Yup, that’s the plan mate.
Cheers.
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Okay, so against my better judgement, I decided to complete the majority construction of the lower hill before painting. It remains to be seen how this will work as you will soon see, there’s plenty of detail that might be hard to get at.
Anyway, This kit has workable suspension. And it actually does work. The only problem I have with this is you don’t have a choice, its workable suspension or nothing i’m afraid. Now, Meng use an elegant torsion bar mechanism to achieve this - but the real vehicle doesn’t, hence why the internal fixings for the torsion arms aren’t offset against each other. I know this has confused some modellers blogging this build on other forums.
The springs themselves are beautifully slide moulded and actually operate as springs. Although the plastic is pretty soft and I’m not sure what kind of rebound memory they would have if compressed too much. Same goes for the torsion arms really - which is why I said it might disappoint some that you only have the option for this workable set up.
And this is what the first one looks like when installed.
And the internal anchor points.
This part of construction was a little time consuming but everything fit very well. No issues here.
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This is what it looks like with all the running gear, minus the 4 x return rollers, fitted.
It looks really nice, but I can’t help thnking this workable suspension thing isn’t a little flimsy.
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There are two rear hull mounted stowage bins. I’m only making one (at least initially) because the space on the right hand side will hopefully be taken up by the Desert Eagle fuel drum frame.
Each bin uses 6 individual pieces and is a fiddly job requiring patience. Nonetheless, it went together well enough. Fragile though.
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Here we can see that the additional hull armour plate has been added and the turnbuckles that attach to the shackle lugs. Note that the turnbuckle circled in red doesn’t fix to anything yet - this is because the lug that will go here needs to be attached to the Desert Eagle fuel drum frame before the lug itself is attached.
The lug circled in blue is the Desert Eagle supplied lug and is slightly larger than the kit part. Some surgery was required to get it to fit into the slot provided, but it went in well anyway.
I also opted to fit the right hand side track pin stowage and hope that it doesn’t foul the fuel drum frame.
The left rear stowage bin and clamshell doors (minus tool) are attached now as well.
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And finally for this stage of the build, the more or less completed lower hull, also with front frames and turnbuckles.
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Coming together really well. I’m guessing the suspension will be the same for the Meng Mk4 I am looking to get. Not totally sure if I like it or not in regard to its use … it looks really nice once its all set up though. And I think I will probably follow suit with mine whenever I build it, and assemble the full lower hull first and paint up then mask. Nice update.
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Yes, it will be, they are slightly different Mk IVs - the one you’re getting is the LIC model, but the hulls are common to both.
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What i’m after is an additional recovery chain for the front horns. The kit does come with a chain, but i’d like one stowed on the side and one on the front.
If anyone like @gtdeath13 @ReluctantRenegade knows of a good representation for the scale that would be available in the UK, i’d be most grateful for the information.
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I would say that each link is about 5 inches in length and 1 1/3 inch thick metal bar (I dont know how you call the thickness from the iron bar the chain is made)
So in 1/35th scale a link would be about 3.6mm in length and a bit thinner than 1mm thick.
DN models makes some similar chains but I cannot recall where they are shipping from.
Legend LF1340 IDF AFV Towing Horn Chain set is also an option.
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Thanks, I actually went for this
So that would make each link about 70mm in length in real life - so about half the size they ought to be.
Damn.
As you can see in the top pic, a single piece is used to pull out a Mk.4M stuck in the mud.
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Based on the bottom pic, I’d estimate the links to be made out of 5-6 cm thick steel bars.
Although this doesn’t look much like progress, I have several sub-tasks going on simultaneously - the lower hull, the road wheels, idlers and sprockets.
This particular task just happened to be the first one i’ve completed since we last conversed.
The tracks (Friul of course!) completed.
The red(ish) mud effect is intentional. I’ve seen quite a few pictures of Merkavas that had this red mud caked to the tracks - I believe (although am happy to be corrected) that this redish mud is prevalent on the Golan Heights.
Anyway, the tracks were primed and then painted satin black. Then an overspray of Mig Dark Tracks.
Then the inside runs, which will be affected by the road wheels had Vellejo dark steel pigment applied with a silicone brush.
Then the tracks were washed with Mig Desert Sand and Accumulated Dust washes. Then Mig Gulf Sand and African Earth (a pretty close match for the red mud colour) pigments were sprinked on, randomly, and fixed with Tamiya Acrylic Thinner X-20A, applied with a pipette.
When dry, the whole lot was toned down and blended by using an old toothbrush on the surfaces.
Then, a thickish paste made up of Mig African Earth and thinner was applied on the outer surface, as randomly as possible to simulate clumped mud.
Finally, the grousers were taken back to bare metal using a 180 grade sanding stick and the inner runs were treated to another coat of steel pigment.
Its not uniform, and its not meant to be.
Let me know what you think.
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Good looking tracks 
Wow! Those are some fine looking tracks! You have an exhaustive process listed there, but your results are outstanding. Very, very realistic.
They look great!
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We’ve had some public holidays here in the UK, which I joined up with some annual leave, this allowed me to get some modelling done as well as the garden tidying that desperately need doing…
The wheels, final drives and idlers are painted and weathered.
As with all of the lower hull, the weathering consisted of Mig Desert Sand and Accumulated Dust Effect washes, followed by Mig Gulf Sand and Africa Earth pigments, fixed with acrylic thinners.
Oil leaks are Mig Engine Oil Effects enamels, thinned in varying degrees.
Note that the Friul sprockets will not fit the kit hull, as no allowance has been made to accommodate the final drive housing bulge seen here.
This was annoying as i’d spent quite a bit of time on them. Anyway, I used the kit parts in the end.
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Now the hull was painted and weathered.
Firstly, the fuel drum frame didn’t work out. It was complicated and flimsy and I stood no chance with it. Again, after many, many hours fighting it, I discarded it and went with the kit parts. This was again, annoying, but i’d had enough.
The Desert Eagle set hasn’t been a complete loss though. It contains several shackles and the antennas that were absolutely needed.
Hull was primed with NATO Black, then as were the wheels, oversprayed with Mig IDF Real Sinai Grey and Faded Sinai Grey.
Then washes and pigments added as before.
The question was, how much weathering effects to add? Well, i’ve seen actual pictures of Merkava Mk IVs absolutely plastered in mud, and i’ve seen pictures where it looks simply dusty. This, with my limited skills, was the compromise and an attempt to emulate the levels of mud contamination seen here
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