Tag Archives: IDF

The tale of two Merkavas – survey results

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It’s been almost 2 months since I published a quick survey to find out which Merkava IIID kit is going to be more popular – Meng or Hobby Boss.

As of today, 28 responses were submitted to the question: “which kit are you going to buy?” and here are the results:

  • Meng kit: 14 votes
  • Hobby Boss: 4 votes
  • Both: 4 votes
  • None: 1 vote
  • Undecided: 5 votes

It seems that Meng kit is winning the “battle of Merkavas” hands down. Given that it is already on the market and the reviews are quite positive, Hobby Boss might have tough time to catch up…

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the survey, the number of responses has surprised me quite a bit to tell the truth (seems that there are actually some people reading this blog).

Merkava IV – Part 3: Construction (cont’d)

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When starting this kit I have planned to stick to what is in the box as it seemed there should be enough to build a nice kit with it. Now, as is usually the case, the deeper I get into the construction phase, the more I realize that this or that part should better be replaced with some aftermarket alternative as it really does not meet my standards.

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Merkava IV – Part 2: Construction (still)

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Just a few in-progress pictures from the Merkava IV build. Construction is going bit slow as I am still finishing weathering on other kits and there is a lot of cleaning to be done on this one. At the same time I am deciding which parts of the photoetch set I am going to use and planning the order of construction accordingly.

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Merkava IV – Part 1 : Construction

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Having been inspired by the upcoming releases I decided to start working on the Merkava IV from Hobby Boss while finishing the Ka-Mi (I am in the weathering stage which is sometimes rather lengthy).

I am quite a fan of IDF vehicles (for those who haven’t noticed from my collection of finished models) and Merkava IV was sitting on my shelf since it’s been released.

This kit “enjoyed” its share of negative publicity which affected its sales. The problem with the suspension arms positioning being the most prominent one, there are solutions how this can be fixed, these however require major surgery of the kit parts (lower hull and lower hull armour plate). Somehow I was not keen on getting into this and wanted to build the kit not straight out of the box, but without a lot of converting and scratchbuilding. I decided to get Eduard’s photoetch set for this kit, but as usual will be selective in terms of which parts of it will be used.

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The tale of two Merkavas

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So just a few days after bringing us preview of the Meng’s Merkava IIID, Terry Ashley of the Perth Military Modelling site is offering the first preview of the other offering of this same vehicle by Hobby Boss. I think this is the first time that we have the chance to actually compare the two kits (as usual big thanks goes to Terry, you can find the both previews here). It would be nice to have a sneak peek into the instruction sets of the two kits, as these usually reveal a lot about the kit itself and its construction. Well, we will have to wait just a bit more for that…

Now, having chance to see the sprues of the two kits, the differences are getting clear. I have already posted my first impressions on the Meng kit here when it was first released (see here). Since I have not had a chance to closely inspect quality of other model kits from Meng, my opinion is purely based on what I can see from the pictures on the web.

With Hobby Boss, I might be actually biased by their Merkava IV kit, which I am building right now.

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Merkavas are (finally) coming

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So, after a few weeks of waiting, it seems that the waiting for the Merkava IIID model is over. Terry Ashley has yesterday posted preview of the Meng’s Merkava IIID on his PMMS site (see here) and some pictures were also posted on the IDF-modelling.com forum (see here). The first reactions on this forum were strongly positive and the available photos really indicate that the quality of the kit is going to be high.

Having said that, I must admit that having seen the photos on the PMMS site I was bit disappointed. The kit has few shortcomings, which I consider to be important, at least to me:

- Lack of anti-slip surface texture on the turret and hull. While some of the participants on the IDF-modelling forum praised this for giving them opportunity to create their own customized version of the texture, I consider this to be rather significant omission. Frankly I am surprised by this and don’t really understand what is the reason why this was omitted.

With all the criticism aimed at the mistake in Hobby Boss Merkava IV kit – wrong layout of the wheels (Merkava IV does not use torsion bar system), I consider the omission of the anti-slip texture to be of the same magnitude – both can be fixed, but it’s rather time-consuming exercise. And while the wrong layout on the HB’s Merkava IV is difficult to spot (and I can already hear all the Merkava rivet counters protesting loudly), missing anti-slip texture is hard to miss.

- No photoetch parts. I know that I am being spoiled by all the recent multimedia kits with photoetch parts included (though the quality is sometimes dubious), these kits simply set the standard these days. And in a time, when average model kit sells for $60+, I do expect more than some years ago.

- Ball and chain armour molded in plastic. Now if nothing else, this is definitely part that will need to be replaced. While the quality of moulding is nice, it is nowhere close to the solutions which Legend conversions have been offering for years now.

But to be fair, I must also point out the qualities of the kit – as already mentioned, the quality of moulding seems to be very high. The tracks are especially to be mentioned, as they seem to be very cleanly cast with intricate details and extremely fine casting lettering. What remains to be seen is the price, which might become important, especially since HB’s version of the very same vehicle is to be released in few months…

Another Merkava IIID

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Another surprise that I just accidentally stumbled upon when browsing armorama site – another Merkava IIID is in the oven, this time from Hobby Boss. Few pictures are available at this time.

What is interesting, based on the discussion posts, Hobby Boss plans to fix their issue with the chassis of Merkava IV. If only that would be true…

Merkava II

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…and speaking of Merkavas, I have actually built one years ago. It is an old Academy Merkava II kit. I can truly say that this is one of my “antique” kits. I have not done any extensive modifications of the kit, just added the Friul tracks and maybe (can’t really recall) chain & ball protection at the rear of the turret.

I think it might be time to add another one to the collection.

Merkava IIID coming in March

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The flurry of good news seem not to be coming to an end so far this year. This one came rather quietly, in spite of it being released three days ago, I only read about it this morning on the track-link.net site (here).

For years Israeli armour fans had to do with old Academy kits and of course Legends conversions, which though detailed and well made were always bit pricey and quite a bit more laborious to put together than a plastic kit.

Now times seem to be changing, after having Merkava IV from Academy and Hobby Boss, the next one coming is Merkava IIID by Meng models. What is interesting, and sets the expectations high, is the fact that Meng has been working on the kit with some experts in the field – Desert Eagle publishing and Michael Mass. Because of this we can perhaps hope that mistakes such as the wrong wheel configuration on the Merkava IV from Hobby Boss will be avoided.

For more information you can read the forum thread at idf-in-scale.com site here.

IDF M113 Zelda

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I have built this model about 4 years ago, in my rather early modelling years. And it can be seen… I can fairly say I have built this kit when I had more ambitions than actual modeling experience.

The kit is an old Academy piece. The quality – well it is Academy. It is nowhere close to the level of detail or finesse seen in today’s releases. To add detail I used quite extensive Eduard photoetch set. The most impressive part of this is the representation of the unique TOGA armour suite as was used on the Israeli M113s in Lebanon in the 80s. Looking at it now, I managed to put it together rather well.

I have done some glaring errors on the model – most visible perhaps the badly tensioned tracks, I replaced the kit ones with Friul model’s. The kit provides for some interior, but not a lot can be seen once you build it with the rear ramp closed.

Painting is not bad, but nothing I would be proud of these days. Chipping is not that realistic and dusting, done with the pigments, little overdone.

Centurion Shot Kal

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Shot Kal is one of my more recent models. I am a big fan of Israeli armour, I believe it has its distinct style and Shot Kal is no exception.

The kit is the AFV Centurion Shot Kal and depicts tank from the 7th Brigade during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

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Nagmachon

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Another contribution to the gallery of my finished models. The vehicle is Israeli APC Nagmachon, based on the Centurion chassis. It is one of those unique conversions, IDF is famous for. Using its experience from Intifada and years of low intensity conflicts, IDF realised it needs heavily armored personnel carrier capable of defeating the latest RPG weapons. At he same time vehicle did not need heavy caliber gun, as there were no enemy armoured vehicles to counter. Instead the need was for high situational awareness of the crew in urban areas and firepower against soft targets.

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