Another IDF vehicle in the production line.
In fact this is the most challenging kit I've ever done. As I write I'm looking at it almost ready to receive the primer and I can't count the hours it took to solve the many problems I faced.

Some were just simple to solve and I got other parts to replace the ones on the kit. The MG's are from Legend's new set and they cannot be compared with the ones included. The ones on the kit are just blobs of resin, warped and smaller than they should be.
The tracks are Friul,

There is plenty to adjust before assembling, so a good flat sanding block is a plus. It's a way to match upper and lower hull or else they won't sit flat on each other.

The exhaust was fabricated with thin metal after Michael Mass provided the excellent pictures that were used as reference in the IDF in Scale forum..
The holders for the front tracks need to be fabricated because they are absent from the kit. I did mine with soldered brass wire and they have the real look.
The suspension was lowered by cutting a little slot that makes the arms sit in a lowered position. Then I just glued the arms horizontal instead on the suggested position.

The lid and rear door needed a little adjustment. The lid was sitting flat on one side but warped on the other. Some material was missing and I solved it with a thin strip of plastic sanded flat. But then the rear door was too short leaving a little gap at the top. Another strip of plastic glued to the top of the door and sanded took care of that.
There are many little things, but in the end the kit will look good, because the overall shape and proportions are very good indeed.

I've been covering the progress on my site and writing those things I do to achieve a good build.
I'll copy the build log to this site, but in the mean time you can have a look here:
http://www.pirespreto.com/newversion/achzarit.html

The lessons I got with this kit were
Be ready to spend some money in AM parts
Have a good stock of Plasticard wire etc etc
A good soldering iron and lots of patience
The instructions are more or less useless. Get lots of reference pics and materials
Buy the kit for a discounted price. For the normal price I would be screaming like a mad man
Prepare yourself to have the laptop near you or print all the pics you can find and put them on the bench in front of you.

That's some nice work on an interesting vehicle.

Looks very good to me. I really understand your frustration with the kit itself. I am building the Legend Puma currently as well. A lot of the same problems. The instructions do lay all the parts out by number on one page, but then on the next there are two completely different parts called out using the same number! I think once it is finished it will look good, so I am happy with the kit, but man, they need a little help with the instructions thing.

Can't wait to see the paint on your APC, it is looking good to this point, I think you are past the hard part.

I've been working on this one for two weeks. I have a Tiran to finish but I know if I stop this one for a while I may not have the drive to pickup where I left it.
I just want to get it primed and that means that I'm very close to do finish it

Legend's instructions are "legendary" for their lack of quality. I built a Merkava III D conversion from them and I thought at the time that the instructions were rubbish. But these ones take that meaning to a whole new level!!!

It's exactly what you say. We see the numbers E23+E22+E21 but now way how to tell what goes where. The headlight structures were absolutely unclear and on top of that some part numbers were wrong.

I have 3 PE frets and there are parts there that are not even referenced on the instructions.

he only thing that keeps me going is the fact that the APC is a very unusual one and the proportions and overall look of the kit are very accurate. But they are lousy on the detail, and like Frank Loyd Wright used to say - God is in the details...

I had to draw some of those details in order to put them on the kit
The track holders, the exhaust and the headlights had to be drawn from reference pictures so that I could understand how they were assembled or built.

Here's the kit that almost caused some problems with my wife
It took me so long, that I thought that I would never reach the primer stage.

There are many details that I added, scratched, changed etc etc.
In the photos there are still some parts not glued and some not yet included. For example the rubber guards that can only be installed after the tracks are in place.
I hope you like it. Looking at the pics I'm "sort of" proud of my achievement
I know that are details that I missed, some that I didn't miss and did wrong and some where I did everything OK

Hit me with your opinions.

Hey Tonio
You should proud of your work Really great

Congrats
Seb

Nice nice nice work! Good to see someone else took the plunge to tackle this kit and make the improvements. I did one a while back for a client with similar modifications and made the rear hatch positionable opened or closed, but your exhaust certainly looks better than mine.

Totally agree with you, the kit was a pain to build, the instructions sucked -my kit also had warp-age so I had to rebuild the area where the top ramp-door sits...the resin wheels were filled with excess I threw them out and stole a set from a T-72 kit.
Thank goodness I too have Michael Mass to bug for photos and information..as well as other great chaps who sent me tons of photos.

IMHO, you should add the anti-slip coating.. it does not have to be prominent as you can depict it "worn out"..............and if you want to go a little further the tiny chains attached to the retaining pins for all the fuel caps.

If you like, I have photos of mine for both WIP and Completed.

Looking forward to seeing your beast complete...


Nick

It looks fantastic primed. Can't wait to see this thing painted! Great job!

Thanks guys

@Nick
I would love to see the pics of your Achzarit. We can always see details that are useful. You just named two of them - The chains in the fuel caps and the anti slip. I had thought of the chains already because I made them by twisting thin copper wires and I have a lot of small chain.
For the anti slip, what would you suggest? Mr Surfacer?. I'm still in a phase where that is easy to do so I believe it's wise to follow your suggestion.

This kit is very strange. In one hand you get good proportions and very good details but on the other it has appalling quality control. When I looked at the excess resin on the wheels and not having a set to cannibalize, I decided to remove it with a Mission Models Chisel. It's like walking on thin ice. A slip and a hub can be ruined. It took me hours to get rid of that on all the visible wheels.
Then when I started to look closely I could not understand why some parts were included and not used. After all they were used but they were not referenced on the instructions.

To add to that. IDF is known to make small changes and "variants" all the time. Having the right reference materials is like finding the Holy Grail. For example I could not find a decent pic of the exhaust (I had a lot of them, but smoke dirty and from odd angles). But Michael Mass (IDF in Scale) with his magical touch just gave me the best picture ever of a CLEAN exhaust. Other members on that forum provided some of the best pictures of details that I could get (The mesh armor at the rear with all it's hinges and bolts). That's a truly specialized forum that I recommend to anyone wanting to build an IDF vehicle.
My deep appreciation has to go to this group, because without them I could never do it as good.

So, to all the guys that are planning to do this awesome APC my advice is - Get all the pictures that you can, Evergreen plastic sheet and rods, register on the IDF in scale forum and get ready to spend several weeks taking care of all the details.

Another great build !
Crappy instructions and wrong parts are a ***
I admire your patience..

Great work, keep them coming !

Antnio-- you are a master craftsman. Outstanding work.
DJ

Hi Antonio,

I'll post links to photos soon as I can.

Twisted thin wire is definately the way to go-best in size to simulate such small chain.. For more realism you can remove some of the molded retaining fuel cap L shape pins and make your own-attach them to the chains and let them lie about unsecured--many photos I've seen show this-guess the crews get lazy now and then.

I used cast-a-coat's coarser grains on the resin surface which I had to sandpaper inorder for the liquid to stick. However I did more touch ups on the cast a coat grains after I sprayed resin primer..
So, I believe you can do the same..as the grains gives the best realism in my opinion.

If you use Mr Surfacer, then you would be mostly simulating a very worn-out anti-slip look, just use a brush with firm bristles, but a real issue will be getting the brush around the structures and mainly the many bolts along both side of the hull,,,thus the better option of using cast a coat.


Totally agree with you about this "strange" kit. I totally appreciate the AM company's effort , but they can surely do much better with their instructions (even with their newer kits)
I used Zevda's T-72's wheels--the rimmed ones-which I had to remove painstakingly.
Although a beautiful kit, but with all the hassles and extra work including replacing the weapons..I wouldn't build another one of these unless it's a variant with the Doghouse!

Truly said Antonio, the IDF forum, Michael Mass and their members are essential for help with any IDF AFV build, otherwise we would be lost in the world of Israeli AFV variants!

Antonio, the photos I have are too large for my kitmaker gallery, no time to update my website for a link, so please email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the close up and detailed photos .

Cheers

wow antonio.simply amazing.kudos and all of that.Only thing stopping me from tackling this is the instructions.Hate to put things in the the wrong place and then have to remove them and repaint the entire model.the m.g.s look great.

Wow, what's the stuff you're really proud of look like? This is great! And an incredible vehicle. Never even knew it existed until today, went looking and found yours....

wow sick work, israeli vehicles are so money i find

Hi guys,

Thanks. I'm going to finish this one soon. If I don't mess the anti slip on the hull.
I'm going to use Cast a Coat for the first time and I'm really apprehensive because I don't want to mess a model in which I've invested so many hours.

Antonio -
Great build!!! For your anti slip surfacing just try fine ground black pepper.

Chris

A picture comes into my mind of Antonio in a fine restaurant and the waiter comes over asking if he'd like some fresh ground pepper. Antonio then pulls the Achzarit out from under the table and says "Yes, please".

I used Mr Surfacer 500 for my anti-slip on my Puma. I masked off all the areas that didn't get it (around the periscopes, the lift handles, etc). Then just went to town with an old stiff brush and the Mr Surfacer. It came out real nice and looks good to me. It was pretty easy to apply and very easy to control.

Good luck, it looks great now.

I have been thinking about taking my Puma and the instructions and doing my own instructions in AutoCad. It would be fairly simple to do and would help with figuring out what goes where. Those instructions are absolutely the worst example of anything I have ever seen. Anyway, like I said, your Achzarit looks really good now, I am very impressed.