Merkava Siman 4

Lester Plaskitt assembles Legends' full resin 1:35 scale kit of the IDF's Main Battle Tank

To see larger resolution versions of the pictures used in this article, please see the GALLERY ALBUM.

Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4, Pic 5, Pic 6,

The home-produced Israeli Merkava* MBT since it appearance in the early eighties has always been a vehicle that I have had a fascination with, perhaps it is because of its unorthodox design and radical features which give it a sight 'Sci Fi' appearance even to this day. I remember as a younger modeller the fun I had assembling the Merkava Mark 1 produced by Tamiya in 1:35 scale during the 1980s and when the opportunity to build the latest incarnation of the tank, the Merkava 4 produced by Legends of Korea arose, I decided to put my main area of interest, Second World War armour aside (again) and build a modern battle tank, something I had not done for quite some time. *In Hebrew, Merkava means 'Chariot' and Siman is 'mark' or 'type'.

A Full Resin Kit

The Legends' kit of Merkava 4 comes as a full resin kit which includes over 150 resin parts, a large etched brass fret, lead foil, lengths of brass wire, fine chain and a length of small balls to make up the Merkava's characteristic ball and chain anti RPG curtain on the rear of the turret. Upon opening the box you are 'assaulted' by some very large hull and turret mouldings. The turret is especially impressive being expertly cast in one piece (being about the same size in comparison to a 1:35 scale Sherman hull) with all of the modular armour and its associated mounting bolt detail being faithfully reproduced. This is the same for the upper hull with some of the best casting detail I have ever seen. The only down side to these castings is that Legend has not produced the prominent anti slip coating on the upper surfaces of hull and turret, which is a production feature on all Merkavas and which means that the modeller will have to add this feature. It is, perhaps, best to plan how this will be done at the pre-construction stage to avoid problems latter on. After a lot of deliberation and research I decided to assemble the majority of the kit before adding the anti slip texture, but more of this latter.

Main construction

Construction began by removing the resin pouring plugs from the turret and main hull components with a razor saw to remove the bulk of the plugs, and then finishing of with various grades of wet and dry abrasive paper. Please note all resin cutting was carried out in a well-ventilated area, wearing a protective facemask and all sanding was done with wet abrasive paper to avoid dust). With all of the main components cleaned up I began by test-fitting the parts together and here I came across my first problem, when I tried parts' 75 and 76, the rear fuel tanks, to the lower hull I found that with them aligned flush to the sides of the hull to give a correct track run, the rear access door (part 68) would not fit the gap between the fuel tanks, being too narrow. Also the adjacent side stowage panniers, parts' 69 and 70 would not line up correctly leaving large gaps on either side. After further examination of the parts, I found part 75 to be 19.27mm wide and part 76 to be 21.30mm wide at their lower halves, which explained the fit problems. Of the two parts I came to the conclusion that part 75 had the correct dimensions, so I decided to attach it to the lower hull making sure everything lined up correctly, then I attached the rear door (part 67) and finally I securely attached part 76 with two-part epoxy glue for added strength, again making sure the top section of the part was correctly aligned with the lower hull.

Once the glue had completely set I set about rectifying the resulting step in the profile of the lower hull. First I removed the majority of the step using a course file taking care not to remove too much resin in one go from part 76 and that the file stayed parallel to the profile of the lower hull. With the step removed and the whole of the hull side flush, filler was applied to fill the joint line and blend the lower hull and part 75 together; this was then sanded with various grades of wet and dry attached to a sanding block to maintain a straight profile. With this problem sorted I turned my attention to the upper hull. Upon test fitting the upper hull plate I found the front of the plate did on sit down correctly onto the lower hull. This problem may have been down to the part being warped or the casting process, but I realized it would take a lot of heating and manipulation to achieve a good fit. I found the best method for this was to gently heat the part using a hair dryer until the resin becomes pliable, but not to the point that the resin begins to sag. Next place the front of the upper hull onto the cold lower hull, holding a metal ruler flat on top of the front of the upper hull along the joint line, to keep a straight joint and gently bring the upper hull down to meet the rest of the lower hull.

Once the correct alignment is achieved the resin can be set by dipping the assembly in cold water for 3 - 4 minutes making sure you continue to hold the parts in their correct position until the resin cools. In my experience I found it best not to try and bend the resin, to shape it one go, but to do it in stages as this reduces the risk of breakage and avoids over bending. I attached the corrected upper hull plate to the lower hull, again using epoxy glue, and once this had cured the front hull joint required a lot of filling to tidy up the joint. With this done I remade the profile of the joint using plastic strip, also filling some small gaps in the area where the upper hull plates meet the rear fuel tanks. Having now completed the assembly of the main hull components my attention turned to the parts I least enjoy in AFV modelling - the wheels and tracks! From starting this project I had wanted to show the Merkava in the environment it was designed for, the rocky and hilly Golan Heights as I thought this wouldmake a nice change from a lot of the other Merkavas I have seen presented in either urban or desert bases.

After some research I decided to depict the tank coming up to the crest of a slope to adopt a hull-down position and having chosen this position, I realized it would mean modelling the suspension in an articulated posture, but as all of the suspension components come separately this would not present too much of a problem. The first stage was to add the rear idler mounts parts 73 and 74, as these would bear a lot of the considerable weight of the finished model and the mounting points on the lower hull were far from positive. I decided after the parts had been carefully aligned and fixed to the lower hull that I would strengthen the joints with blobs of Milliput which was then textured to represent a build up of mud. Next I added the two front left and right swing arms (parts 87 and 88) fixed in a compressed attitude and the two rear arms fixed in an extended position in keeping with the suspension travelling up a uneven slope. The remaining suspension arms were then added in a slightly arching profile, being compressed at the front and then extending down to come back inline with the rear arms. With the correct attitude achieved, the rest of the suspension components were added with the shock absorbers/springs (parts' 110) being shortened where required to match the changes made in the positions of the swing arms. After adding some lightening holes to the front drive sprockets (Legend had cast them solid) the only other problem encountered with the running gear was that the location points for the return roller mounts were too proud and slightly too wide which would not allow parts' 101 to fit flush to the hull. This was quickly corrected by sanding down the height of the location plugs and trimming the corners back to allow the mounts to fit.

Pic 7, Pic 8, Pic 9, Pic 10, Pic 11, Pic 12, Pic 13, Pic 14, Pic 15, Pic 16, Pic 17, Pic 18,

Wheels and Tracks

At this stage I was ready to fit the wheels and luckily before I did so, Ian Hanratty of Friendship Models sent me an e-mail informing me that Legends had now produced a set of rubber rimmed road wheels (set number LF1124) that were fitted to production Merkavas. Apparently the all steel wheels that are supplied in the kit were fitted to the prototype and early production vehicles. Ian promptly dispatched a set of the wheels to me, which after a small amount of cleaning up were fitted to the model and feeling pleased with the progress of the wheels and suspension I decided to turn next the tracks. The tracks are moulded in link and length sections, which given they're all resin construction can be a great help in assembly. However, surprisingly, given the overall excellent quality of the mouldings in the rest of the kit, the tracks are a bit of a disappointment, having a lot of flash to clean up and, for some reason, Legends do not supply enough track in the kit to form two complete track runs! Luckily I found out about this problem via an Internet review before I had assembled the first track run. Unfortunately, as the Siman 4 uses a completely different track to any of the other marks of Merkava, and there are no aftermarket manufacturers producing the track at this time. I was forced to use the track supplied in the kit.

After I'd cleaned up the tracks I divided the lengths of track I had into two equal amounts for the left and right track runs. Beginning with one track, from the rear idler I used the single track links to form around this wheel and one of the short lengths to go from the idler to the last road wheel. To get the track to join correctly required a good deal of sanding of the track connectors and a lot of test fitting. When I managed to get good joints the longer sections of track were added and then heated with a hairdryer until the track was soft enough to allow me to bend it to conform to the articulated suspension system I'd devised. The track was then carried out to the sprocket, where I found the individual links impossible to fit to the sprocket's teeth! I could not work out if the spacing on the teeth of the sprockets was incorrect, or the holes in the track. On reflection I think the problem lay more with the sprocket, but nevertheless I found that I had to both enlarge the holes in the track links and quite drastically trim back the teeth on the sprocket to get a convincing fit. Due to the limited amount of track available, once I had got the links over the top of the sprocket I stopped the track run at the front as this would be later hidden by the armoured side skirts, what track I had left I added to the rear idler to form a top run of track as this would be visible through the rear skirt which is made up of framed bars. The procedure was duly repeated on the second track run which proved to be as troublesome as the first, even though I had tried to keep the gaps where the runs of track joined to a minimum there were still some rather large spaces these were filled with a wipe of filler and to blend these in I added more filler to the track links which I then textured with a stiff brush to represent mud build up on the tracks.

Turret and main gun

Having tackled the tracks I felt that I needed a little relaxation so I decided to start work on the turret and main gun. The main gun on my kit was slightly warped having a distinct droop to it, so as with the other warped resin parts it was warmed with a hair dryer and carefully bent back into shape, I also found some of the detail on the straps securing the barrels thermal shield was slightly soft and this was sharpened up using a fine needle file to discern more of the detail.

The kit makes no provision for moving barrel elevation or depression and I wanted to show the gun in a depressed attitude as befitting a vehicle in a hull down position. To achieve this I filed a slight angle on the back of the gun mounting/mantlet (part 29) which when it was mated to the main turret casting set the gun at the angle I required. Next came the rear turret basket, which in previous Legends' Merkava kits was supplied as a rather complex etched brass assembly, but for this kit they have cleverly depicted the basket covered in what looks like the now standard issue tarpaulin cover enabling the basket to be moulded in resin and saving the modeller a lot of extra work not having to form it from etch brass. This was glued to the rear of the turret with the minimum of fuss. For such a heavy resin turret there is very little in the way of a positive location onto the upper hull, with only the base of the turret sitting into a recess in the upper hull. I therefore decided to make a more positive location by first finding the centre of the turret ring using a compass then drilling an 8mm diameter hole into base at that point and gluing in a short length of the same diameter metal bar. The same method of finding the centre point was employed to mark the recess in the upper hull and a hole drilled at that spot using an 8.5 mm bit to allow a small amount of leeway to fit the metal bar pivot. With this done the turret sat a lot more securely on the upper hull. Before I undertook any further work on the turret I decided it would be a good idea to make a support for this heavy piece of resin that would become difficult to hold for long periods. This support took the shape of a block of wood 10cm x 16cm, and while the size is not really important, the block should be big enough to support the turret and not be knocked over easily. I also made a similar support for the hull.

I drilled holes on the flat face of the wood and on its edges, which meant I was able to adjust the working height depending on the work being carried out. The rest of the turret assembly followed very quickly with the commander's station, hatch and the other fittings including the etched brass mounting brackets and the brass wire for the turret grab handles. I did have a small problem with the main sight doors because they were slightly too big and required trimming to fit. I also added some hinge detail to them as none is supplied with the kit. After a relatively short time the turret was complete although at this stage I chose not to fit the ball and chains until later. I also chose not to add the 50 cal machine gun mounted above the main gun as the kit-supplied mounting looked too high compared to my reference photos; (again, perhaps, this was an early production mounting?) but that withstanding I thought the addition of the machine gun, to me, spoiled the overall sleek appearance of the tank. One other item where I deviated slightly from the parts supplied in the kit was the commander's weapon station as the FN machine gun supplied in the kit was quite badly warped and when I tried to straighten it the barrel snapped off, so I replace the gun with a spare, plastic FN MAG kindly donated by my friend Mark Fagan, who also supplied the Hornet head for the commander figure. The weapons station was then assembled as per the instructions and put to one side to be installed later.

Pic 19, Pic 20, Pic 21, Pic 22, Pic 23, Pic 24, Pic 25, Pic 26, Pic 27, Pic 28, Pic 29, Pic 30, Pic 31, Pic 32, Pic 33,

Hull Fittings

Like the turret assembly many of the hull fittings were added without any problems. The one tricky area proved to be the Merkava's distinctive louvered exhaust outlet. Legends supply the chevron-shaped fins in the form of individual photo-etched brass parts, which need to be folded to shape and then attached to the cut-out in the upper hull. As the upper hull exhaust outlet has no bottom (due to the moulding process) I filled in the bottom of the outlet with a piece of plastic card as this would give me another attachment point for the fins and also provide a base to fix a mounting bracket for the right hand side second side skirt. After I had removed the exhaust fins from the etched fret and folded them to the required shape I began fitting them working from the rear forwards; the first part fitted (E32) was too big for the aperture and needed to be filed down to give an acceptable fit. With this part fitted and the first of the fins (E31) fitted I began to test fit the rest of the fins. To my eye the spacing did not appear correct, there being too big a gap between edge of the front fin and the start of the exhaust aperture I checked my reference pictures and found that the fin needs to be fitted quite a way forward of the position shown in the instructions. To facilitate a correct fit the front fin had to be trimmed back at its point quite drastically to enable it to fit further up the exhaust aperture.

After a lot of test fitting and adjustment I managed to get it in the correct position and with it securely glued in I then added the rest of the fins equally spaced between the first and last fins. As the final fittings were added to the hull I noticed the external handle for the fire suppression system, which is located on the left hand rear of the hull, had been missed off by Legends. I needed to depict a shallow, square opening, which was achieved by firstly finding a square section of plastic rod that was the same size as the opening needed. A shallow hole was drilled into the hull at the correct location using a drill bit larger in diameter to the plastic rod, the end of which I ground flat to leave a flat bottomed profile to the hole. A square section was carefully tacked into place with super glue in the middle of the drilled hole and once the glue had time to set I filled in the hole up to the rod with epoxy putty that was left to cure. After an hour the putty had started to go hard and I was able to carefully remove the section of rod, leaving a nice, square-shaped recess in the hull sidewall and after the putty had been sanded flat to conform to the hull side, I detailed the fire extinguisher handle with some lengths of plastic card and rod.

Anti Slip Texture

At this point the kit looked more or less complete, although it was missing its side skirts, so decided the time had come to add the prominent anti slip texture. Anti slip or anti skid textures are a feature on most modern main battle tanks and modellers use various methods to recreate this finish. Some mask off areas on their models and use commercially available products to pray this finish on whereas others use products specifically designed to replicate anti slip, such as the Cast-a-Coat system. Looking at the different methods available I quickly decided not to spray the texture on as it would involve a lot of masking and as the Merkava has a lot of bolt detail on its upper surfaces. I reasoned a lot of this would be lost if a anti slip texture was to be sprayed on, so I decided to go down the much more time consuming route of painting each panel with glue and then adding the texture, which isn't as fast, but it's a lot more controllable.

The first step in this process was to give both the hull and turret a undercoat of acrylic grey primer, which had two uses; one, it enabled me to check for any flaws or bubbles that need filling before the anti slip went on and second, it would give the glue something to bond to. For the coating itself I elected to use very fine grey sand I had found at work, which I believe is used in shot blasting and to fix it to the model I decided to use white wood glue diluted with a small amount of water. Armed with a fine-pointed medium brush I then commenced painting in two to three individual panels at a time taking care not to allow the glue to build up on any of the detail, but working quickly enough not to let the glue dry out before the sand was sprinkled over the panels. I was careful to hold the model at a slightly inclined angle to allow the excess sand to fall off. To say this was a tedious process is an understatement and something best done over a few nights to avoid boredom, but at the end of it you will be rewarded with a very neat and accurate representation of the Merkava's distinctive anti slip texture. To seal the sand in and further bond it to the model I applied via an airbrush, two light coats of Ronseal household matt varnish, and once this had fully dried I proceeded to add the remaining hull fittings, such as the front and rear mudguards and the tow cables.

Side skirts and back working on the ball and chain gang

The armoured side skirts and their related spring-loaded mountings posed no assembly problems if tackled in a logical sequence. The rearmost skirt, made up of bar armour, proved slightly trickier and I found the best method was to first complete the frames making sure all of the angles were correct and the frames were securely glued together. I then measured out the required length of brass rod for the first and topmost rod, taking care to make sure it ran parallel to the top of the frame, before fitting the bottom rod again ensuring it was level with the bottom of the frame. Once these were secure the rest of the rods were added using them as guides. At this time I was in two minds whether to fix the skits to the model, or do it after the wheels and tracks had been painted and weathered. I decided to add the skirts at this stage, as painting them separately to the tank would make it difficult to keep the weathering constant. While looking at my reference photos I noticed each skirt was attached to the next by a length of chain mounted onto the skirt's springs and I felt this would be difficult to add after the painting had commenced. With my mind made up I first airbrushed a well thinned coat of matt black onto the wheels and the areas of the lower hull that would be covered by the skirts to act as pre shading and not to leave any areas of bare resin which would be difficult to get to with the skirts in place. Once the paint had dried sufficiently I then added the skirts and their securing chains (I used the chain supplied in the kit) and as each skirt has a position number moulded onto it I was careful to fit the plates in their correct numbered sequence. For me, the most dreaded area of construction was next - the balls and chains of the anti RPG curtain around the rear of the turret, but yet again, I found this to be less daunting than it first appeared. The first step was to cut a number of the balls from their connecting wire, then using the wire supplied in the kit super glue a length of wire (roughly 25mm long) into the vacant hole in the ball. I tended to repeat this step for about 10 balls at a time and with the glue firmly set I began to attach them to the chain. Instead of cutting the chain into the recommend number of links at this stage I choose to cut it after the ball had been attached, which meant that I was not trying to work with small, difficult-to-hold lengths of chain. To attach the ball I simply threaded the wire through the last link in the chain then twisted the wire back on itself forming an inverted 'U' shape around the link, and cut off the excess wire a set of sharp snips. With this completed I then counted out the number of links recommended in the instructions and using a chisel blade cut the link and opened it up to allow it to be fitted to the appropriate mounting rail.

The tricky part was next - the bit you need three hands for - mounting the ball and chain to the rail! So I could work with both hands free I clamped the mounting rail in a pair of self-grip tweezers and with it thus secured I was able to thread the open link through the hole in the rail and carefully clamp it shut with another set of tweezers. This was repeated until all of the balls and chains were secured to the various rails, which were simply glued in place. It wasn't a quick job and fairly monotonous and something perhaps best done over a few nights, but the result was worth it as the ball and chain curtain looks impressive when in place.

Pic 34, Pic 35, Pic 36, Pic 37, Pic 38, Pic 39,

Painting and weathering

I was now finally in a position to begin painting, and after adding some clods of mud made from textured Milliput to the road wheels and lower hull out came the airbrush and my thinking cap as to what colour to paint the Merkava. The colour of Israeli vehicles has always posed problems for modellers and looking at my reference pictures the base colour of the Merkava Siman 4 appears to be a greyish Olive Green which can look very dark in certain light conditions and very light in others that possibly could be due to the fine covering of dust that all battle tanks seem to acquire. I did not want to make the base tone too dark, so I opted for the following mix of three parts Humbrol Matt Khaki Drill 72 to one part Humbrol Matt Olive Drab 66. This was applied to the model in three successive thin coats of paint, which was left to fully harden for 3 - 4 days.

Once happy with the base colour my next problem arose; how to make the model's paint work come to life, something that would not be easy given the drab nature of the base colour and the limited opportunities to show a lot of damage or wear and tear to the model. With the foregoing in mind I reasoned the best way to bring the model to life was an application of the accumulated dust and dirt, which would be prevalent to a Merkava operating on the Golan Heights. To first add some depth to the paintwork I used well-thinned Burnt Umber and Sepia oil paints in selective pin washes around detail and panel lines to make them stand out a little more. The prominent white chevron and barrel air recognition markings were added by carefully masking off the areas with tape and airbrushing in the white areas using Vallejo Off White 820. Once the paint had dried and the masking removed the black edging on the chevrons was brush painted in using matt Black acrylic paint. Then well-thinned oil markings to further tone them down. Closely following on from this the cover on the turret stowage bin was painted with a base coat of Humbrol Matt Radome Tan148, which was then darkened with successive washes of Humbrol Matt Natural Wood 110. At this stage I completed the relatively small amount of detail painting required, such as the various periscopes and the tow cables, and then finished off the process by painting in numerous small subtle scratches and scuffs using Humbrol Matt 66 Olive Drab in areas which would be prone to wear from the day-today usage of the tank, once again in an effort to make the paintwork more interesting.

I chose not to try and replicate the glazing of the gunner's sight and the commander's independent sight by using paint and then a coat of varnish, as this method wouldn't produce the finish I was looking for. Instead I used pieces of 35mm film negative cut to the correct size, which was fixed into place using white wood glue and would not cause fogging, as would superglue. Now came the pivotal moment in the painting progress, the application of the dust and dirt. Having considered using pigments for the dust I reasoned that using such a large amount of pigment it would be difficult to control the resulting effects of a pigment wash, so I decided to airbrush on the first layers of dust using Tamiya Acrylic Buff XF57 heavily thinned with Tamiya Acrylic Thinner X20A. This was applied carefully to both the turret and hull concentrating on the areas that would cause dust and dirt to build up and remain trapped on the vehicle.

Spraying the model with Tamiya Buff X57 had left it looking very bright with the Buff colour looking somewhat 'over bright', but this was easily toned down by flowing a diluted wash of Humbrol Matt 110 Natural Wood over the Buff which brought the tone of the dust back to a more realistic hue. Work on the lower hull continued by painting in the areas of mud build-up in a dark tone using a mix of Humbrol Natural Wood 110 and Matt Black 33 enamels, and once the paint had dried sufficiently further washes of various 'earth tone' enamels were added to the lower hull and wheels to further blend in the mud build up. Finally the inner faces of the tracks were given their obligatory metal sheen using a graphite pencil, as were other small areas of the tank, such as the commander's machine gun and the gun's skate ring. This brought the painting stage to and end and all that was left was to fix the model to a scenic base and add a crew figure.

Pic 40, Pic 41, Pic 42, Pic 43, Pic 44, Pic 45, Pic 46,

Groundwork and Crew Figure

Throughout the main construction of the tank I had already began work on creating a base for the model, and as the suspension had already been 'articulated' I needed to construct a base to conform to the track profile. I made the base from a block of insulating foam (expanded polystyrene would also suffice) given to me by my friend Mark Beaumont. The foam could be easily cut with a knife and shaped using either sand paper or a file to match the model's suspension profile.

First the block was cut down and squared up to match the size of a custom made wooden base I had made for this model by Armstrong Bases. With the foam securely fixed to the base I began to shape it to represent a gentle slope with two slightly deepened channels cut into it for the Merkava's tracks to sit in. To tidy up the foam I covered the exposed edges with plastic card cut to follow the profile of the groundwork, then with a layer of plaster brown poster paint to the mix. I textured the plaster by adding some sand and small stones and before it had set, the model's lower hull was carefully pressed down into the pre cut channels to make sure the tank conformed to the groundwork.

Painting the base commenced by first masking off the wooden base and spraying the plastic card veneer on the side of the foam in acrylic black from an aerosol spray can. The groundwork was brush painted using a scrubbing motion using mixes of the same colours used to weather the lower hull of the model. Once the model had been secured to the base using a two-part epoxy glue I further tied the tank into the groundwork by applying a mixture of Mig's European Dirt and Gulf War sand pigments to the base and the model's lower hull. With the finishing post in sight my attention turned to a crew figure. I always like to add a figure or two to any vehicle I make as I feel it gives a sense of scale and adds a little bit of life to a model. The opportunities for adding figures to the Merkava 4 were pretty limited; there is only one turret hatch and the driver's normally operate with their hatches shut, so I decided to add a commander figure in the process of relaying orders to the crew via his intercom whilst surveying the surrounding area. First port of call was one of the excellent Hornet heads wearing an Israeli tank helmet; the body of the figure came from my spares box, as did his legs. Most of the detail on his torso was carved away as I decided to re-sculpt this area to depict him wearing an Israeli issue, hooded Parker using Milliput. The arms came from various Dragon figure sets and were cut and adjusted until they met the pose I required. The hands came from Hornet. The figure was painted exclusively in enamels, including the face, which was the first time I had attempted this; I normally use oil colours for this part of the figure. Once the completed figure had been installed into the turret hatch the final act was to add the large aerial to the turret. The aerial was cut from a length of fibre optic taken from a cheap light bought from my local supermarket. The fibre optic was ideal for this as it has just the right amount of bend and would not break off, and could be required to look realistic when it was tied down using very fine fishing wire. Once painted it added a further area of interest to the model.

Conclusion

Despite some shortfalls, mainly the tracks and the misalignment of the rear hull, the review sample was one of the very first production kits and Legends, as is their policy, may have rectified these problems on later production kits. The Legends' Merkava Siman 4 builds into a highly impressive model of an awesome looking modern battle tank, from excellent castings with the minimum of air bubbles, whereas those present being no more than small pinholes that were easily filled. I enjoyed building this kit and dipping my toe into the waters of modelling modern armour. One source of reference I found invaluable while building this kit was Merkava A History Of Israel's Main Battle Tank by Marsh Gelbart, published by Tankograd Publishing. Not a cheap book by any means, but with its colour detail and 'in action' pictures of the Merkava variants from the prototype to the latest Mark 4, I would consider it a must for any fans of Israeli armour.

Thanks

My thanks to Ian Hanratty from Friendship models who supplied the review sample and to Peter Brown for promptly despatching the model to me after his initial review in “Attenshun!” and Michael Mass for the photos of the tank reproduced here, and to the Editor for his endless patience in waiting for the completion of this article. Thank you all.

Editor's note: Since this article was written Michael Mass's book, Merkava Siman 3 in IDF Service, Part I has been published by Desert Eagle Publishing in co-operation with Legend Productions. (ISBN 0-9788844-2-6 Price £15.99) and was reviewed by Peter Brown in 'On Parade' in Military Modelling Vol.37 No.11.

First published in Military Modelling Issue 12, 2007