Magach 6M w/ IDF M9 dozer kit, or: Waddya say, Slick?

Well, I had all the parts handy, yeah, that’s right, sure…

Italeri hull, Academy turret (from the scrapped Magach 7 that ended up as the Magach 6D), Dragon fenders and some running gear, Tamiya swing arms, Legends 'dozer kit, some DEF detail parts and other misc. PE and such to come.

IMG_1291 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_1290 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Not quite the same parts “interchangeability” as the 7C project, but not too bad either. The most onerous part so far has been the resin ‘dozer: lots of warpage, broken bits (not Legends’ fault) and minimal instructions (Legends’ fault).

I even got goofy and tried to make the Academy (?) swing arms look more like the actual thing:

IMG_0974 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Yes, it would have been so much easier to have used a Takom or AFV Club kit, but I just have all this stuff laying around, seems horribly wasteful to leave it in the boxes.

Yeah, sure. I admit, I like this kind of kit bashing, a lot.

My next thread will probably have to start something like: “Hi, I’m Russ and I’m a bash-a-holic”.

Everybody say Hi Russ.

Hi Russ, I’m intrigued [Y]

Hi Russ!

I like your environmental approach here - why let all the plastic go to the ocean and kill some marine life, when it can reside in some display box harming nobody?

Joking aside - my parachute instructor used to say: “After 10000 times, it’s easy” - and you make cranking out a Magach really easy. It’s a bit like with the ballet dancers - they have to go through all those moves looking like it’s easy to do.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks guys.

Pawel, you’ve got it, with practice comes proficiency, helped along by a large stash in my case.

Cool, for some reason I always like tanks with bulldozer blades.

Funny, I haven’t built anything like that yet even though I do have a M60 with a blade.

I love it when you have time on your hands, Russ.

“Too much time on my hands”…

I held off on the slick today, did some work on the 7C, trying to make the turret add-on armor looks less “perfect” and it was a beating. I now have more info on the blade plumbing, apparently all internal on the IDF blade tanks, so I can move along here now.

Hull ERA is on and done, just need to mount the hydraulic reservoir uniit for the 'dozer and the hull will be nearly finished. The turret will be difficult, as the basket will have to be scratched.

Hmmm… okey dokey, where I am now, basket about 2/3 finished, mantlet cover done:

IMG_1300 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_1297 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I had a hunk of fender left from a Dragon M60 (don’t know why) so I was able to fill in under the hydraulic reservoir nicely, so I guess it’s time to get the correct main gunner’s sight on and start the turret ERA.

Underwater basket weaving 401:

IMG_1301 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_1302 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

The red and black on some of the styrene brackets is ink- I used an old “For Sale” sign…

Looks good!!!

And I love that sale sign plastic. It’s way cheaper than anything you’ll pick up at the hobby shop and works just as well.

Well done! I also have to thank you. Starting to get the inspiration to build a new stowage box for the DML Firefly Vc- the lid doesn’t even cover the box from the sprue. Thanks to a Aber photo-etch set, I hope it will look as good as the stuff I’ve seen you and Gamera, and M.Brindos do.

Well t’anks all. I’ve got some more done, I’ll try and make time to get pics up tomorrow, but it’s coming along nicely.

G, I was in my supplies drawer earlier, just poking, and I have enough sheet, in the form of discarded license placards, to last several years at my current rate of usage.

A little progress on the turret:

IMG_1317 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_1316 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I’m actually getting pretty close, and with the 2C finished (!) and the 7C coming along too, I’m psyching up to attempt the mantlet armor blocks.

Mantlet framework was tedoius, but I’m happy so far:

IMG_1318 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

It’s not entirely accurate, but the part that isn’t will be covered by ERA blocks, so I’m okay.

That looks good! No idea if it’s accurate to not but that’s some nice scratchbuilding work. [Y]

Thankee! It’s very close to accurate on the upper half, it’s the sides that I fudged on, and I may be able to correct that a bit when I add the ERA, but I just couldn’t figure out how to add a couple of very small pieces to what I have so far. Once the blocks are on though, I’ll have something to build off of, if that area is at all still visible. I’ll find out later, we’re off the the beach for a couple of weeks, taking advantage of my enforced time off and my wife’s ability to work out of another office and our travel trailer.

Have yourself a wonderful vacation, Russ!

I’ll just save my drooling for when you get back, buddy. Lol!

Thanks Mike. We have decent wifi here at the RV park, so I’ll be lurking, watching for progress on your Magach. I brought Tamiya’s new Stuart and a partially built GMC 6x6 with me, along with a few modeling tools, so I may get a little modeling in, if I feel the need…

Not forgotten! After doing a bunch of figures (I don’t like painting figures, but I had a lot of models with open hatches) I got back on this one and the 7C, not wanting to consign either to the “long dusty shelf”. It took a while to get this to where I’m happy with it, but the mantlet armor is done and painted, along with the turret which I also finished. The hull is close too, hopefully have it in paint early next week.

IMG_1345 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Everything in one color, makes me happy…

IMG_1346 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I’m quite happy with the mantlet ERA, even happier when I was able to get the mantlet MG mount on…

Decals are on, mantlet MG on, basic weathering started:

IMG_1356 by Russel Baer, on Flickr