Thanks, G.

Yep, I can always make time to do it over, but at least I know how NOT to do it.....

Funny how that goes.

Never enough time to do it right, but somehow there's always time to do it over...

Been down that route countless times.

Very impressive model, Russ.

How so, expensive? Or are you referring to the Squadron "EagleCon"? I pass on that one too....

Have we met?

So, last night was a little intense, lots of holes and rivets.

Holes:

Sixty four, thank you very much, each one done with a piece of wire in a hot knife, then drilled to .025", then shaped with a new #11 blade. Ouch.

And since I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, I re-did the gap at the turret rear with styrene strip, which I should have done in the beginning:

I may just as well go ahead and do the balls and chains......

Hey, curious to see this one come up... I also have a Merkava on my stash.

Will you be painting on desert yellow or gray?...Im also struggling with this decision.

Yeah, ScaleFest is in May.  That one's a little expensive for my taste though.  I may go to the IPMS/North Central Texas contest though.  In addition to my own club's (SuperCon).

I'll probably have three or four to enter; but I so dig the vendors too.  Had my eye on that Meng M2A3 kit though.  Just couldn't justify the $85 price tag.

September I think I can do for sure, no idea what'll be there with me yet...... maybe I'll finally have the Super Pershing all polished up.

ScaleFest in May then, right?

I'm pretty good about getting to the two local shows, and usually have two or three models  with me, but I live for the vendors.

Nah, you've got a couple more months...12 September!  :)

I did a Merk III once and scratchbuilt the ball and chain armor.  Took me forever cutting small jewelry type chain and super-gluing a tiny bead on the end of each.

Gino, thanks. Recognize it?

RES: End of May? It may be done, and I've already got the weekend blocked out...   :)

It's a nice kit, no complaints so far, other than the goofy half-balls you're supposed to shave of the sprue and attach to PE chains. Luckily (feel free to quote me on that later) the kit I got from Gino had the Legends set in it, with balls and chains. That, and pin marks on the inside of the L&L tracks, but I'm using SpadeAce so I dodged that big red rubber ball.

Thanks, Bish. I say this a lot, sometimes it actually happens, but I'm not trying to re-engineer the kit here, just build it with some quick and easy (remember balls and chains) enhancements.

A nice start and some very nice added details there.

Wow!  That's lookin' good Russ!  Am I going to be competing against that one at SuperCon this year?!

Looks like you are off to a good start.  I'm glad you are enjoying the Merkava.

Thanks guys.

RX, it looks to be well-detailed, with some spots, like the idler mounts, that are simplified, but all in all pretty good.

D-master, my wife finally realized how much easier to get along with when I get my modeling time. Amazing....

G, I've built a couple, and they never struck me as being huge either. I saw three, from a distance one time, and the only scale reference was an M151, so it didn't really sink in then either. Must be something about the proportions....

Gamera, even with the simplified idler mount, this is one of Academy's better efforts, which considering its relative newness, is good. Other than a small, easily corrected warp on the lower hull, fit has been excellent as well.

Mike, jump in, it's a nice kit.

Gee Russ,

  Looks like you're on a real roll as of late.

    Those spade Ace tracks are nice......cheaper and no drilling.

        I'll be checkin' in periodically for the big payoff.

Good start. If the suspension is an indicator, it looks like a very well detailed kit.

Really cool, sharp work on detailing the suspension.

Thats an interesting comp. I've seen Merkavas, and they don't strike you as behemoths. Not like an Abrams.