Hi
is there any collectible value to this kit?
what is it anyway?

Yes, it is a collectable kit. It's value runs around the $20 to $40 range depending on the boxing and whether it was the original issue or the reworked mold. I've got four of them in three different boxings.

The MBT70 was a joint US/West German main battle tank that was supposed to replace the US M60 series tank and the Leopard tank. It was a novel design that included a 3-man crew with auto loader. All three men were in the turret and the driver's compartment counter rotated when the turret traversed so he was always facing forward.

Main gun armament was the 152mm gun/launcher system that used the same projectiles that were used on the M60A2 and M551 Sheridan. It fired a missile called the Shillelagh and also cannister and high explosive rounds. Secondary armament was a remote controlled 20mm cannon that was housed in the turret roof. The Germans wanted to use a 120mm main gun.

The supension arms were hydralic and could be raised and lowered to allow the tank to kneel or tip-toe in order to make better use of a hide position.

Tank was too complicated and expensive. Too many innovations in one design. The driver got disoriented with the spinning, the Shillelagh was never really successful. The Germans eventually dropped out and the Americans continued with a pared down version called the XM803. It too was eventually cancelled. Neither tank went into production. I do recall that Fort Knox had both an MBT70 and XM803 on display. I think the MBT70 was traded to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in the early 90s.

A lot of the designs from the MBT70 eventually went on to be incorporated into the US M1 Abrams and the West German Leopard 2.

The Aurora kit was my favorite tank kit as a child and I still have my original tank that was rescued from my Mom's house and rebuilt. The original large square boxing included a vacuformed base and had smooth surfaces on the tank. The box art was a painting of the tank "in action". I have two of this issue.

The kit was also issued in a small, plain white cardboard box that was mailed to members of the Young Model Builders Club of America (or something like that). It had a smaller version of the box art that was applied like a sticker to the box. Aurora added texture to the upper surfaces, suspension detail to the lower hull sides, and some rolled up coils on the back deck. It did not include the vacuformed base. I have one of these.

The final boxing of this kit included the modified tooling kit and was boxed in a small white box with a red and blue stripe on it. The box top was just a photo of the completed kit. I have one of these kits and it is the least valuable of the three boxing.

Aurora went out-of-business shortly after this final boxing. Monogram bought their molds, but there was a great train wreck that destroyed many molds. I do not know if the MBT70 molds were destroyed in the wreck, damaged, scrapped for metal or just sitting at the Revell-Monogram plant in Illinois.

The kit is cool and the suspension is working. There is a plasic spring system that allows the tank to kneel when you push down on it. I am really happy that I never allowed my brother to destroy this kit. It was the only scale model of the MBT70 produced in plastic.

Sabot, I built that when I was little, too. Saw one of the prototypes at Aberdeen about two years ago and it still looks mean. That counter-rotating driver's compartment makes me woozy just reading about. That would have to be like the amusment park ride from hell...