Well, so much for the roadmap ;-;.

Anyways, here's an M48A5 (mostly making that assumption because of the 105mm and I don't believe there were any further "main" variants past that one) with a dozer blade attached to the front end. The purpose of the dozer blade would most likely be to clear away obstacles, although the addition of a big metal attachment on the front end would certainly add more in the way of frontal protection, even if only a little bit.

The M48A5 was essentially the last major variant (as far as I understand) of the M48 Patton series MBT, officially entering service in the the Spring of 1975; by this point in time, the US was already fielding the M60 series MBTs, and the M1 Abrams would be under development as well. No idea if the US themselves ever used them, but there were definitely some that saw combat service in foreign countries like Pakistan or Israel (in the latter case, they were designated "Magach 5"). Combat performance varies depending on the country, as not all nations (particularly those who don't even have a native tank-development program) have had much experience with utilizing tanks as a whole. For best results, you'll likely see Israel as the best example of the combat effectiveness of the M48A5 (that is, unless you also count any combat exercises done by the US with their allies during the Cold War).

Can't say a whole lot else really. The M48A5s as a whole finally got phased out of service by the 90s, at least in US service. Israel's Magach 5s were likewise phased out as the native-designed Merkava MBT was adopted. Countries like Iran and Morocco however still have their M48A5s, though at this point they may have undergone some extensive retrofitting, or are mostly held in reserve.

Anyhoo, I might try to draw something this weekend. Maybe. No guarantees but I'm hoping to motivate myself some more. In the meantime, enjoy this tank and possibly the next two or three entries that I am trying to upload.