Award Winner Built Academy 1/35 IDF Merkava IV LIC MBT +PE +Figures

IDF Merkava IV LIC MBT. Award winner built and painted with real life weathering. IDF color with accurate decals and unit markings. Add 2 figures of a infantry man and tank commander were sculpted by Douglas Lee with real live looking. The detailing is right up to excellent standards with top building quality.

Captured the structures of the applique armor around the front and sides of the photo-etch Dingle Balls metal chain armor around of the rear of the turret. Add PE brass engine and deck grills, brass mount and clasps and other etched brass includes the vehicle serial number plates as well as end pates for the hull stowage bins, the floor of the bustle basket and more. The upper hull with plenty of fine detail including weld marks and more. The lower hull realistically reproduced features some nice details such as suspension, axles, rollers separate for good detail definition. The road / idler wheels and drive sprockets have detail on both sides with great tooth ring details.

Tracks with road wheel detail. Add accessories such as box, bags and more accessories and more add on details. Buffing and polishing to remove mold seam. Base color with primer and putty for better surface detail.

Airbrushed and painted with multicolor. Add clear paint for good finishing on decal applying.

Washing to enhance the surface detail increase the appearance of depth including panels, doors, hatches, rivets, bolt head and more. Dry brushing to emphasis and highlighting texture with edge for good wear, tear and fading. Multi-color filters for blend color effects. Add non glossy paint for better finishing.

Great detail paint job on rust and paint chips off with scratches, worn and bare metal realistic simulating, flow rust and rain streaks effects, grease with staining appearing. Also smear and dirt with dust and real mud and more on real life weathering.

Final protective layer for long term collection. Ever since its establishment in 1948, the State of Israel was dependent upon other countries to provide the weapons it needed to defend itself from neighboring nations that didn`t want them there. These sources would come and go depending upon the changes in international political climate. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel aggressively sought the capability to develop its own defense industry to produce the weapons it needs to continue its survival. One of those weapons was a tank that can counter the variety of Soviet-produced tanks equipping Israel`s neighbors.

In the Yom Kippur War, the newest tank available was the American-made M60 which fared well in the north against Syrian forces, but was not effective against the Egyptians. Based upon the lessons learned from 1973 and previous armor battles, Israel developed the Merkava (Hebrew for Chariot) tank which has many design features not found in other main battle tanks. The Merkava has sharply sloped frontal armor on its main hull and turret to provide a difficult target to hit and penetrate. The engine and transmission were located in the front of the hull to provide additional protection should the frontal armor be breached.

The rear of the Merkava is set up as an armored personnel carrier that can carry a squad of soldiers who can enter/egress through a large armored rear door. Like the US-made M1 Abrams, the main gun on the first Merkavas was the 105mm cannon and subsequent versions are armed with the 120mm smooth bore gun. While the Merkava is much slower on paved roads than the M1 Abrams, it is equipped with very effective off-road suspension system which not only allows the Merkava to negotiate areas that would hang up other tanks, it can do so faster than the Abrams.

I first saw combat during the 1982 Lebanon War where one of the vehicle`s design weaknesses were uncovered - its brakes. Once the Israeli Army pushed off to the north, they couldn`t get the Merkavas stopped before they reached the outskirts of Beirut. With each subsequent version of the Merkava, new capabilities and design improvements are added to the tank to incorporate combat lessons learned. Operational Merkavas have been updated with a Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) capability which provides better asymmetrical combat capabilities. In urban combat where the main gun is ineffective (and usually overkill), a remotely operated machine gun has been added to allow the weapon to be used without exposing the crew.

Optics are protected from sniper and other fires that would otherwise blind the crew. A boat-hull fairing is added to the underside of the hull to deflect the blast effects of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). LED marker lights and other devices are also added to allow for the Merkava`s crews to negotiate through urban streets while maintaining sight of one another. The item "Award Winner Built Academy 1/35 IDF Merkava IV LIC MBT +PE +Figures" is in sale since Monday, January 26, 2015.

This item is in the category "Toys & Hobbies\Models & Kits\Military\Armor". The seller is "dreamworkshobby" and is located in Scarborough, Ontario. This item can be shipped worldwide.

Brand: Academy
MPN: Does Not Apply
Scale: 1:35
Type: Armor