Char B1 bis - French Main Battle Tank

Merkava Mk 4

In June 2002, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) unveiled the latest of the Merkava family Israel’s main battle tanks, the Merkava Mk 4. Compared to its predecessors, the Merkava 4 has been extensively improved and features new armour protection and gun and electronics systems, enhancing crew survivability, lethality and mobility. The Merkava 4’s armor has been acknowledged to be a form of hybrid armour, but that’s as far as we know and the rest is classified. The Merkava 4 has been designed to fight a battlefield which is engulfed with chemical weapons, artillery fragments and sniper fire. 4 cameras are embedded in armoured boxes on the tank’s superstructure, giving the driver an all round vision, including previous blind spots to the tank’s rear & sides, on a high resolution monitor.

Brief History of the Merkava
The Merkava (Chariot) family of tanks is amongst the most advance tanks currently in service, with the Merkava Mk 1 entering service in 1982 and fought the Lebanon war. For General Tal (the father of the Merkava), the utmost focus in designing the Merkava, was that it had to offer a high level of crew protection. The IDF found that whilst damaged tanks could be rapidly repaired, it took more time to get replacement tank crews. Consequently, priority was given to protecting the crews from injury. Unlike traditional MBT designs, the Merkava has its powerpack in the front rather than the rear. This means that the tank’s engine & transmission provide added protection to the already thick armour.

I’ll put up a more detailed history of the Merkava in a separate post :)

And now... pics of my completed model of the Merkava Mk 4. The model was built from Legend's full resin kit.

M113A2

This is my very first post on my newly created blog dedicated just for the hobby...:) Am currently working on the US armored personal carrier, M113A2. This is actually my good buddy, Milton's model kit that i'm working on... Bro, you should feel honored to be mentioned in my 1st post le...haha. He did the building part and me..the painting, weathering...n yada yada yada.

This is the box art of the subject at hand. Unfortunately, I sold my camera and haven't gotten a new one, so can't upload progress pics of the build in the meantime. Will try to get that sorted out soon. The current stage of my build is betwn phase 2-3, i.e. painting acessories to be mounted onto the vehicle and also initial stages of weathering. Looks like a whole Saturday's been spent on this n of cos...taking naps in between...

That's all for tonite...I shall be putting up images of completed models very soon...