Academy has 2 different models I believe.

1. IDF MERKAVA MK.II MINE ROLLER
2. I.D.F MERKAVA MKIII

Tamiya has one..

1. Israeli Merkava MBT #35127

Im wondering if anyone knows which is the better kit.... while my desk and spray booth are being built, and my tools and supplies coming in.. trying to decide what to build.

Hrmmm or maybe I'll just build the new T-55a.. grrrr...so many choices...so few hands..

I have the Tamiya version but have yet to build it..The detail looks very good, as most of tamiya detail is. Hope this helps

Army

I have the Academy which I too have not built. I was impressed with the detail. I am not familiar with the Merkava series. I would recommend go with the best priced and if you are wild about accracy add a PE kit

I have the Academy Merkava Mk II and it was a very nice kit, lots of little details.

I built the academy kit a few years ago think its a merk. 1 have to look to be shure. pretty good kit only gripe [small gripe] the rear hull wall was warped out little super glue fixed it .trying to scratch the "bustle chains" to top it off trying to remeber how old the timiya kit is. depends on hoh much detail yopu are going for, some of the old timiya stuff is molded a bit on the thick side some times later TURRETTOAD 13 OUT.
P.S.The acad. kit has vynl road wheels so they can be modified to show wear and tear

Hi Soldner,
If you want to build the Merk 1 go with the Tamiya kit, it is nice OOTB. Ditto for the Academy Merk 2. The Academy Merk 3 is actually based on the prototype tank at Lattrun and as such needs some work to actually make it into an accurate version of the tank the IDF used. If you wanted to I believe there are PE sets available for all of these (the Mk. 2 for sure, I have used the eduard set for it) AEF Designs makes several update sets for the various Mks. but they can be hard to find, even if you order them direct from AEF it might take several weeks to arrive. Last, it is a royal pain, but if you want to scratch the ball and chain armor it really adds alot to the finished product. Oh yeah, and if you want to build the Tamiya T-55 it is a superb kit OOTB, I'm in the process of painting one now.

HTH
Mike

Hey guys.. I found a review of the Academy Merkava and it seems that it is a total copy of Tamiya. They are identical kits.

It will look great once completed and I cant wait.

They are close but not identical. I have both kits and the Academy incorporated the differences in the 2 Mks. but they are both nicely done. Below is a link to an Academy Mk. 2 built by Ron Puttee in the gallery on Missing Links it is pretty incredible looking.

Mike
http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/modern/rpmerk.htm

I build the mk1 mk2 and mk3 and the mk2 is the best kit. Mine is with the mine roller, also included was a PE basket floor and a string of chain, and the chain and balls in white metal (porely done but a real must).

The Mk2 is difrent from the mk1. Note the exaust and the turent armor also the side skirts.
The mk2 has an built in mortar - the mk 1 an exterior one
the mk 1 has this gate shaped hole on the left front side of the tank.
I'm sure this are verry diferent kits.
Personally i like the mk2 over the mk1, more detail and those vinyl road weels save a lot of painting trouble.

hope to help you out

Hi Soldner

All the available kits from academy otr tamiya are good replicas of the vehicles they were based on. There is no other MK1 on the market except for Tamiya's . Academy's kits all come with lots of little accessories. AEF makes a number of update sets for the merkava although the straight MK# is not much of an improvement the best I've seen so far is the new Castoff turret for the MK3. Eduardmake a number of PE sets for all the variants. I do reccomend trying one of the new MK2 baskets with ball and chain from Legend. Just as an Aside the upcoming group build at the IDF armour group is the Merkava series. checkout My site for links to the group and more info

Josh Weingarten Aka shiryon
IDF armour group Janitor
www.homestead.com/shiryon/index.html

No idea what the Tamiya Merk looks like but I have the Academy Merk III and saw the Academy Merk II. Ok, but I second those who commented on the white metal chain-ball 'armor'. I'll be using 1/350 ship chain and plastic balls (from my fountain pen ink cartridges) for this one.