Assembly of my Mk 1 is nearing completion. I am using the Echelon sheet.
I will have no ball and chain and no antislip. Photos of the Merk I am doing show no track links on the base of the turret and do not appear to show the personal weapon storage on the turret. I will be using 2 antennas and will have to sculpt a camo cover for the turret basket storage.

If you haven't used Kneadatite yet, in my humble opinion, this is THE best stuff to use for things like covers or rolled up/folded tarps, etc. As long as you use baking soda and water to keep the stickiness under control, you can roll this stuff out to paper thinness (or less) and use it for things like covers on the sides of over the top of IDF turret baskets, and when cured a bit, you can easily cut straps out of it. Just a thought

By the way, which Merkava I are you building? Do you have a photo (or several) that you are using?

Hi there fellow modelers, I have another question for the Merkava Mk1 (early) without AS and ball and chain.
Did the first Merkava batch have a thermal cover on the 105mm, or is it
possible that some were without this feature?

Thanks for any help and please don't start fighting about the possible incoming answers.

Paul

It is highly unlikely that there were operational vehicles without the thermal sleeve.

The thermal sleeve is even seen on prototype or test vehicles.

All operational Merkava 1s were equipped with thermal sleeves. This is the very first example:



If you fancy to build one sans, you’ve gotta throw an M48 turret on it I'm afraid...

Nikos, Israel many thanks fellas