ESCI – 8333 – M48 A5

Description:

M48 A5

Unassembled plastic model kit in 1/72 scale of a U.S. M48 Patton introduced in the early 50s, A5 variant, not a production variant but an upgrade of existing M48s, retrofitting them with a new 105mm gun and cupolas from the M60 tank (M19 cupola) in some cases, as well as coaxial machine gun and engines, but what the kit depicts is the Israeli upgrade which mounted its own designed cupola (low-profile “Urdan” type) and an M60 machine gun.

This kit is a variant of kit ESCI – 8322 – M48 A2, see the parent kit ESCI – 8322 – M48 A2 with comments about all the shared parts which are the most of the kit.

This kit changes again the sprue containing the gun, mantlet, commander’s cupola and machine gun, introducing the 105mm gun and new cupola parts and M60 machine gun. The spot light over the gun, which was not used on A2 or A3 box arts was included in the basic and shared parts of the kits and detailed in the instructions sheet, being the same one here. The configuration of the kit, is in fact the upgrades and configuration of the Israeli M48 A5s tanks.

The configuration of the wheels for this kit is 5 return rollers and no tension idler wheel between the last road wheel and the drive sprocket. The two extra return rollers has no assembly point in the chassis part and you have to figure out measuring between the existing three points. Note that M4A5 were all upgraded from earlier versions, including A2, so it’s right to build this kit with just 3 return rollers.