Does any one no how good the tamiya merkava kit is and does anyone do a nice kit of the merkava mk4 ?
Thanks.
Ps: im not to keen on spending mega bucks on a resin kit.

Hi David,
Well I have built up the Tamiya Merkava kit,and it's a nice kit a little on the age side but with a little detailing here and there it makes into a nice one.
As to a Mk4, I don't know of anyone making it in plastic. Adcadamy does a Mk3 I have not built that one yet,but it looks nice.
If you want a starter kit of a Merkava go with the Tamiya kit.and add details to it like a AA 105mm resin gun that's a nice add on and the gun really makes the model.
Hope that helps you out.
Mike

The Merkava 4 currently exists only as a resin kit made by the Korean company named Legend Productions and it is priced around us$140.00

Cool i might see if i can get my hands on the academy kit if it has more detail.
But i think the tamiya one would be easyer for me to get my hands on.

The Tamiya one also has the huge advantage of being cheap. Accuracy aside, if you look at the finesse and the overall finish, I reckon it's nearly as good as the current lot, and sometimes less than half the price.

Academy's Merkava 2 gets some good write-ups. One nice feature is that some versions (possibly all) have the ball-and-chain armour included.

Partly it depends whether you want the original Merkava with the 105mm M68 (the Mks 1 & 2) or the later one with the 120mm Rheinmetall (Mks 3 & 4). Academy does a Merkava 3 but it regularly gets a pasting for being based on the pre-production model. If you want the 120mm versions, Legend appears to be the lead source. Start saving now!

seán

Just chiming in here, as has already been mentioned, if you're looking for a good OOTB build either the Tamiya Mk 1 or the Academy Mk 2 are your best bets. Though the Merkava has seen many modifications over it's production life, the Tamiya kit is a good representation of the very early Merkava 1's, and the same applies for the Academy Merk 2. The Academy Merk 3 is recognizable as a Merk 3, but it has many problem areas. The Legends Merk 4 is a very nice kit, I'm about 80% done with one right now. Of course as already mentioned it is expensive and resin presents it's own set of problems to deal with. Hopefully someone will give us a nice Merk 4 in styrene in the next year or so. (Pluuuease Mr. Tamiya!!)

Mike

I'm doing the Merk MkII right now. Decent kit, looks a little clumsy on the sprues but with some carefull sharpening/thinning/drilling on selected parts it starts coming out really nice. The barell looks ok if you get it sanded/filed very carefully at the seam. I kinda sharpened the straps' detail with a file very carefully to give it a bit more pop, and did my normal technique of letting CA ooze out of the seams and sanding it down making for a filler-free part. I ordered the Legend PE basket and chain armor for about $15 from Squadron. Spruebrothers also has the full resin turret for the MkII very cheap right now for some reason($33) that includeds the PE basket and chain armor, and squadron has the IIIC turret for $36(I've been shopping a bit myself), either is not bad considering some companies are charging $25 for just tow cables.... But for the IV, or any of the heavy up-armored versions in general you gotta spend some bucks.

So personally I would do something like I did, the MkII and upgraded basket/chain armor. The basket is tough to build but it only costs about $4 more then just the chains by itself. If you want to spend a few more bucks but not go nuts, get either the II or the III with the aforementioned turrets.

With the pe basket and some artistic shading on the hull it should pretty up ok. Still debating anti-slip though. Funny thing is, yesterday I was like 'ok lets get into buidling the upper hull', and 6 pieces later it was done

Eduard makes a set for the Tamiya Merk 1 & the Academy Merk 3 but that's about it. They used to make one for the Mk. 2 but as far as I know it's out of production and very hard to find. If you want to add the balls and chains, they could be scratched, but the Legends set is well done and though it can be very tedious, once you get started it's not that bad.

Mike

Mike