-69th at the Central Highlands and the 2-34th near the Mekong Delta. The M48 also served with the Armored Cavalry Squadrons until replaced by the M551 Sheridan. However, the 11th ACR retained their M48s to end of their deployment. Due to the nature of the war, the M48 was used in infantry support role and to back up large-scale search and destroy operations in NVA/VC-held areas. It also proved its worth fighting in built-up areas such as Hue during the Tet Offensive. Despite the jungles of Vietnam, the M48 was also effective there. Apart from using normal HE rounds against enemy bunkers and infantry, the M48 was also provided with 'Beehive' canister rounds, which contains 1,280 pellets or 12,000 darts to shred vegetation, and of course, infantry. Also deployed were M67 'Zippo' flamethrower variant of the M48. 

Tank vs tank combat did occur most notably during the Battle of Ben Het in March 1969 when M48s of the 1-69th Armor engaged PT-76 light tanks of NVA's 202nd Armoured Regiment. When the US forces began their withdrawal, hundreds of M48s (along with M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks) were handed over to the ARVN. During the Easter Offensive 1972, the ARVN M48s performed reasonably well against the NVA's T-54/55, T-34/85 and PT-76 tanks. However, Operation Nguyen Hue (as the Easter Offensive was known to the North Vietnamese) also marked the debut of the 9M14M Malyutka (AT-3 Sagger) ATGW, destroying one M48 and a M113 APC - even larger losses of M48s against ATGWs would take place more than a year later during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. During final 1975 Spring Offensive, the ARVN armour still managed to slow the North Vietnamese down but with fuel and ammunition getting scarcer due to the US Congress' ban on transfer of fuel and ammunition to South Vietnam, many were abandoned and consequently served just for a short time with the Vietnamese Peoples' Army post-1975.

Elsewhere, the M48 took part in the Indo-Pakistani Wars, facing Centurions and Shermans of the Indian Army. The Pakistani Pattons gave good account of themselves although inferior tactics saw the Pakistanis lost 100 tanks, mostly Pattons at the Battle of Assal Uttar in September 1965. Studies also showed that the Patton's armour can be penetrated by the 20-pounder rounds of the Centurion and 75mm rounds of the AMX-13, both used by India. Another major conflict where the M48 took part was the Middle East, where again M48s of the Israeli Defense Force prevailed over the T-54/55. Jordan also operated Pattons but came second best against even the elderly M50/51 Shermans, further showing that tactics can prevail against technology. The M48 underwent its final upgrading in 1975 as the M48A5. It was armed with the M68 105mm gun, the M73 MG replaced with M60D and the M1 cupola replaced with Israeli-style 'Urdan' cupola. The M48 was also exported to anumber of countries. Apart from those mentioned beforehand, other users include Greece, South Korea , Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Republic of China, Morocco, Portugal, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Spain, Norway and West Germany. A total of 11,703 units of M48 (all variants) were built from 1952 until 1959). Some foreign users modify the basic M48/M48A1/A2/A3/A5 into variants tailored to their needs such as Republic of China's M48H Brave Tiger and the Israeli Magach. The M48 is also the basis of specialised vehicles such as M48 AVLB, M67 'Zippo', M88 ARV and the defunct M247 Sgt York SPAAG.

The Kit

Tamiya came out with their kit of the M48A3 in 1983, the year I started this hobby. The kit is well-moulded and generally OK. However it suffered from overscale smaller parts (not unique among 1980s-era kits) and also the simplified gun mantlet cover. Also, like most 1970s-1980s-vintage Tamiya kits, the M48 has motorisation holes in the lower hull. However, the most talked-about flaw with the kit is its suspension. Apparently, Tamiya based their drawings on a tank which had its engines removed, hence less weight on the suspension making it sat higher than it was supposed to be. Another issue is concerned with the height of the turret - some argued that Tamiya got it right while others said that it looked squashed. Despite its shortcomings, the kit was considered the best M48 until Dragon came out with their version of the M48 in 2013. The decal placement instruction is pretty generic and vague. The most striking marking, a shark (tiger?) face, while illustrated on the box side, was nowhere mentioned in the instructions while the Playboy Bunny logo was simply stated as 'some tanks wore this mark' without mentioning which particular tank. While there are specific marking options mentioned, such as the 11ACR and the 2-77th, it wasn't mentioned anywhere with which registration number they should be used. In short, modelers would have to do their own research for the markings.

Construction

As usual, construction starts with the suspension units. As mentioned before, Tamiya got their suspension wrong by using an empty tank to measure. To lower the suspension, the bumper springs and the piston rods of the shock absorbers need to be cut. While easy, I decided not to do it and left the suspension as they were. The motorisation cutouts were then examined and I decided to fill just the long vertical one near the sprocket wheel mount while the rest were judged to be barely visible to the casual observer and left as they were. The slot in the final drive cover was also left off as it will be hidden by the sprocket wheel. The wheels were the assembled and set aside. The sprocket wheel should have lightening holes, as many Vietnam-era M48s were seen with them. However, lacking powered drill, they were also left as they were. The rest of the parts that needed to be stuck on the lower hull were then cemented onto it.

Not wanting to put the driver half-figure in its place, I immediately cemented the upper hull to the lower half. Apparently there are shape issues with the 'beak'. Again I did nothing, just smoothing out the jutting 'lip' of the upper half (and not doing a good job at it). Once that was done, all the fittings on the upper hull were cemented. Needless to say, some parts need thinning down, such as the light guards and fender supports, although I left them as they were. The air cleaners were assembled but the intake/exhaust pipes were left off to ease painting. The next step is concerned with the gun barrel and the IR searchlight. The barrel is split down the middle and care has to be taken to avoid visible seams. The searchlight assembly includes a piece of clear acetate to act as the glass cover. I however did not include the 'glass' (and even the bulb inside) as I intended to cover the searchlight face.

For the turret, again I left it as it is. However, having seen some photos of M48s in Vietnam engaged in convoy escort duties, I decided to buy Legend Productions' M48 Sandbag Armour Set. The resin set consists of sandbag blocks that assemble on the kit turret a la jigsaw puzzle, a single mould of two sandbags for the fender, a single mould of sandbags for the glacis plate, a resin piece of 'timber' to hold the glacis-mounted bags in place, spare track links and jerricans. Dry-fitting the sandbags on the turret shows that there is no need to use the kit's infantry handrails. I then proceeded to cement the turret shell to the bottom and added most of the fittings. The front lifting lug was totally left out while the machinegun guard rail (I think) was left off until the sandbags were put in place. The main gun assembly was then cemented to the turret shell. Tamiya however still wanted to have 'playability' with their kits when they released the M48 and so the mantlet has only partial cover, allowing movement of the main gun. I therefore fashioned the rest of the cover using 2-part putty to the best of my ability (read: it looks ugly). The searchlight was left off at this time to facilitate painting.

The commander's cupola was next. I was thinking of using the commander figure but after looking at it, I decided to discard it. The commander's hatch was therefore fixed in the closed position. The kit also allows the commander's machine gun to be placed outside the cupola. I decided to place it outside. I however decided to replace the kit gun with an M2 from the Academy US Machine Gun Set.Finally I returned to the turret and fit the stowage basket. I might also add that the pieces are really overscale and should be replaced with more in-scale plastic rods. I also added a piece of aluminium foil to act as a cover for the searchlight.

Painting and Decaling

The Tamiya instructions have the M48 painted Olive Drab overall. I used their XF-62 Olive Drab acrylic paint for this model. I'm not very sure myself but the this particular bottle of OD was greener then the one I used previously - I guess it was one of the alleged 'wrong' batch of Tamiya's XF-62. But for the M48, I can say that this was a blessing in disguise as according to numerous modellers, the M48s (at least during the Vietnam War era) was not painted OD but a something more 'greener' than usual. While it doesn't exactly match, it does look like the shade I have seen on many photos of US M48s in Vietnam. The mantlet and spotlight cover was painted XF-49 Khaki. For markings, I decided to use the sharkmouth markings. This is another usage of creative license as AFAIK, there are no photographic evidence of sandbag-armoured Pattons wearing the sharkmouth, uh, nose art. The creative license was stretched further by applying the kit-provided registration number.

Finishing

I started by placing the commander's cupola in its slot, as dry-fitting of the sandbag armour showed that the latter may block part of the opening for the cupola.I then used the vinyl tubing from Academy's US and German Tank Accessories Set as the power cable for the searchlight.  I then placed the sandbag armour blocks around the turret. The fit for the main blocks at the front of the roof was very good, the one on the turret rear is generally OK but did not fit as closely as the one on the front. The sandbag blocks for the glacis plate and on the track guard was left off. They were then painted XF-57 Buff and a wash was applied to pop up the details. The MG was then placed on the cupola. To add a bit of interest, I did not add the usual ammo box on the MG. Instead, I used a length of 12.7mm ammo belt from Tamiya's old US Weapons Set (it has better definition than the Academy ammo belt). It was bended to conform to the contours, painted and fitted to the MG. The MG guard was then superglued to the slots in the sandbag block after it has been cut to the appropriate height.

For stowage, I placed spare road wheels, luggage, jerricans and spare track links from the kit (Legend provides items for the latter two, but I ended up using those from the kit), food and drinks containers and generic crates from Academy Tank Supplies set, .30 and .50 cal ammo boxes from the Academy MG set, a 105mm ammo crate from Tamiya's Modern US Equipment Set, home-made copies of C-Ration boxes, folded cot from the Academy M60A1 kit and a M1 helmet from the spares box. The lower hull, wheels and tracks were then subjected to an application of Mig Productions pigments. While I understand that they have a pigment powder dubbed 'Vietnam Earth', I do not have that in my inventory. So I improvised by using a mix of African Earth and Rubble Dust. They were mixed with water and brushed onto the relevant areas. Once dry, the excess was removed using a stiff brush. Finally I cut two lengths of copper wire and fashioned them into comm aerials.

Conclusion

The Tamiya M48A3 is a really old kit but until Dragon released theirs a few years back, this was the only available A3 version of the M48 Patton. Generally it was very buildable kit although a number of tweaks have to be done to correct the shortcomings, most notably the extra ride height and the motorisation holes.