Heng Long MERKAVA review, build out and field testing.

[Rubicon99]

The chain and balls are a huge part of what makes the Merkava a Merkava. Sure they are a PIA to install, but they really do add a lot to the tanks overall IDF feel and authenticity in the end.

Anyways its good to know I will not be alone 👏👏👏👏 in having a HL Merkava locally. Hope you bring it to the Sept 2023 LA tank battles I will have mine there.

A few of mine in testing and combat practice.

[sclui56]

David, did you upgrade to metal? Mine is sort of work in progress waiting for parts, thought I had everything... So far, switched out the plastic gearbox to Heng Xin (first time using these, saw Toucan was selling these on Amazon) since I didn't have any ML59 metal box, there was a minor problem as the mounting plate and the right gearbox did not lined up, someone at the factory drilled misaligned holes on the gearbox, ended up enlarging the holes on the gearbox side and got those sorted since the threads are on the plate. Then I got the metal tracks & wheels from Toucan, since it wasn't a package, they put things together and omitted the ball bearings for all the road wheels, so those are coming maybe in 10 days? BTW, the metal hub caps are undersized, so will be using the plastic ones instead.

Will most likely leave the ball & chain off as those will probably be lost one by one.

[DavidN]

[DavidN]

Here is my Merkava straight out of the box. I only upgraded it to IR battle and switched the barrel recoil unit with the servo converter from Germany. I also did some weathering. I don't like those chains and balls so I did not install them.

[Rubicon99]

You manage to produce the best colors, on all your tanks. Did you put down a base color first, or just over the stock tannish color?

I just wiped down the hull with alcohol then painted straight over the stock color. I put two coats on so it should hold up reasonable well. About a bottle and half of paint in total.

[SoCalBobS]

You manage to produce the best colors, on all your tanks. Did you put down a base color first, or just over the stock tannish color?

[Rubicon99]

Merkava is DONE!! Now onto putting it through it paces, so off the trials course and combat range.

Videos of Merkava testing are going up on my Instagram @ fsttanks

[Rubicon99]

Outdoor color "paint check". Almost done just a few minor tweaks to the paint and weathering then the last few details parts go on.

[SoCalBobS]

FYI for those working on Merkavas, I saw this on eBay. It's a screen capture, not live.

[quitcherbitchen]

+1. I encountered the same problem, ran it another way while filtering for malware, and it came up clean.

I figured it out Bob, The link has https// added to the web address. That messes it up. Take https// off the front and it loads correctly. rich you may want to edit the address in the forum to take that off as it maybe adding that on automatically and then shows all sorts of warnings. Just an idea.

[Rubicon99]

PART 6: Basic paint and weathering.

After some long thought and a few conversations with RichJohnson the paint color "guru" I decided to go with a Vallejo "Tan Green Hemp" FS34201 color. It's the color several IDF modelers in Israel recommended as the closest color to the Merkava MKIV and other current IDF equipment.

Below is the new color. Please note that this is just the basic coat NO detail paint or weathering has yet been added. That is coming shortly.


In this photo the color looks more desert tan with almost no green tint. Similar to what is seek in many reference photos of the MKIV out in the desert on maneuvers.

[Rubicon99]

Some miscellaneous work.

Two of the four antennas have their modifications done and the tracks have been "dirty blued".

Still waiting for the "special order" paint to arrive so I have slowed down the build process a bit.

[Rubicon99]

I'm about to build mine. How bad are the directions? I was thinking about painting all the brass pieces a dull black.

The instructions are not what I would call in logical build order based on my 45 years of model building and having seen all levels of great to poor instructions. HL has never had great instructions, but they have never been this bad.

Take special care when building the chain and balls and double check that you are cutting the correct length of chain and using the correct brass section to mount them to the tank.

If you want to use dull black as a primer that's up to you. On the real tank it's all painted IDF "green".

[Milspec1]

I'm about to build mine. How bad are the directions? I was thinking about painting all the brass pieces a dull black.

[Rubicon99]

PART 5: Hull and turret details.

Spent the evening adding the turret "chain & balls" and other small details parts. The "chain & balls" do require a bit of focus and time to install so plan accordingly for them. Also HL provides ample extra chain and several spare "balls". In retrospect if I was to install the "chain & balls" again I would use slightly smaller chain links. The ones provided ate a bit out of scale.

As for the other small details accessory they all went on easily. But I do have one complaint and heads up to anyone thinking about a Merkava. The instructions are not in order or clear and jump around a bit. By far the worst I have seen from Heng Long.

Photos of the "chain & balls" installation.

[Rubicon99]

PART 4 : Lower hull modification.

Well here there is not much to say. I wanted a flat surface to mount the larger battery and MFU to but the floor of the lower hull has torsion bars which mean I had to add a platform / material to raise the floor even with the tops of the torsion bars.

For this I used sound dampening foam which just happened to be the correct thickness to make a level floor even with the torsion bars. Kinda killing two birds with on stone approach. Now I have the level surface for the battery and MFU plus the added benefit of some sound/vibration dampening. While I was at it and since I had a little foam left I through some one the inner hull sides. Doesn't hurt the tank and will help with a measure of sound vibration reduction.

Just to be clear adding sound foam is something I do not do with all my tanks and only sparingly to those that I do. I went a little "Mad Hatter" with Merkava because it is a very noisy tank.




Up next in PART 5 will finally be the outer hull and turret details.

[SoCalBobS]

+1. I encountered the same problem, ran it another way while filtering for malware, and it came up clean.

[RichJohnson]

There is nothing wrong with my website. This forum does not to direct to it properly but it works fine in browsers lik chrome and Firefox.
just cut and paste the address.

the web hosting company I use considers this a legacy product and I think they are not renewing my server certificate.

[quitcherbitchen]

Hey Rich. I think you said something about your website had an issue, but my web browser gives me all sorts of warnings going to your site.

[RichJohnson]

Right you are Bob.

I have been working with JVM3d to make a couple different size elevation cams that can be replaced on the henglong elevation unit that uses the side groove to elevate the main gun.
The intent was to have maybe 3 different sizes that are bigger than the stock round cam that a person could use to find the right one that increases their gun barrel elevation travel as low and high as the model can allow so it would not be limited by the small cam henglong provides.

Rubicon got my first prototypes this week direct from JVM. He swung by and picked them up to try them out.
While the first prototypes did not quite work, I sent JVM back to the drawing board and I think we are going to get a product that will work.

The superb elevation you see on Rubicon’s new Merkava here is the second prototype. It provides much more range of motion than the stock elevation unit cam.
Rubicon is providing me feedback and data to provide JVM to finalize the design for production.
Once he gets his tank in the field and is able to shake it down and prove that the parts and the elevation gear box it’s self will hold up with the modification we will make a run of them for marketing on my website Www.RichardSJohnson.net/id28.html