Hi all, I'm writing this post a little further from my usual lair. I'm currently in Jerusalem and today I had the opportunity to visit the tank museum at Latrun. While there I took the time to crawl all over a few of the tanks there and take, what I hope are, exhaustive detail shots. I took high res pictures of the M-51 Sherman, the M-60 Blazer, the M113a APC and the Mk.II and Mk.III Merkava. When I get back to Blighty I will hopefully be able to post them on the website.

There was one point of note which I'll bring up now. I've seen photos of many different kits of the Merkava beautifully painted and finished, however, there was one feature on all of the Merkava's that I've never seen represented on the models or for that matter in any photographs.

All the top side surfaces have fine gravel embedded in the paint to produce a simple but very effective non-slip surface. You'll see what I mean more clearly when you see the photographs. I thought that it had been put on to prevent people at the museum from slipping but having discussed it with a soldier based nearby he told me that it was fitted to all Merkava's to prevent the crews from injuring themselves getting in or out in a hurry.

Unlike the English museums where it's all look but don't touch in poor lighting, this museum (all outdoors) was all very open to visitors with a lot of the vehicle having step ladders next to them to get up safely. There is a huge collection of vehicles including about a dozen variant of Sherman, a MkIV Cromwell, a Chieftain, a Centurion, many Russian vehicles and even a captured Pzkpfw IV! Highly recommended if you're visiting Israel!

Your windswept and interesting intrepid voyageur

Phil
p.s. I will try to check the replies as often as possible. I may visit again if there are any requests but next on my list is the Air Force museum in Hatzerim.

Have you been to the Tsahal museum in Jaffa (close to Tel Aviv)? In some ways I liked it better than Latrun.

Hey Phillip,

When you can, it would be great if you could send me the photos you took of the M113a as im building that at the moment and would love any reference photos you may have on it. If you could email it to [email protected] that would be appreciated.

Cheers!

Hi there, I would love to send them but they're still on my camera and I have no access to a computer where I could download them. In addition the photos are very high resolution and it would take a while to upload. I'll be back in England on the 4th of September and I'll post them all on the website.

Phil

No problems. Let me know once its all up on the site. Enjoy the rest of your trip!