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| The Type 60 was a self-propelled recoilless rifle gun platform that served with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) from 1960 all the way until 2008. |
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The Type 60 was a tank destroyer, designed to have a low profile allowing a crew of three to lie in wait and ambush enemy tanks.
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The pair of American designed M40 106mm recoilless rifles could fire HEAT, HEP, HEAP and Canister projectiles. The guns were ranged at 2,750 meters (3,000 yards) but could reach to 7,700 meters (8,400 yards) at the cost of accuracy and penetration power.
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The crew was made up of a driver, a commander/gunner and a loader. Only six rounds of ammunition could be stowed on board so with guns loaded it could only fire eight rounds before needing resupply.
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The M40s can be fired from this lowered position, but traverse and elevation is limited. For maximum arc of fire the gun mount is raised to allow the weapons to traverse 30° to each side, but the crew is partially exposed in this mode so protection is lessened.
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| This kit provides an option to display with the engine compartment cover removed and a nicely detailed diesel engine is provided. |
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| It's been a long while since I tried to use pigments for earth build-up on the hull and tracks, I was not very happy with my last attempt. This time it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped but close enough to live with and hope to learn something new before the next try. |
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| The hatches are molded transparent so that you cold mask the vision blocks then paint. Unfortunately I messed mine up so decided to use my normal approach of using slivers of metallic sequins to represent the glass. |
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| I didn't notice until after I took this photo that a track return roller is badly out of alignment on this side. Hopefully I'll be able to bend it back in place, but no way I'm taking new photos. Ha! |
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| The track sag is molded right into the track links and looks pretty good. The end result looks a lot better than most rubber or vinyl tracks. |
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| The pioneer tools are molded into the fenders, but done very well so not to look obvious. |
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| I added antennae made of stretched sprue. The mounts are already molded into the kit with a nice grove to fit right in. |
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| Although I just added this bottle in the shot to give a size reference, I can't say enough good things about the Tamiya Extra Thin Cement! It's definitely worth a try if you've never used it. |
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| To illustrate the compact size of the Type 60, here it is parked next to my Fujimi Type 74 in the same scale (in progress). |
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| This is a great kit, it's highly accurate, it has very fine details and it's well molded. If you find yourself in the mood to build a subject you've almost never seen, you could do a lot worse than to chose this kit. |
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Kit: Aoshima # 007969
Release date: 2013
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Scale: 1/72 |
Value:
Kit price fluctuates quite a bit here in the United States. I've seen it for under $20 (USD) and in excess of $40. That price range makes this either an outstanding bargain or somewhat expensive since there are two complete vehicles in the box. Consider building one and giving/trading/selling the other one (that's how I ended up with mine - Thank You Kyle Williams!) |
The Kit:
1 black and white instruction sheet.
1 decal sheet (fine printing, perfect register).
4 sprues containing approx. 204
parts molded in olive green, 2 transparent sprues containing 18 parts.
(builds two full kits)
Molding is top quality, fit is excellent with very little cleanup needed. Details are very sharp.
Tracks are plastic link sections
with upper track sag molded in, mine fit perfectly.
Engine compartment can be displayed open to reveal a nice looking diesel engine.
Gun mount can be displayed raised so that the crew compartment is visible, there is a lot of nice details here.
Transmission cover
can be left open to reveal detail here.
Option is included to attach the driver's external windshield.
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Paints used:
Even though Tamiya makes JGSDF Brown and Green, they don't appear to look anything like the actual colors in use. The brown doesn't seem olive enough and the green doesn't seem bright enough. I mixed my own colors using Tamiya acrylics but unfortunately I forgot to write down which colors I started with. |
Recommendation:
This kit was a joy to build, with lots of nice details and some nice display options to choose from.
Beginners might struggle a bit because of some very small parts, otherwise it is a very easy kit to build. |
