History

The Nagmachon is a heavily armoured infantry fighting vehicle fielded by the Israel Defence Forces. The Nagmachon evolved from the NagmaShot APC, which in turn was based on Centurion Sho't hulls from the 1970s and 1980s. The vehicle has thick belly armour designed to withstand mine-blasts and mountings on the front hull for various engineering devices such as mine plows, mine rollers and dozer blades. In addition to its belly armour and the relatively heavy armour of the Centurion hull, the Nagmachon also carries explosive reactive armour to counter HEAT rounds, such as rocket propelled grenades.

Contents

The box is like all Hobby boss boxes and made from very sturdy cardboard with a lift of lid, the art work on the top of the lid is good and catchy but would have been better with some figures in the Nagmachon visible.

12. Sprues green in colour that contain all the main parts for the APC.
1. Hull green in colour.
1. Top of the hull also green in colour.
4. Sprues brown in colour contains all the single links to the tracks.
1. Bag of vinyl tires black in colour.
1. Clear sprue lights and shields.
1. Bag containing two photo etched sheets.
1. Decal sheet with identification numbers and Israeli flag.
1. Colour profile with Mr Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol paints guide.
1, Instruction booklet.

Review

The main hull is of sturdy design and quite thick plastic has been used, but this carries a lot of detail there are sink marks, but all of them are going to be hidden in the inside of the hull therefore should not cause any issues. The casemate or fighting compartment has some raised detail and is quite accurate to the shape of this particular APC. All sink marks on this are again on the inside so should not cause any issues. The suspension comes in several different parts, all of which are quite well represented. The track return rollers or track return wheels depending on the political corrective side you are on, do have some very nice detail to them. The drive wheel I particularly like the detail as it really stands out. The water containers are nicely done and under magnification you can see some writing about only for water, things like this may be nearly impossible to see, but with a wash it would hopefully show. Some return springs which for their size are very good and serve to keep the hatch doors closed.

The road wheels have some nice detail on them and this will be enhanced with the use of the black vinyl tires wheel hubs that are also included. The drive trains are moulded well and have some access panels included, but does give you that overall feeling of very large components that are used in the internal workings of the drive part of a tank. When looking around this Nagmachon it is clear how the different types of Nagmachon have come about from the original design.

There are Large lockers on the top of the hull that are very nicely detailed. The incredible detail on the smoke launchers is very impressive and to add to it is the added moulded canvas covers makes for a nice touch. The FN MAG 240B machine guns are ok and well represented by Hobby Boss, but do have some flash, I have seen better but I have also seen a lot worse. Two stretchers are included in the kit and will look good in place on the back of the top of the hull. The step to climb up onto the top of the hull of the tank also includes some non slip detail.

One of the two hatches that sit on the back of the hull is rather plain and devoid of detail where as the second one is nicely detailed. Much better is the detailing on the 50 cal machine gun is well represented and with the mount, makes it look even better. A small belt of ammunition looks good until you turn it over and see the ejector marks underneath which can be seen. Some basic ammuntion boxes are included to support the machine guns making it look realistic.

The angled shields that are placed around the compartment give a good solid look and feel; there is not much in detail but it still look good. The main parts for the top of the hull all look good the moulded grills are good and in fact do have some depth enhancing it with a 3-D look. More armoured panels and lockers to place on the sides and back along with some upgraded armour which I really like the look of. The side armour to protect the tracks is very well detailed and is really crisp.

The radio mast is enhanced by the adding of the photo etch detail. A couple of the hatches are low in detail in my opinion. The moulded plastic stowage wire frames are suffering from some flash which will be tricky to clean up given just how thin the actual plastic is. The clear sprue contains some light lenses which are a nice touch. The periscopes are clear and the glass for the shield are crisp and without distortion.

The track links look pretty good and my first impression was these are going to be a pain to assemble, Hobby Boss I apologise completely the tracks are not only decent in detail but they fit together very well. I may have only dry fitted three together but if the others all fit together in the same way then this is going to be a nice easy job and will look the part as single links.

The instruction booklet, Decals and Photo etch. The instruction booklet is in the same normal format of other Hobby Boss instruction sheets slightly smaller than A4 format, black and white and printed on paper. The instruction booklet is twenty pages long eighteen pages for the build, one for the sprue plan and page one. The instructions are fairly straight forward and easy enough to follow with markers for photo etch parts makes it easy to distinguish between the photo etch and normal plastic parts.

One colour profile picture showing where and what colours to paint. Two photo etch sheets are included one for some clamps and panels the other for the radio masts, straps and further panels. The decal sheet is a small one and it is taken up mostly by an Israeli flag and some numbers which fit on the side panels.

Conclusion

I think that Hobby Boss have tried hard with the Nagmachon, the dog house and the Nagmashot, three different armoured personnel carriers or APC all based on the same hull. I have never seen any other companies Nagmachon to be able to really compare the differences but you cannot go far wrong with this version. I will personally recommend this kit to anyone whose interests that include the Israeli Defence Forces or have an interest in the whole Middle East which for a number of years now has had something or other happening out there.