A few 1/35 IFV's and AFV's

[Ramba]

Can you guess what I am working on?

[Old Wombat]

Not difficult; Merkava ... but the model is open for debate, as all carried the ol' ball-&-chains except the early Mk.1s (& most of them had them retro-fitted).

However, I'll go out on a limb & say Merkava IV.

[Ramba]

Not difficult; Merkava ... but the model is open for debate, as all carried the ol' ball-&-chains except the early Mk.1s (& most of them had them retro-fitted).

However, I'll go out on a limb & say Merkava IV.

Yes! I am working on the Hobby Boss Merkava Mk.4 Trophy. I started it a couple years ago but stopped at the ball and chain stage. That alone took me an hour. So much work.

[Claymore]

Thanks! I think I have about as many started as I have still in the box. The winter months up here in the mountains are very long. I can only paint outside so during the very long winter months I put together as many kits as I can. We are still in the mid  40's to low 50's F right now. Just last night we were only at 44F. Right now as I type this, we are only 52F. It is too cold to paint outside right now so everything is put aside. No more assembling either as I have too many already started waiting for either primer or camo paint. I can actually paint in the small storage room off the side of the garage but it is half underground and really cold in there so still no painting until the temperature warms up a bit.

Youch! 11C at the end of May ... no wonder you're holding off on painting! 

Hah! Currently 8C, overcast and raining! Welcome to the Highlands of Scotland! 

[Ramba]

Thanks! I think I have about as many started as I have still in the box. The winter months up here in the mountains are very long. I can only paint outside so during the very long winter months I put together as many kits as I can. We are still in the mid  40's to low 50's F right now. Just last night we were only at 44F. Right now as I type this, we are only 52F. It is too cold to paint outside right now so everything is put aside. No more assembling either as I have too many already started waiting for either primer or camo paint. I can actually paint in the small storage room off the side of the garage but it is half underground and really cold in there so still no painting until the temperature warms up a bit.

Youch! 11C at the end of May ... no wonder you're holding off on painting! 

Hah! Currently 8C, overcast and raining! Welcome to the Highlands of Scotland! 

WOW! Only 8C in Scotland? That's a bit chilly.

The weather is finally getting nicer. Yesterday was a very nice 26.6C and today an even nicer 21C with low humidity. Perfect for painting but unfortunately I am not in a painting mood this week. I painted seven kits in the last two weeks so a bit burned out for now. Cleaning the airbrush is very tedious.

[Ramba]

I finally got the Hobby Boss Merkava Mk.4 Trophy balls and chains done. It took 11 hours. What a PITA! The back ones I added one extra chain link each as I thought they were too short but turns out the one extra link is just a tad too long but not changing them out as I already spent 11 hours on them.

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Ramba]

That was the look on my face after the 7th hour.

[taiidantomcat]

I finally got the Hobby Boss Merkava Mk.4 Trophy balls and chains done. It took 11 hours. What a PITA! The back ones I added one extra chain link each as I thought they were too short but turns out the one extra link is just a tad too long but not changing them out as I already spent 11 hours on them.

well done! congratulations on perservering through that. I don't think a lot of people would have been able to finish.  and such a great result. 

[kim margosein]

Ferengi Daimon?

[Ramba]

well done! congratulations on perservering through that. I don't think a lot of people would have been able to finish.  and such a great result. 

Thanks! While I spent 11 hours assembling and attaching those balls and chains initially, I spent another couple hours shortening the chain links by removing one link off each one on the rear section because I thought they were too long. The rear ones weren't actually touching the deck but once you rotated the turret, they touched the sides. Some of the balls and chains on the sides do touch the deck and I was going to fix those too but luckily I found a photo of a Merkava currently operating in Gaza that shows some of the balls touching the deck so I left the rest of mine as is.

If you zoom into the area with the balls and chains, you can see some of the balls are touching the deck.

[Ramba]

Ferengi Daimon?

Sorry to say, I don't know what that means 

[Frank3k]

From "Deep Space 9" a ripoff similar SF show to Babylon 5. Some Ferengi had something similar to the chain mail:

[Ramba]

From "Deep Space 9" a ripoff similar SF show to Babylon 5. Some Ferengi had something similar to the chain mail:

Thanks for the info. I never saw either of those shows so had no clue about them.

[Ramba]

This morning I was prepping the Hobby Boss Merkava Mk.4 Trophy parts to be primed. One of the idler wheels had some black oil/grease all over it. It was still sealed in the factory bags with the oil/grease on it. Only one of the two idler wheels had it though. No idea what it was and why only one wheel had it. Anyway, I washed it off with soapy water. No photos yet of the kit primed as it is in the garage drying.

[raafif]

At least the grease washed off - I had a kit from Meng that despite many washes was still sticky.

Nice to see that Blobby Hoss put the holes in those idler rims   Must get that kit myself  --  (I've only got 4 Merks in my IDF menagerie so far).

[Ramba]

At least the grease washed off - I had a kit from Meng that despite many washes was still sticky.

Nice to see that Blobby Hoss put the holes in those idler rims   Must get that kit myself  --  (I've only got 4 Merks in my IDF menagerie so far).

The Hobby Boss kit is quite nice. The only thing is that they didn't include the loader's hatch. I added one from the Academy Merkava Mk.4 LIC kit. I got a spare parts tree off Ebay a few years ago. I also used the Academy thicker armored side skirts. They didn't align with the Hobby Boss kit so I cut them in sections to align properly but then there are gaps between the sections. I found a lot of reference photos showing some side skirts with gaps in the sections so mine isn't wrong with the gaps.

Here is the Academy parts tree with the loader's hatch on it.




Hobby Boss Merkava Mk.4 Trophy turret. I pointed out the missing loader's hatch.


I cut out the area where the loader's hatch will go.


Academy loader's hatch didn't fit exactly so I added some sheet plastic.




Academy loader's hatch in place.

[Ramba]

Academy Merkava Mk.4 LIC and Merkava Mk.4 Trophy primed in sand. As usual, some areas were missed but will get covered once I do the overall camo paint. Some areas might not be seen anyway with the wheels and tracks covering those areas. The can says sand dollar but the actual color is a bit lighter than the image on the can. It is almost an off white. Image of the sand dollar primer I used to show difference in actual color compared to the color they showed.

[Old Wombat]

I wouldn't say they "missed" the loader's hatch because very early/pre-production Merk IV's didn't have a loader's hatch (it was seen as a weak point) - although I note that they were aware of the difference & had prepared the kit for the later/production version by having the turret roof above the loader being a separate piece.

A barrage of vociferous complaints from the tankers, pointing out the failings of that decision, changed that.

[Ramba]

Got the Takom Leopard C2 Mexas primed over the weekend.

[raafif]

It sure does look weird without the armour packages on the turret

[Old Wombat]

Painted like that, & from that angle, I just realised how Soviet the Leo 1 looks!*





[*: If it wasn't for the raised engine deck.]

[Ramba]

It sure does look weird without the armour packages on the turret

Painted like that, & from that angle, I just realised how Soviet the Leo 1 looks!*
[*: If it wasn't for the raised engine deck.]

Yes, the bare turret alone looks a bit weird. I'm not a big fan of the Leopard 1 but the added armor package and cheap price were the deciding factors for getting it. I bought it back in January, 2019 but didn't start it until July, 2023 and just got it primed in June, 2024. At this rate, I might not get it painted until sometime in 2025 I had to order some paint and some of the paint I ordered was more Tamiya NATO green and some Mission Models NATO green so waiting for them to arrive. They should actually be here today but I won't get to paint anything until maybe sometime next week, if that. I am back on a regular schedule taking my parents to their doctor visits and running errands for them. Also, this week will be 35C/95F all week with high humidity. All next week will be 30.5C/87F also with high humidity and chances of heavy thunderstorms all week.

[Ramba]

Got some of the PE done on the RFM USMC M1A1 FEP kit.


Did the same amount of PE on the RFM Ukrainian M1A1SA as well.

[apophenia]

Is your Leo C2 MEXAS going to be RW or Whif?