M48A3 Construction by Anders Issakson

Tamiya's kit of the M48A3 is quite old but still produces an accurate model. The main shortcomings of the kit are the somewhat thick mouldings of the smaller parts and the simplified canvas cover of the main gun. As far as I can tell the basic dimensions are accurate, but I have not measured anything so please do not take my word for it. I do know that the suspension should be lowered (Tamiya took their measurements from an empty hull which weighed less and obviously did ride a bit higher than normal) and some think that the turret should have its height increased. I was not aware of these issues when building this model so I did not try to fix them.
A few improvements were made to the kit, like adding detail to the canvas cover using Milliput as well as adding a cover to the search light from thin plasticard. I also modified the suspension to make it look like the tank is travelling across uneven ground. This adds interest and is a quite simple modification, only requiring repositioning the individual suspension arms.

Paint and decals
The finished model was painted with a mixture of olive drab and matt black Tamiya acrylics. Once completely dried it recieved a light wash of diluted raw umber oil color. After the wash had dried the model was dry brushed using a mixture of Humbrol olive drab and light gray.
The tires of the road wheels were picked out with Humbrol matt black mixed with a little dark gray. The rubber portions of the tracks were painted with the same color and the connectors and guide teeth were painted Humbrol gun metal.
The only markings applied to the model were the unit numbers on the side of the fenders and personal markings on the searchlight cover and gun barrel. I used dry transfers taken from the Verlinden Vietnam Armor set.

Weathering
I wanted to simulate the effect of the characteristic red mud found in many areas of Vietnam. Weathering was begun by adding a mixture of waterbased putty, white glue, some redbrown water color, short pieces of elk hair and a little static grass to the underside and running gear, making sure not to cover too much of the detail. The result looked like dried cakes of mud with pieces of grass in it.
I then mixed a red brown color using Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics. This mixture was heavily diluted and airbrushed to the lower portions of the model including the tracks. I finally added scratches and general "wear and tear" using Humbrol aluminium mixed with a little raw umber oil color.

Final details
The crew is a mixture of resin parts from the Vietnam Tank Crew made by Verlinden and plastic parts from the U.S. Marines, Tet Offensive 1968 from Dragon. The driver is all Verlinden while the gunner and commander uses Dragon bodies together with the Verlinden heads. The left arm of the gunner was modified with Milliput to make rest on top of the open hatch. The right arm was originally naked and recieved a Milliput sleeve to make it conform to the rest of the figure's clothing. The final detail was to add a pair of sunglasses made of plasticard and paper.
The two antennas were made of stretched sprue and attached to the turret with superglue. Inspired by photographs I added a small triangular flag made of yellow paper to one of the antennas. This antenna was then folded backwards, using a short piece of thin nylon thread to tie it to the rear stowage bin.
The final stage was to apply redbrown pastel powder to the entire tank. This complements the previously airbrushed coat of red brown acrylic and makes everything blend together. Black powder from a coal pen was applied to the rear engine grills to simulate exhaust residue and my Patton was complete.