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Land / Re: M26 Pershing, M45, M46, M47, M48, M60, Patton, and M103 Family of Vehicles
« Last post by Jeffry Fontaine on November 26, 2025, 09:35:23 AM »As posted previously in Oops I bought another model in March 2021:
The DML/Dragon kit is a POS as far as being a model of the T45E1 tank with oscillating turret. It is an excellent source for M48/M60/M103 parts but do not expect to have any kind of success in building the turret provided in the kit. Did I mention it was a POS?
Another modeler with this same kit had an opinion that matched my own but he went one step further and made a replacement turret for the DML/Dragon Black Label T54E1 kit that has no moving parts and has all of the details without the DML/Dragon failures.
He shared his work at the Missng-Lynx forums at this link: Missing-Lynx > Missing Lynx forums >Modern AFV Discussion Group > Turret Re-Work (Patrick Shortland) and it got my attention.
After reviewing his work and impressed with what he had managed to accomplish I contacted him and inquired about obtaining a pair of the turrets he had created to address the shortcomings with the DML/Dragon T54E1 kit. At first he declined to do anything of the sort. Three years later he changed his mind about producing additional copies of his turret.
My efforts in resolving the my T54E1 turret issue are finally over. I received a package today (20251125) containing two resin T54E1 turrets that look like T54E1 turrets. My opinion of the DML/Dragon Black Label T54E1 kit remains the same as before, it is a disappointment but still an excellent source of Patton tank parts. That said, the T54E1 turret needs to be placed on something more suitable like an M48A5 or M60 hull with the Diesel power pack features. That is my plan for these turrets.
Images of the replacement turret will be uploaded as soon as I can get the images of the parts.
From an eBay seller located in California:
2 X DML/Dragon "Black Label" (should be "Hack Label") (3560) 1:35th scale - T54E1 MBT with oscillating turret
ScaleMates > Dragon Models "Black Label" (3560) 1:35 - T54E1
(Image source: Wikipedia > T54 (American Tank)
The DML/Dragon kit is a POS as far as being a model of the T45E1 tank with oscillating turret. It is an excellent source for M48/M60/M103 parts but do not expect to have any kind of success in building the turret provided in the kit. Did I mention it was a POS?
Another modeler with this same kit had an opinion that matched my own but he went one step further and made a replacement turret for the DML/Dragon Black Label T54E1 kit that has no moving parts and has all of the details without the DML/Dragon failures.
He shared his work at the Missng-Lynx forums at this link: Missing-Lynx > Missing Lynx forums >Modern AFV Discussion Group > Turret Re-Work (Patrick Shortland) and it got my attention.
After reviewing his work and impressed with what he had managed to accomplish I contacted him and inquired about obtaining a pair of the turrets he had created to address the shortcomings with the DML/Dragon T54E1 kit. At first he declined to do anything of the sort. Three years later he changed his mind about producing additional copies of his turret.
My efforts in resolving the my T54E1 turret issue are finally over. I received a package today (20251125) containing two resin T54E1 turrets that look like T54E1 turrets. My opinion of the DML/Dragon Black Label T54E1 kit remains the same as before, it is a disappointment but still an excellent source of Patton tank parts. That said, the T54E1 turret needs to be placed on something more suitable like an M48A5 or M60 hull with the Diesel power pack features. That is my plan for these turrets.
Images of the replacement turret will be uploaded as soon as I can get the images of the parts.
