Thanks!
Well, alright, guess I’ll share my thoughts haha
Now, many of my complaints are definitely due to this being my first model, and maybe this is not a kit for a first timer, please keep that in mind
So, first, of course, the inaccuracy of the missing loader hatch. If Hobby Boss had done their research on the model, they should have immediately and clearly seen that every Merkava Mark 4B and onwards have had a loader’s hatch added. The loader’s hatch was only missing in the Merkava Mark 4A, and even those have been installed with a loader’s hatch.
It seems they simply took their original Merkava Mark 4 kit and slapped Trophy on it without changing anything else, which is… not great.
Secondly, the tracks are too small. I’m not sure if the Mark 4A had smaller tracks and that’s the reason, but, either way, I ended up taking the tracks from my awaiting Mark 4M Meng kit and putting them on instead (will use metal tracks for the meng kit)
Thirdly, the chain netting…
Were an absolute nightmare. You get a long chain you need to cut yourself, along with metal balls with a metal stick poking out that you need to shape into a hook yourself, then you need to assemble dozens of little chains, and then somehow attach them to the thinnest most fragile PE scaffolding in the world, and also, the chains don’t fit in the holes in the scaffolding without falling out, there’s nothing to grab them there. So you need to either clog the chains with glue, or hang them on the scaffolding with the scaffolding upside down, which makes the chains essentially shorter (I ended up over-compensating and making my chains too long!)
And, also, the kit doesn’t give you enough balls, and the main chain you cut isn’t long enough to make even the required amount of chains, let alone accounting for any spares in case of mistakes.
I ended up having to buy a chain and balls roughly the same size from a jewelry store.
Overall, the entire chain netting was a nightmare.
I appreciate them going the extra mile and making the chains articulate unlike the static plastic chains of other kits, but, this ain’t it…
Also the rear stowage basket and its canvas cover has some fitting issues, I assume because Hobby Boss didn’t really iron out the fitting of new stowage basket that changed due to Trophy’s sensor in the back.
And that’s about it!
Despite these complaints, I do think there’s a lot of potential in this kit, and if I did it again right now with the experience I have now, I’m certain it’d come out much better.
)