Award Winner Built Academy 1/35 Israel Defense Forces Merkava Mk. IID +PE+ACC

  

2D Main Battle Tank Israeli Ministry of Defense. Built To Order / Pre-Order. Award winner built and painted Israel Defense Forces Merkava Mk IID (Hebrew:?????

ka'va], "chariot") with realistic heavy weathering finish. IDF Sina Grey with accurate unit markings. Top building quality with outstanding details throughout whole model and very high standard accuracy on every individual part.

Full of detail and the add-on armor block on the turret. 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. Moulding quality is excellent with detail is extremely sharp overall. Add on boxes, ammo and more fancy items. Adding ball and chain armor for great finishing.

Brass PE fret on exhaust and vents and more. Highly detailed brass photo-etched parts on grill and more. The upper hull with extra armor and lot of the detail integrated. Driver`s hatch with details and open-able.

The turret with busy on vehicle equipment details. Full of nice and crisp details add on armor block on turret. 105mm main gun barrel is a multi-part and looks very good.

Detailed commanders and loaders MG's are also nicely replicated. Open-able commander`s and loaders hatch with detail in and out. The smoke dischargers is nicely detailed. Turret basket with PE detail add-on. The rear hull storage racks are fair detail wise Boat hull ventral armor plate covers motorization holes in the lower hull.

The rear panel has the access clamshell doors as separate parts and can be displayed open or closed. The lower hull with suspension arms, return rollers, spring details. New type road wheels with hub details. The detail on the flexible tracks is very good. Heavier-type side skirts with superb rivets details. Towing cable, lights, antenna, on-vehicle tools and many exterior details. Metal chain, many boxes, antenna, and more add-on accessories. Buffing and polishing to remove mold seam. Base color with primer and putty for better surface detail.

Airbrushed and painted with multicolor. Adding 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 emphasize and highlighting texture with edge for good wear, tear and fading. Multi-color filters for blend color effects. Adding nonglossy 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. From its establishment in 1948, the armed forces of Israel have fought to retain its freedom and existence, sometimes against staggering odds. In the numerous conflicts that have fought since 1948, the Israelis were forced to obtain aircraft and armaments from a variety of second-hand sources.

As Israel grew and began to prosper, it began to acquire new weapons for defense and was able to muster a modern force structure while keeping older weapons ready in reserve. When the weapons embargoes were put into place during the 1973 war, Israel started in earnest to develop its own defense industries to reduce its dependence on international sources.

Today, Israel`s technologies are second to none and now instead of importing all of its armaments, it exports these capabilities around the world. Taking the lessons learned from the 1973 war and the technologies that evolved out of that conflict, Israel developed its first indigenous tank - Merkava (Chariot). The Merkava employed a number of innovative approaches to keep Israel`s most valuable assets - its soldiers - safe. First, the engine compartment was moved to the front of the hull, so even a penetrating frontal shot would only disable the engine and still protect the driver further aft.

Second, the turret was built low-profile so the tanks would not be spotted as early on the desert battlefield as the much taller M48 and M60 tanks. Third, the turret and frontal armor slope was less steep than other tank designs which provided more effective protection for the crew. In the rear of the Merkava where the engine would have been, a set of clamshell doors provide rear access for a squad of soldiers who can ride in the rear of the tank if needed. In its first combat action in Lebanon in 1982, the running observation of the Merkava Mk.

I was that it was a very effective tank, though it had serious braking problems - it wouldn`t stop until it reached the outskirts of Beruit. Even so, the Merkava was designed for open battlefield combat and its actions inside Beruit revealed some needed improvements to support urban warfare. II retained the original 105mm main gun, but added additional armor protection. IID was the first of the series to feature modular armor so that damaged plates could be unbolted and replaced in the field.