Award Winner Built Academy 1/35 IDF Merkava MK IID Main Battle Tank +PE

IDF Merkava MK2D Main Battle Tank. Award winner built and painted with realistic heavy weathering. IDF desert color scheme with accurate decals and unit markings. Top building quality with outstanding details throughout whole model and very high standard accuracy on every individual part. Reproducttion of ERA armour on upper turret and front body. Turret, basket and side skirt from new tooling. Detailed tracks with road wheel detail. Rotating turret and gun elevation. Add on vehicle tools and more add on details.

The ball and chain armor add on. Moulding quality is excellent with detail is extremely sharp. Reproduction of ERA armour on upper turret and front body. Details on this upper hull are nice and crisp.

Turret part is completely new mold with great details. The barrel is a multi-part and looks very good.

Detailed remote and crewed weapons with commanders and loaders MGs are also nicely replicated. Turret basket with PE detail. The smoke dischargers is nice detaild. Lower hull with some detail on it which are pretty good.

The rear hull storage racks are fair detail wise. Boat hull ventral armor plate covers motorization holes in lower hull. The rear panel has the access clamshell doors as separate parts and can be displayed open or closed. Exhaust and some vents are PE parts for great looking.

The side skirts which are the heavier type with detail. The new type road wheels look good. The detail on the tracks is very good.

Side skirts with great details. Add towing cable, antenna, tools and many accessories.

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, engine smoking and muffler burned representing.

Also smear and dirt with dust and real mud and more on real life weathering. Final protective layer for long term collection. Since the war of 1956, Isräel learned how to deal against far superior forces with limited resources and astonished the world with its fast, daring tactics and unexpected victories. The country forged in fifty years, with limited foreign assistance, a powerful, modern defence force. The armoured symbol of which is the Merkava, a reference to the ancient war chariots of the days of King Solomon.

Designed soon after the Yom Kippur War (1973), this MBT was derived from a first project named the Sabra, developed in 1965 by Tsahal, the first domestic tank design. But since it was an adaptation of the British Chieftain and the British Government had decided in 1969 to cancel any weapon deliveries to Israël, the project was dropped. Israel Tal, an army commander, reinvigorated the concept after the 1973 October War, and the plans were redrawn, incorporating all the ideas drawn form the lessons of the last engagements. In short, the Merkava was the embodiment of the ideal MBT for Tsahal. Combining speed, endurance, firepower and accuracy with high survivability requirements and an emphasis put on crew protection.

II retained the 105 mm (4.13 in) M68 gun, which was well-proven in 1973. In a general way, the Mk.

II was first introduced in April 1983, included from factory all the improvements learnt during the Lebanon war. Emphasis was put on urban warfare and low intensity conflicts, but general specifications remained unchanged. The new mortar was now completely internal and can fire remotely to avoid exposure of any crewmember to small arms fire in a reduced environment. The new, rear part of the turret included an anti-rocket (mostly RPGs) netting and recently discovered shot traps were fixed.

Protection was made of spaced, rolled homogeneous armor. The transmission was now fully automatic, including a more efficient regime depending on situation and an increased fuel capacity. The fire control systems (FCS) were given attention, with a general upgrade including meteorological sensors, crosswind analysers, which all fed the central FCS computer. The electronic sights were also upgraded, with a more finely tuned image amplification and better thermographic optics.

II production was more extensive (580), and stopped in 1989. However, the series was upgraded in several steps, and remains in service today.

IIB received even more refined thermal optics and many updates to their fire control system The Mk. IIC received an increase in armor on the turret top, both for AA protection and in urban warfare, against RPGs fired from building rooftops The Mk. IID featured a modular, brand new composite armor (highly classified composition) for easier maintenance and repair. The item "Award Winner Built Academy 1/35 IDF Merkava MK IID Main Battle Tank +PE" is in sale since Monday, October 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