Merkava, Merkava, Merkava

[DavidN]

I have my one Merkava. My Toucan rep emailed me and stated that she had 2 sitting in her US warehouse. They were returned by customers because of mechanical and firing issues. She was trying to clear out her warehouse and would give me discounts if I would take them. Well....They arrived. I fixed them up and I am now "stuck" with them :-)

[DavidN]

[DavidN]

[DavidN]

[DavidN]

[Operator7G]

With the lighting and lack of any objects for scale reference, those look like actual tanks. The Merkava has to be one of if not the coolest looking tanks around.

[MrChef]

Wellll that's quite a conundrum getting "stuck" with them David. But I can't imagine a better home for injured Merkavas to get mended and join your armored forces.

When are they hitting the battlefield? They're lookin good BTW.

[sclui56]

DavidN You are still refusing to fit the balls & chain, LOL.

[tank_me]

I got rid of my ball and chain years ago...

[DavidN]

Wellll that's quite a conundrum getting "stuck" with them David. But I can't imagine a better home for injured Merkavas to get mended and join your armored forces.

When are they hitting the battlefield? They're lookin good BTW.

Thank you! These 2 new Merkavas will hit the battlefield in LA 12/9/23.

[DavidN]

DavidN You are still refusing to fit the balls & chain, LOL.

Correct! I added some blankets and tarps at the rear of their turrets though, heheh!

[sclui56]

BTW, your A2 looks as bad as mine in terms of how dark the turret was sprayed. Just too busy to fix, mine runs great after swapping out the gearbox. Looks impressive to have 3 lined up!

[keilau]

BTW, your A2 looks as bad as mine in terms of how dark the turret was sprayed. Just too busy to fix, mine runs great after swapping out the gearbox. Looks impressive to have 3 lined up!

What gearbox did your Merkava originally have? What does it have now?

I may not get mine for a while yet because the seller at AliExpress refuses to ship. I emailed AliExpress customer service 3 times and did not get a answer.

[sclui56]

What gearbox did your Merkava originally have? What does it have now?

I may not get mine for a while yet because the seller at AliExpress refuses to ship. I emailed AliExpress customer service 3 times and did not get a answer.

You must have forgotten the PM, it was the Heng Xin with a misaligned mounting hole.

[Rubicon99]

I have my one Merkava. My Toucan rep emailed me and stated that she had 2 sitting in her US warehouse. They were returned by customers because of mechanical and firing issues. She was trying to clear out her warehouse and would give me discounts if I would take them. Well....They arrived. I fixed them up and I am now "stuck" with them :-)

This is great news!! The Merkava is an excellent modern tank for IR battling. Happy to see you picked them up👍👍

[Rubicon99]

Correct! I added some blankets and tarps at the rear of their turrets though, heheh!

If you don't want the accessory "balls" I would be happy to take them off your hands.

[RichJohnson]

Really cool, but aren’t you going to paint them? The color henglong paints them is just hideous.
From 2005 when the mk4 was released they were a dark green color. I found a mix of Tamiya khaki and dark green #2 50/50 is a pretty close match. Some of the mark 3 marks that were in reserve storage that have been deployed for the current action in Israel are still this dark green color.

Recently the IDF color has become more khaki with a green tint and from what I can tell a mix of khaki and dark green #2 of a ratio of 4 or 5 parts khaki to one part green seems to create that khaki greenish grey ish changing color. When sprayed with an airbrush over black primer.

Then take the tank out and shovel a pile of fine dirt on it, shake it off and you will look just like the real thing!

[DavidN]

Thank you for your suggestion.

[keilau]

You must have forgotten the PM, it was the Heng Xin with a misaligned mounting hole.

Yes, I forget our discussion at the Merkava review thread. I assume that your Heng Xin came with the 390 red motors?

I was very tempted to try the higher end CNC gearbox for the Merkava. At the end, I could not convince myself what benefit they might have over the Heng Xin.

[tank_me]

The enclosed "CNC" gearboxes mount differently. They have to mount from the bottom of the tank and not the top. That may cause some issues to some people. They also use an M3 machine screw and not that typical rough thread screw the stock gearboxes use.