Hi Mead
look at the plan from Roberts book I posted you can see the bracket for aerial stowage the U shape ones but not the other on a KAL with NEW Engine and full upgrade.
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Okie dokie! Looks like I need to remove the smaller brackets (good thing super glue parts never cause issues when removing 
and then see if I have spare archer tie downs to fix afv clubs wrong tie downs
This plan is not accurate. The side view show the brackets. There are plans in this book that donot show the brackets on the top view but show them on the other views.
According to people from the IDF these brackets are for stowing the 0.50 cal and a spare barrel. So our guesses for aerials or rods or something are wrong. The reason we dont see the mg stowed is because it was a waste of time.
All Shot Kals had the brackets, one photo I posted is from the production line. The Î brackets were even retained on Gimel and Dalet upgrades.
The centurions with the rear hull extension for the fuel tank were used from as early as before the Six Days War. Most centurions had this extension, new front lights, L7 gun, searchlight mount and stowage added. It is true that not all Centurions were upgraded to Shot Kal standards y 1973 because of the lack of engine parts
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Hi
So think we are getting cross wires here .
Ok so number 1 is where aerials can be stored same stowage used on Swedish centurions like STRV104 which copies this. These are as you said stayed with all versions. Straps seem optional.
2 yes is a .50 browning barrel but I can not find many pictures of these being fitted after initial upgrades . But the mount looks like a rifle stowage clip.
Personally i would not put a new barrel there because if it fills up with dust you got to clean it . I if I wanted to replace a shot out barrel in a hurry I would not grab that one
Trouble is with centurion is it was modified at every stage of its life and no two cents were the same at any time.
I know I modified mine a few times.
Ossie
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The brackets are way too big and way far apart for that. Also, their location would make it very difficult for the loader to retrieve the rifle.
Galil rifle racks were assymetric: since the rifles were stored with folded stocks on board tanks, thereâs actually only one bracket that the barrel clips into; the other one is a simple base which the bottom of the receiver slides into (very similar to fire extinguisher mountings).
Besides, given the time frame, the crew of a Shoât Kal Alef wouldnât be equipped with Galils but with Uzis.
Frankly, I donât see anything in those drawings that resembles a rifle rack. The Uzis might have been stored inside the tanks.
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Hi
I am looking at the bracket side on which looks like a British rifle bracket we use to have fitted
This is the rifle clip which I think the .50 barrel is fitted in. Mounted on something .
These were fitted in British vehicles at this time zone and I used them .
Wouldnât they have a boot of some kind, or a plug, or tape at least, on the ends to prevent this? That seems like common sense. In the pic, that barrel tip seems too tapered to be a bare .50 cal barrel and the receiver end seems less defined than the rest of the barrel in the pic - but it could be shadow or just the pic itself.
I know the French had large canvas boots on their spare barrels on the AMX Chaffee used in Algeria.
So Iâm terms of a 1973 shot, brackets marked 2 need fo go and I need to add the new tie downs?
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Until '73 (including the Yom Kippur War), Shotâs were equipped either with single, commander operated 0.3 or 0.5 cal MG.
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Hmmm, so I could use a .50? Kit only comes with a .30 but I have couple .50s in the spares box
I donât think you have a choice: a 0.5 cal barrel is fairly long affair that you canât really store inside the tank if you want it to be easily a accessible.
I think those brackets were originally used for storing a spare 0.5 cal barrel. Crews of tanks equipped with a 0.3 cal probably used it for other stuff, as well as Shoât crews after the Yom Kippur War, when the commander operated 0.5 cal was ditched for good.
Are you sure about that? âKalâ is the Hebrew abbreviation for Continental. I assume that a Shoât still equipped with Meteor engine wouldnât be called âKalâ.
Hi only going by what Robert said in his book but might talk to michael mass
Small updateâŚjust got majority of external hull fittings put on.
And front. Have left out the spare links, and just fitted the clamps.
This was annoying⌠The headlight guard broke in 3 places as I was taking it off the sprue ⌠looks ok now though.
Will start getting the tracks put together and the turret details âŚthinking of just doing the searchlight now instead of the .50âŚ
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looking great!!!
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Ok, enough with the talking, lets start building.
IDF Shot Kal Gimel Lebanon 1982.
AFV Club kit, AFV Club individual link tracks, Legend detailing set, Legend stowage set, PanzerArt wheels.
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Hi. Nice I have the same but no legends detailing set .
Looking forward to your build
Ossie
Nice lot of plastic and resin there Nikos, looking forward to seeing you get this started 