RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi all,

Been spending time doing my usual, RCing a resin kit. This time is the new SOL Merkava Mk III Early type. I have never built a SOL kit before so have no idea what to expect. I have hope for reasonably strong resin cast. As it turn out, the details were exceptional as you can see in the close-up pics of the turret, but the lower was a very strong resin cast (I can swing it around and probably kill somebody with it) and it is a tub with no details molded on (everything has to be glue on). So instead of replacing it with a working hull, I ended up "skinning" the sides of a Heng Long Chally lower, and gluing the entire side (with suspensions and road wheels) onto the resin tub.

Gearbox has to be fairly low profile, so I also contemplated using DKLM's PDSGB but at the end settled with a simple Heng Long steel gearbox with one of the flange bended down to fit. One of the reason I ended up using the Chally wheels is because they were very similar to the Merkava ones, and as it turn out apparently they are both based on the Centurion ones which the IDF are very familiar with. Even the sprockets are virtually identical other than bolt counts. I managed to destroyed the stock resin idlers while trying to make it operational, so I have to sub in a modded Pz III early idlers which is very similar other than the number of spooks. All the hubs however are from the resin kit itself.

The upper is the usual fare, a metal rotation unit from DKLM is powerful and fast enough for the heavy resin turret and a modern tank, a simple servo recoil with no elevation however, TBU installed with IR emitter in the targeting housing. Barrel is not metal from the kit, so I have to replace it with the HL M1 metal barrel which is again virtually identical in look and length. Electronics is the new IBU2U Pro, with the sound file for the Leo II.

Lastly, the real reason I bought the kit. Uniform IDF tanker comes with the kit, and tank top one is extra.

In lieu of build pictures......

Michael as usual a lovely build with a nice combination of high end resin kit with the reliable and tested Heng Long/Taigen RC parts. A really nicely detailed and engineered build. So nice to see your determination to take on such a build pay off. The crew looks a bit more "attractive" than most

Is this setup with the target locking system and all your other tricks?

Can we hear this beast come alive and the sounds of the new IBU board....

Fantastic job

Hey Michael,

that's really an excellent IDF-stuff and I love it (machine & crew)
And thanks for your detailed description of engineering

Thanks guys....... No, haven't thought about a targeting locking on this one, although I can quickly installed a CS-TK-SWB stabilizer in the turret and see how it goes with the fast rotation unit as it has an input for HL type rotational motor.

Will try to get a video at some point, even though it is TBU equipped, I don't expect much battling as it is surrounded by PE stuff. All the black "rubber" flaps at the corners are just PE parts. I do expect it to run like a normal plastic HL tanks at a minimum. I did have to dial up the springs for the additional weight from the resin cast.

Excellent build Michael! You've got a very unique piece there.

Barry

Michael,
A fantastic Build on a resin kit not set up to be RC'd in any fashion. Where did you hide your On\Off switch? Looking forward to video.
regards,
Painless

Excellent work Michael



I still haven't even got mine out of the box

I see you used the challenger 2 sprockets and wheels, I thought same but wanted to use original tracks.

Again well done. And don't forget a picture alongside another tank to remind people how big this beast is!

Ian.

Thanks Barry........

Painless, the turret ring actually is wider than the lower hull (You can see the edge of the lower hull in the inside shot) so I have to use a small turret ring instead, which in turn allows me to pop the turret on and off without any screws, so my plan is to stick the on/off in the lower hull by the turret opening, and just lift the turret to access it. There is really no place for the power switch anywhere else as the resin lower tub is 1/2" thick all around.

Ian, I thought about it long and hard. The tracks that comes with the kit is not going to be good enough for RCing. It is metal but the track pins are just a roll of wires that you cut into size, so it will fall apart the movement it starts moving. The closest tracks I think in terms of look is actually the Panther tracks and it would have been what I would try first with the resin sprockets and idlers.

It is massive. The two figure is to scale compared to other 1/16s and I will make sure I post a picture with something else for sizing comparison.

Nice job Michael, can't wait to see it in the flesh! You are going to have to put a fence around it with the way we drive!