An Alternative History of the Australian Army Armoured Corps Part 3

[Rickshaw]

An Alternative History of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps
Part 3

In the meantime relations with Indonesia were restive.  A Communist coup occurred in 1965 and Try Sutrismo was it's new leader.   The Indonesians immediately received military aid from the USSR and the PRC, including T55 MBTs.   Australia became more alarmed at this.   They ordered a squadron of M103 heavy tanks from the US, armed with 120mm guns.  Finding that the M103 was a “maintenance hog” and not terribly reliable, they sought alternatives.   The M60a2 was just becoming available in 1974.  They ordered a replacement squadron.   It seemed to be the perfect answer with a long range missile/gun.  It wasn't.   If the tank fired it's conventional gun, the missile guidance system was knocked out of alignment.   This problem was never fixed with the consequence that the vehicles were forbidden to fire conventional ammunition.  As the Shillelagh missile was comparatively expensive little time was spent on the range and the vehicles quickly became known as “hangar queens”.

The M48s were starting to wear out from their harsh service in South Vietnam.  The Australian Army looked to replace them in the mid-1970s.   Again, they looked to the USA.  The M60 standard MBT was by then available.  However, the standard M60 was not as good as the promised M60a1.  The Army opted to wait until the M60a1 became available.  They waited an extra five years until 1980.  They then ordered a regiment worth of vehicles, plus spares and specialist vehicles.  This came to a total of 150.  They began to arrive in 1982.  Once more, 1 Armoured Regiment was brought up to strength.

M103












M60a2








M60a1












The Kit

The kits are Tamiya M60a2 and the M60a1 and a Dragon M103.   They are painted with a hairy stick and Vallejo acrylics.   The decals are via Kit Spackmen.

[Old Wombat]

 

[Buzzbomb]

Nicely done.
Practical advancement. Good backstory

[Camthalion]

top work

[apophenia]

Good stuff    The 'Starship' was always a fav - for looks, I mean. But, I must admit, I'd never even heard of the M103 before 

[GTX_Admin]

I have planned to do a Australian M-60 for some time but mine will be a spin off from the original mid-1970s acquisition process that led to the Leo 1 entering service.  Mine will probably be a 1990s version upgraded to A3 status and also wearing ERA.

[GTX_Admin]

BTW, a video touching on the Australian real-world M-60 trials may be seen here:  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C292041

And a colour photo of the real trial too:

[Buzzbomb]

I have planned to do a Australian M-60 for some time but mine will be a spin off from the original mid-1970s acquisition process that led to the Leo 1 entering service.  Mine will probably be a 1990s version upgraded to A3 status and also wearing ERA.

Should be good to see. Alongside Brian's interpretation.

I have previously done a Chieftain to almost the same specs you define above but with more Stillbrew fitout. Hmm.. Challenger 2 in Austcam ?

[Frank3k]

Nice builds! Was the turret on the M103 that big?

[Jacques Deguerre]

That M60A1 looks perfect in the three-tone camouflage! I’m a big fan of the Leopard 1 family but there’s still a part of me that thinks this looks right in a “shoulda happened” sort of way.

[Jacques Deguerre]

Nice builds! Was the turret on the M103 that big?

I know the Dragon kits get hit for significant dimensional errors but having gotten close and in person with a couple of them, they are really intimidating beasts and the turret is really big!

I had photos of an M103 I took on a visit to Camp Shelby in in southern MS a few years back but sadly, they were lost in a phone crash that it later turned out had not been backing up to my cloud account. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Nice builds! Was the turret on the M103 that big?

Yes.  Quite roomy inside of the M103 turret.  Had the opportunity to get inside of the M103 that was in the petting zoo at the Marine Corps Reserve Center located in Yakima, WA one year.  Enough room to move around and hump the two-component 120mm ammunition to service the gun.  Compared to the T-72 that was also there and open for visitation that day, you could really appreciate the size of the M103 turret over that of the T-72 where you were pretty much confined to your seat and mind your elbows cause the gun breech was right there ready to take a limb if you were not paying attention. 
There was also an M103 at the Fort Lewis Museum that I was able to appreciate up close but no inside peeks.  At Pope AFB/Fort Bragg, NC there was an M103 in an odd shade of very light green that was used for load training behind the Green Ramp.  The gun tube had been severed/cut down so it would not get in the way. 

[Rickshaw]

Thank'ee gentlemen.   Yes, the turret on the M103 was that big.  It had to be that big to fit the loaders.  Interestingly, it's not all that much larger than an M48 in the hull.  It is not a favourite kit of mine.  Everytime I pick it up, it sheds a road wheel or two.  Dragon took a very different approach to the suspension arms compared to Tamiya.  The Tamiya kits are nigh on indestructible.  The Dragon one falls apart all the time.   

[Volkodav]

Oh the irony of the name on the side of the M-103 

Nice work!

[Rickshaw]

Oh the irony of the name on the side of the M-103 

Nice work!

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that. 

[Old Wombat]

I'll be honest, I hadn't actually looked at the names.

[Volkodav]

I'll be honest, I hadn't actually looked at the names.

That probably because you are probably not autistic.
Being Neuro Typical is nothing to be ashamed of.

[apophenia]

On names - and, hey, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum  - I thought that the M60A1's 'Barbarella' moniker would have better suited the 'Starship' 

[Volkodav]

On names - and, hey, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum  - I thought that the M60A1's 'Barbarella' moniker would have better suited the 'Starship' 

Yes but I'm certified 

[Rickshaw]

BTW, a video touching on the Australian real-world M-60 trials may be seen here:  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C292041

And a colour photo of the real trial too:

The reason why the RAAC didn't order the M60a1 was because the US Army was busy re-equipping with it and they couldn't guarantee delivery of sufficient numbers in one go.  The RAAC was scared they would end up different tranches with different controls and they didn't want to train their soldiers in differing ways.  So they opted instead of the Leopard AS1.  However, even in that deal they were done a dirty 'cause they were supposed to get the know how how to assemble AVLB and ARV versions, which the Germans instead just supplied the complete vehicles, already assembled.   They were forced to accept them when they rolled off the ship at Port Melbourne.   As it was, the M60a1 had flammable hydraulic systems as the Israelis discovered so perhaps we were better off with the Leopard afterall.