Heng Long MERKAVA review, build out and field testing.

[sclui56]

From the picture, it looks like the ML-58. The Taigen/Torro series 2 gearbox has a perfect spec. I believe that the HL ML-59 Ultimate II gearbox should work just fine too. It's just my guess from looking at the pictures. It would be nice to have some verification from some Merkava owner.

I just tried fitting the Heng Xin ML59mm on my basic Merkava and they are a match, however, the unit I received had botched mounting holes on the bottom plate, so when the right gearbox is mounted to the plate, it's slightly tilted, but what made it worse was that the motor is interfering against the left motor at a slight angle. I can probably retap the holes to align them, but I may just get them exchanged instead.

[Rubicon99]

Those look like the mid/low gearboxes. Are they long or short axles

They are M/L 59 mm steel gear gearboxes. Same as used in the T72/90 and a few others. Any HL compatible M/L 58/59mm gearbox set should fit with no issues.

[Rubicon99]

PART 3: Continued

Final modifications to the turret are done and it is being closed up and readied for outer details and paint.

The elevation unit has been modified for greater range of motion that more closely mimics the real tank, the power switch has been moved to the commanders hatch and sound dampening material has been added to help quite down the vibrational noise.

Barrel elevation up and especially down has been greatly increased. A video of the new range of motion can be see on my Instagram @ fsttanks.


Below is a simple foam damper added to the turret to quite down the echo/vibration sound it makes while turning. Does not take it all away but cuts it by 50ish %.


I did not like the ON/OFF switch location under the turret so it had to be moved. The commanders hatch fully closes to hides the switch.


Up next PART 4 lower hull modifications.

[SoCalBobS]

I like the extended elevation. That's a shortcoming of stock HL's.

[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

[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]

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.

[SoCalBobS]

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

[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.

[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.

[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]

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".

[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]

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.

[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.

[SoCalBobS]

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

[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.

[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

[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]

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.