Trumpeter 1/72 Israel Merkava Mk. III
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The Merkava is Israel's indigenous main battle tank, with the Mark I first entering service in 1978. The Merkava Mark III was introduced in 1989, and featured several upgrades over the previous variants. The drivetrain, powertrain, armament, and electronic systems all saw major upgrades, but the most noticeable was the new IMI 120mm gun. The turret was also redesigned to allow for independent movement, which gave the Merkava the ability to track a target regardless of tank movement. With the introduction of the Merkava Mark IV, production of the Mark III tapered off, ending in 2003 with 780 being built.
The Kit
Trumpeter's 1/72 Merkava III kit is their latest release in 1/72 armor, and the kit is rather impressive for both its detail and simplicity. The kit comes molded in the typical Trumpeter gray plastic and features crisp surface detailing on all sides. The packaging is sturdy and although seemingly thorough, my example did arrive with a bent machine gun. The decal sheet is small, as would be expected with a subject such as this, and provides markings for a single option.
Construction begins with the running gear, and here we notice the unique method of handling the tank's treads. These are molded solid as one piece, with the outer wheel faces in place. Assembly requires the addition of the backside wheels, which fit quite snugly into place. Once those ten separate parts are in place, the treads and wheels are essentially finished and could be painted up at this point.
For the suspension, this features separate arms and springs that attach to the lower hull. While these have a slight ridge down the middle, I found that a quick brushing of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement eliminated that ridge without much effort. There are three separate small guide wheels on each side, and the drive wheel and idler wheel boxes are separate. This allows for great detail to be molded in place, but for the most part this is moot as once the upper hull is dropped in place, most of this will be hidden.
With that out of the way, the next step for the hull is to glue the upper and lower pieces together and then add the details. The details are where things get fun, as this kit has quite a bit for one that has no open hatches. There are a total of four hooks for the hull (two front and two rear), plus two separate tread links. The rear o the hull gets two baskets plus the rear entry hatch. For the hull, that's about it, and the rest of the kit focuses on the turret.
The turret starts out simple: just sandwich the gun barrel between the two turret pieces, glue it all together, and the main turret has taken shape. But onto that fits the details, and here you get a gas can, two small cylinders, and a separate visor piece. The side-mounted launchers are made up from three pieces, while the rear basket has a separate floor and cage. By the time you've added all the various guns and other details, you will have added no fewer than 19 pieces onto this turret. Unfortunately, of those 19 pieces, none of them are the ball and chain armor that is so iconic on the Merkava, so you're left to your own devices on that one.
To give an idea of the fun with this kit, it took me all of about half an hour to assemble this kit, up to those small details. The small details, I'm still going, but I think all told, an hour to 90 minutes, tops, is all it takes to get this tank ready for paint. The only real challenge is cleaning up the small parts, as everything fit nicely and without much fiddling at all.
For painting, the instructions suggest you mix RLM 02 Gray with RLM 74 Gray Green, but no percentages are given. Really, just pick your favorite Israeli paint mix and have at it here. The decals provide markings for placards on the basket on the rear of the turret, but those placards are not provided in the kit. Chop some from plastic card and you're good to go there. The standard white chevron on the hull side and a few small detail markings make up the rest of the decals.
Conclusion
This is a very nice kit of the Merkava, and although I only have about an hour into the build, it has been quite enjoyable as well. This should be a good addition to any IDF armor collection, or for someone who just wants a pleasant break from more stressful models. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.