Chariot of Fire- Meng Merkava IIID

[MikeC]

Thanks gents- good to have your input

MikeC- I was dimly aware someone made an AM set, but frankly the ones I made cost me a couple of quid in money (lots more in time though). I have a HobbyBoss Merk 3D in the stash, and that has a rather nice set of balls & chains too. The moulded ones in the Meng kit were crap, frankly.

Jim- neither had I! The kit has a set of indy links in brown plastic, but they don’t form a workable track, they need glueing, and I just didn’t fancy doing the 2-part track runs this time around (though I may regret it when it comes to fitting these weighty buggers!).

Bob, Steve- PMs inbound...

Ok then, some more pics of turret detailing- mainly around the upper hatches to begin with:
View attachment 371632
I have painted the clear periscopes with a little clear green on the angled face, so the colour shows through the vision face more naturally. Obviously already masked ahead of paint! Some more of the PE detailing is visible here too, as well as some grab handles I made from wire instead of the kit’s plastic ones.
View attachment 371633
And from t’other side- I am not sure what that cage thing is, other than the fact that it was a bit of a swine to form around the domed part it protects!
Next up, I turned my attention to the smoke dischargers. The kit provides options for having them closed, with a tin lid,or open. However, the open version has no lids, which my refs show hinged one one side. I made these from thin card, and added the control wires as well:
View attachment 371634
View attachment 371635
Here are the Kung Fruils finished:
View attachment 371636
That’s all for now chaps! More soon...
Alistair☠

It's a mortar possibly about 2", I think I have a pic somewhere of it.

 

[minitnkr]

She will bring along her own chains, whips & crops in case you require more RX. Beautiful work. PaulE

 

[Road of Bones]

Evening chaps- hope you all had a good weekend? I was at band practice yesterday, and today we hosted SWMBO’s relatives for the monthly Sunday Brunch, so I was kitchen wizard all morning. Once they had all cleared off around midday, I was rewarded with an afternoon to myself in the Mancave. Deep joy!

MikeC- an internal mortar? How would you load & fire it?
PaulE- she will indeed! Thanks buddy

Today I are been mostly working on the ranging MG...this is the .50cal that is mounted above the main gun, and is sighted along the same trajectory. The kit offering is actually pretty good, as it is nicely slide-moulded, with no attachment point on the barrel (a crime committed by too many kit manufacturer, IMO). The PE set includes a fair bit of bling, especially for the remote servos that the loader uses to operate the gun from inside. Here‘s a shot of the work in progress:

I have replaced the fore & aft sights, the firing grips and barrel shroud on the MG, and added the kit servos to the PE frame and operating levers. Next up was to marry these together, and add the ammo can tray from the PE set:

I think I will attach this to the gun mantlet after painting.
I also made a start on the spare track links, as these have a bit of bling too, in the form of anchoring plates. These were enhanced with some Meng bolt heads, as per my refs.


A decent afternoon of moggling!
Alistair☠️

 

[scottie3158]

Al,
Lovely work on the 50.

 

[Jakko]

an internal mortar? How would you load & fire it?

I’m not up to speed on the latest Merkava types, but a little searching reveals it has a 60 mm breech-loaded mortar, which implies it’s trigger-fired (which is also possible with muzzle loaders, BTW).

Earlier types of Merkava had basically an infantry mortar mounted on the outside of the turret, beside the commander’s hatch, but that meant the commander had to be half out of the hatch to aim and load it.

 

[Steve Jones]

That 50cal is a thing of beauty. Wonderful work Alistair

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
That MG is superb. The whole thing is a real tribute to your skills. As has often been said with these super detailed models it is a shame to paint it. All the etch and the white scratched parts show just how much work has gone into it.
Anyway bring on the paint
Jim

 

[minitnkr]

You've certainly mastered the brass. Bent it to your will as it were. PaulE

 

[papa 695]

Coming along nicely great PE work

 

[MikeC]

Evening chaps- hope you all had a good weekend? I was at band practice yesterday, and today we hosted SWMBO’s relatives for the monthly Sunday Brunch, so I was kitchen wizard all morning. Once they had all cleared off around midday, I was rewarded with an afternoon to myself in the Mancave. Deep joy!

MikeC- an internal mortar? How would you load & fire it?
PaulE- she will indeed! Thanks buddy

Today I are been mostly working on the ranging MG...this is the .50cal that is mounted above the main gun, and is sighted along the same trajectory. The kit offering is actually pretty good, as it is nicely slide-moulded, with no attachment point on the barrel (a crime committed by too many kit manufacturer, IMO). The PE set includes a fair bit of bling, especially for the remote servos that the loader uses to operate the gun from inside. Here‘s a shot of the work in progress:
View attachment 371903
I have replaced the fore & aft sights, the firing grips and barrel shroud on the MG, and added the kit servos to the PE frame and operating levers. Next up was to marry these together, and add the ammo can tray from the PE set:
View attachment 371904
I think I will attach this to the gun mantlet after painting.
I also made a start on the spare track links, as these have a bit of bling too, in the form of anchoring plates. These were enhanced with some Meng bolt heads, as per my refs.
View attachment 371905
View attachment 371906
A decent afternoon of moggling!
Alistair☠

Hi Alistair
Found the pic and drawings,

Many thanks to Desert Eagle Publishing.

 

[Road of Bones]

MikeC- that’s perfect! Many thanks for sharing. That particular detail isn’t included in my Desert Eagle Siman 3D book.

Jim, Scottie, PaulE, Ian- thanks guys! Glad you’re still looking in

Still plenty to go at before paint: finish the TC & Loader’s MGs, make some stowage & ID panels for the turret basket, construct the side skirts from the ET models set, and then (of course) the anti-slip coating! Oh, and I have to make better antennae bases, as well as width indicator masts. And then there’s the crew to consider...

Paint is somewhere on the horizon, but a mere speck at the moment!

Alistair☠️

 

[BigGreg]

it's getting better and better... can't wait for next episode

 

[Road of Bones]

Your wait is over Greg!

I put in the odd shift at the bench here and there this week, and finished the basic construction of the 3 MGs on the turret. They still need a few fine chains and some control wires adding, however. Just dry-fitted for now:



So far, so fiddly! Next up it will be time to start the labour of constructing the side skirt armour, using the ET models PE set:

I foresee some soldering in my future...and probably quite a bit of swearing too!

More soon, thanks for looking chaps.

Alistair☠️

 

[JR]

Bit late Alistair, sorry about that .
Most impressive work withe PE, as they say " In my dreams ".
Will pay more attention in future.

 

[BigGreg]

HELL YEAH.....

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
Lovely work. The mg is superb. Watching for the soldering _ I'll be taking notes.
Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

B A Utiful!! A real piece of art. Luv it!

 

[scottie3158]

Al,
The MG's are things of beauty.

 

[Road of Bones]

Cheers chaps! So far so good, but the time has come to start the side skirt mounting brackets...

The E.T Models PE is rather good stuff - it’s a bit thicker than Eduard, and the fold lines etched in are angled, so it’s easier to get good square corners to each fold. Each of the 10 mounting brackets is made up of 12 pieces, with some tricky & tight shapes to form at each stage. Here’s the first one in progress:

The bracket basically acts as a leaf spring from which the hefty bazooka skirt plates are suspended. I soldered as much of each bracket as I could, in order to give them strength. I use solder paste and a small blowtorch, as I can create bonds quickly and without applying too much heat:

After a solid evening’s work at the bench, I managed to complete one side’s basic mounting brackets:

A kit bracket is top left, for comparison. The wires in the bottom one are being glued through the chain brackets that are on the ends of each set of leaf springs. Fitting the chains to these later is going to be another fiddly old job, too!
I might get the other side done this weekend, but I just received these in the mail, for one of my guitars:

I’m rather keen to get them fitted, so I might clear the bench & have at it tomorrow, while I babysit the workmen fixing the storm damage to the roof

Toodles,

Alistair☠️

 

[Road of Bones]

Did a little more on the side skirt today, after successfully fitting my new pickups to my guitar yesterday.

Each panel has a PE box behind it, which has holes in it to line it up on the hanging brackets - provided you stick some 2mm lengths of rod in the appropriate places! Then a face plate goes on the front of the box, and each bracket ends up with a pair of skirt plates hanging from it:

only another 9 pairs to go...