Long story, but I decided in a fit to make a bustle rack canvas "cover" for an "early" Magach 6B, mainly because I jacked up the mesh liner so bad and tried to hide it. I then had a fit of doubt about accuracy, and am contemplating starting another turret, or going back to the one I didnt' like the mantlet cover on. I wanted to do a tank with no Bzazer armor on the mantlet, and got to looking at pics and noticed the mantlet cover was different than all the kits, more of a bellows than a cover, leaving the mantlet itself bare.
First turret, kit mantlet:

Second attempt, AEF Designs turret (nasty part, but I had it).


Any input? I'm having a serious bout with modelers' ADD, need to move on. Any opinions or info will be appreciated.

A view of the basket/tarp/cover...

Somebody throw something out there, I'm stuck.

I don't know if the basket cover is accurate or not, but it looks good. The mantlet cover looks good too. I say go with it. The IDF seems to have done all sorts of mods and changes, almost anything is in the reakm of possibility.

yes, great idea of no Blazer on the turret - could be a quick replacement after damage to the original.

The turret-basket looks good, maybe continue the cloth over the contents like the modern IDF crews do ?

The newer AEF stuff is ok by me - I've had some horrors from Accurate Armour too.

BTW ... no-one does a good urdan cupola (there are several versions). The verlinden one looks right but is very under-scale.

Check out the Legend Magach 6B gal on their site. It has a similar cover, but a little more involved, and also has ID panels on the sides. Use their photos to help you, or ask Ryan if you can order the part separately. It's a good looking piece, as is, I believe, thier Urdan cupola.

Thanks all......input appreciated.
Michael Mass' book on t he 6B Gal has a great photo on the cover of the mantlet I'm doing, very nice. It's on a 6B-Gal though, and I'm doing what I think is an early 6B. There's a few pics throughout the book of the same area, but usually with the mantlet ERA.
I will have the ERA on the turret, but plan to have a few missing blocks, as seen in several photos I have. The turret ERA looks like that funky body armor samurais wore, can't pass on it..
I like the idea of a canvas cover on the basket as well, but will probably use an air ID panel, also seen in pics of Magachs on the way to Beirut.
If anyone has the Concord 'Tank Battles of the Middle East Wars (2) 1973 to the Present', there's a pic of the bottom of page 11 that I'm working from. Its subject appears to have a full, US-style mantlet cover........maybe there's a different cover that was Israeli-made, Blazer-specific? Also, the -Gal part by Legends is great, but it's an Israeli built basket, used on the -Gal only. I did one from scratch last year for this, lots of fun...

This has helped, kind of like self-analysis at the shrink. I never paid attention to it before, but I'm leaning towards the conclusion that there were tanks in the Lebanon war without mantlet ERA, with US-style mantlet covers, possibly due to time or supply issues. The mantlet cover I've modeled on the second turret may even be a " -Gal only" item. I may end up going with the first turret after all.
Gino, I think your philosophy will work. Muddy waters.

I decided to stay true to my original intention and build an early Magach 6B, so the AEF turret will be saved for another project. I went back to the Acad, turret, and will simply leave out the mesh liner in the bustle rack, partly because the rack will be largely covered by an air ID panel, and partly because the mesh is the source of all that's wrong in my life right now.......
The cupola is the old LoModel part, very basic but the only one that I know of that even appempts to represent the hatch pivoting feature. A few basic detail additions are on, more to be added. The turret ERA is on, bracket detailing begun. I backed the Blazer packs with .020" card stock, added small bits of stock to that to give the packs some stand-off from the turrets surface, and am adding small pieces of plastic angle at the actual attachment points.
Anyway, pics:


The searchlight will come off, since the tank I'm basing this model on does not have one mounted.
Long story short, I decided to actually build the model and quit making my head hurt. Onward through the fog!

I guess I'll go ahead and do a WIP on this one, seems like it's got me by the tail.....
Mantlet done, IDF barrel boot cover added, ERA on and brackets on. I figured that since I was not using the mantlet ERA or turret smoke grenade boxes I should do something about the lack of detail on the now-visible front ERA, then got totally carried away with it.......

Anyway, I've made some more progress on the hull and turret, and will post pics when able. So far:



I think I have parts from every M60 kit on this model, with the possible exception of Tamiya's original M60A1, but I'm not done yet.....

I guess I'll go ahead and do a WIP on this thread (I would edit the title if I could figure out how.....) so here's a couple of pics of its current state.

Turret top and hatches, where I've been concentrating lately.

Same.

Rear deck. Lots of good old modeling fun here.....

Not much modeling time lately, too much work. Such is life, I guess. Anyway, I've started the loader's MG mount, used the Esci part as a base, and added some detail to the gun travel lock.


Not much, but it's still moving along.

Lots of work done since my last post, including getting primer on. Hope to get pics up soon......and will probably move to "CC" forum, since this has turned into a WIP.

Quick question for anyone in the know: What's the approximate date the practice of painting the ends of the rear fenders black began, where the unit markings are seen? I'm far enough along in the painting that it's time......
Thanks in advance!

I'm going to continue this on the "Constructive Feedback" forum, seems timely. Thanks for looking.