Post by rustybaer on Dec 6, 2017 12:15:25 GMT -6
I have, or "had" two of these in that stash, so I thought I might get into one. I'd been hanging back on it for a couple of reasons, some being the major interference between the engine deck and underside of the turret bustle, how to do the very finely textured anti slip, and the incorrect pitch of the drive sprocket teeth. I'd worked a pair of sprockets earlier to better fit the Friul Merkava2 tracks I wanted to use (or maybe some Gal Batash tracks, not sure yet) and I have an idea on the anti slip. I also decided to use a hull from Italeri, and they are slightly better than the old Academy hulls, and I have several. So to get around the turret hull interference, I decided to graft the lower part of the Italeri turret to the upper Academy part, with all the side armor attachment points molded to it. It was actually a fair fit, and I filled the resulting gaps with Aves putty. I then cut the lower halves of the turret armor modules off of the Academy lower turret part, then glued the upper and lower halves of the modules together, pics follow"
IMG_0583 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0597 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0598 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I'll bet back to this later, but for now I have a way around the major oops Academy let loose with the goofy lower turret part. Then on to the hull. As mentioned, I'm using an Italeri hull, as it has better detail and far fewer gaps to fill, as it was never desingned with motorization capabilities. I'm using bits from Tamiya (return rollers and modified final drive housings from an M26) and various other bits from Academy, Italeri and Tamiya. I also will be using some AM bits, as I've accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. And while I'm at it, I'm building another hull, same basic components, for another Magach, exact one TBD. All the parts are out, so why not. The hull for the Batash isfurther along in the pics, and has the final drives mounted, as I may be using T-142 tracks and different drive sprockets on it. Both hulls do have the extra, IDF-added liftiing lugs and extra rear towing lugs.
Pics:
IMG_0595 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0596 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0599 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_0600 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
Both hulls have the front mudflap brackets separated from the flaps, done by scribeing and filing. The variant TBD hull has the older, rounded tail light guards installed. The Batash hull has the idler compensators represented, yet to be done on the TBD hull. I've also gizmologied the back of the axle bearings on the swing arms on both, just to fill the holes, and added some bolt heads on the shock mounts on the Batash hull, yet to be done on the TBD hull.
I really like this kind of modeling, and even though I have an AFV Club M60A1 in the stash, wanted to use up some of the parts kits I've been squirrelling away for years. Sorry for the lengthy post, I had this one well along before I found you guys.
Cheers!
IMG_0583 by Russel Baer, on FlickrIMG_0597 by Russel Baer, on FlickrIMG_0598 by Russel Baer, on FlickrI'll bet back to this later, but for now I have a way around the major oops Academy let loose with the goofy lower turret part. Then on to the hull. As mentioned, I'm using an Italeri hull, as it has better detail and far fewer gaps to fill, as it was never desingned with motorization capabilities. I'm using bits from Tamiya (return rollers and modified final drive housings from an M26) and various other bits from Academy, Italeri and Tamiya. I also will be using some AM bits, as I've accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. And while I'm at it, I'm building another hull, same basic components, for another Magach, exact one TBD. All the parts are out, so why not. The hull for the Batash isfurther along in the pics, and has the final drives mounted, as I may be using T-142 tracks and different drive sprockets on it. Both hulls do have the extra, IDF-added liftiing lugs and extra rear towing lugs.
Pics:
IMG_0595 by Russel Baer, on FlickrIMG_0596 by Russel Baer, on FlickrIMG_0599 by Russel Baer, on FlickrIMG_0600 by Russel Baer, on FlickrBoth hulls have the front mudflap brackets separated from the flaps, done by scribeing and filing. The variant TBD hull has the older, rounded tail light guards installed. The Batash hull has the idler compensators represented, yet to be done on the TBD hull. I've also gizmologied the back of the axle bearings on the swing arms on both, just to fill the holes, and added some bolt heads on the shock mounts on the Batash hull, yet to be done on the TBD hull.
I really like this kind of modeling, and even though I have an AFV Club M60A1 in the stash, wanted to use up some of the parts kits I've been squirrelling away for years. Sorry for the lengthy post, I had this one well along before I found you guys.
Cheers!
And a great start. 
