Anybody ever build Academy’s merkva MKIII. Have trouble with the chains that hang off the rear turret basket the ones in the kit are horrible do not look right anybody got any ideas I tried to make my own did not turn out to well any ideas thanks
Not familiar with the kit, but if you are looking for regular chains you could look at the Local Hobby shop for aftermarket chains-- like the kind used in model ship building. My LHS has a bunch for model ships, so I picked up a few packets. IF you need tow cables,you can find these online too or use picture hanging wire
Even using chains it is a very, very complicated job to do. I love doing Israeli vehicles, but those even intimidate me. I haven’t found a very useful techinque yet. Sorry.
I’ve built the Merkava II, not the lll. I’ll tell you what I remember from memory. The Merkava ll had the metal ball and chains. They were a challenge!
As I remember 1st, I used a pencil to mark the postions of the spots to drill out holes to put the chains into. After drilling holes and cleaning up metal chain and balls, comes the fun part. Measure the chains that will go along the back of the turret, for they seemed to be all one length. Then do the ones on the sides one by one because as I recall, the deck is not flat.
Do all of this with the turret lose/off. Once I did all of that I had to glue the turret on strait, because if you turn the turret it would bend/break chains. Quite a kit!
I think there were aftermarket parts out there. Maybe Legend productions? I don’t remember, maybe someone else knows.
I hope that helped a little, and [#welcome] to the forums.
Matt
Matthew9 seems to be on track. My solution to the ‘ball & chain’ dilemma was to lay the invidiual parts out side by side. (ensuring they met the length of the turret storage bin). Using ‘zap’ glue, I joined the ‘balls’ together. Once the ‘zap’ glue had set, I attached the chains to the storage bin (again using ‘zap’ glue). I then glued the parts of the storage bin togetherand attached it to the turret. Initially, it looked a bit messy…but a bit of paint & weathering masked the glue residue.
Hope that helps
thanks for the input it helps alot and yes I also think that Isaelis are the best tank tinkers around
This is one of my unfinished builds? It still needs to have it’s ball-n-chains attached! Sound familiar? Someday some way, I’ll get them on. Good luck on yours. Semper Fi, mike