Introduction

Where armour modellers are concerned World War Two German models seem to rule supreme, but a close second is anything relating to the Israeli Military in my opinion. Here Legend Productions has presented us with a towing horn and chain set in 1/35th scale, and I believe this offering covers a very wide number of vehicles in Israeli use.

Contents

This product is packaged in a card box that opens at each end and this is covered by a heat sealed plastic wrap that increases its strength and so protection. The contents inside the box are packed inside two Ziploc bags and consist of:
14 resin parts
2 lengths of copper chain
A brass rod
A photo etched fret
An instruction sheet

Review

Legend Productions does as a rule produce very good resin mouldings, and I am pleased to say that this also looks to be the case here. There is of course some very minor flash that will need to be cleaned up, but it is not of an excessive amount or exceptionally heavy/thick. The chains have to be 158.5cm long (6 ¼ inches) for those who prefer imperial, in this example there is plenty of extra length to work with. The brass rod and photo etch are pretty much bullet proof and so no concerns at this point.

Removal of the parts from the resin carrier is one area where I have a minor concern. Most of the parts will be very easy to remove and clean up, but the four parts listed as No5 concern me a little due to the depth they extend into the carrier and the thinness of the resin parts. With that said if you take your time and are not excessive with your force, then the parts will come away fairly easily as Legend Production do provide good prominent guidelines for you to follow during removal.

With the parts removed and some light sanding undertaken you should have some nicely detailed parts free of moulding flash. The brass rod needs to be inserted through the towing arms of the of the device, and that involves cutting six 4.5mm lengths. I should point out that the holes in the arms are blocked and so will need to be drilled, damn no drill size is mentioned, but if you think about the problem it is 0.7mm that is required as that is the size of the brass rod. The photo etched parts that secure the chain on the brass rod carriers are very small, but the hole in the photo etch is such that the brass rod will pass through it and so easy to secure.

Conclusion

I believe this has been designed with all of the Merkava models in mind and so will add an interesting detail that marks it out as different from the crowd. From what I can see the product looks easy to use and despite only having photographic instructions surprisingly straight forward to make and attach to your model. I have had a look through my reference and it would seem that this is/was used on many Israeli vehicle types and so it could prove to be a useful item to make your build personal to you.