discussion Magach 6B Gal- converting a Braille-scale M60A3

[Road of Bones]

What ho gents!

With the pigments settling on the Merkava, it seems I am not yet done with that part of the world...while casting about for a quick build to pass the time, I found this in the stash:

I had a sudden flash- why not have a go at converting this into one of my favourite subjects?

The only thing I won’t bother trying to do is replace the US T42 tracks with the IDF Urdan tracks as used on the Merkava- there are plenty of examples where they used the US tracks & sprockets.
I didn’t take long to lick the lower hull & running gear together. The tracks are link & length, so I used the same trick I used on my last Braille build, and built the tracks and wheels as a removable unit for painting:


(Before you ask, I didn’t dremel the tyres like the Merkava!). Moving swiftly on to the upper hull, the first proper modification was to make the air-cleaners into side-loading pattern:

So far, so good! Time to start working on the ERA blazer blocks for the glacis plate...more soon!

Thanks for looking chaps,

Alistair

 

[Guest]

If I may pick a nit: the front of the air cleaners shouldn’t have a sloping top for the side-loading variety Those were the same height for their whole length:

View attachment 377526

This is on Bovington’s M103A2, but the cleaner boxes are the same AFAIK.

 

[Guest]

What ho gents!

With the pigments settling on the Merkava, it seems I am not yet done with that part of the world...while casting about for a quick build to pass the time, I found this in the stash:

I had a sudden flash- why not have a go at converting this into one of my favourite subjects?

The only thing I won’t bother trying to do is replace the US T42 tracks with the IDF Urdan tracks as used on the Merkava- there are plenty of examples where they used the US tracks & sprockets.
I didn’t take long to lick the lower hull & running gear together. The tracks are link & length, so I used the same trick I used on my last Braille build, and built the tracks and wheels as a removable unit for painting:


(Before you ask, I didn’t dremel the tyres like the Merkava!). Moving swiftly on to the upper hull, the first proper modification was to make the air-cleaners into side-loading pattern:

So far, so good! Time to start working on the ERA blazer blocks for the glacis plate...more soon!

Thanks for looking chaps,

Alistair☠

Alistair,
On the front of the air cleaner box top add a wedge shape of plastic to make it a complete flat top. But great idea on the conversion, usual first rate workmanship.
Mike

 

[Road of Bones]

Haha- no sneaking anything past you guys, eh? :nerd: Thanks for the input Jakko, Mike :thumb2:

Making the glacis plate ERA blocks was an exercise in cutting and trimming, and life was made slightly easier when I hit on the idea of using PE fret to depict the bolted brackets that attach the blocks to the hull. I also used some spare PE slats left over from the D9R build to make the edging plates between the long ERA blocks on the main glacis plate:


I also corrected the angle on the air cleaners:

That’ll do for tonight, I think! Working from home tomorrow, so I’ll have to resist the temptation to pick this up again...
Thanks for looking chaps,

Alistair

 

[SimonT]

well done Al, off to a good start

I plan to do one of these at some point but I cheated and just bought one of these


a re-box of the old Esci blazer

 

[Steve Jones]

Great idea for a conversion Alistair. Looks like you will be getting a lot of help along the way. Good luck

 

[BigGreg]

CHAIR PULLED..and another "Merkava"... love it...

 

[Road of Bones]

Si- I expect that version could probably still benefit from a sprinkle of Mr T dust to bring it up to scratch!
Steve- Thanks sir! It’s actually quite fun to work in miniscule scale for once:nerd:
Greg- good to have you along again! Hopefully I’ll meet your expectations:thumb2:

Spent the day working from home, and manfully resisted the temptation to carry on with the Magach. Had a bit of a blat on her tonight though. I made the row of ERA blocks for the lower glacis plate in the same way as the upper ones. Then I modified the light guards to the IDF pattern, by trimming the US ones down, and using some fine florist’s wire to make the new guards:

(I remember these gave me a bit of grief on the 1/35 scale version, as I tried to solder them, unsuccessfully).
Next up, I stripped the sheath from an old phone cable to expose the wires in the core:

Then I twisted these into a cable, and attached the cable eyes from the kit, before attaching to the front of the hull, artfully draped over the glacis armour. I then scratched a stretcher bundle for the left-hand fender, using a bit of scrap plastic, some brass tube and some foil:

Finally for tonight, I made up the box for the rear fender (this is an IDF replacement for the infantry phone box that normally sits on this part of the tank):

And that is pretty much as far as it goes for the lower hull! Tomorrow begins the turret, which will be more of a challenge, one suspects!
Thanks for looking chaps,

Alistair

 

[Steve Jones]

Some lovely neat work on such a small scale. Keep it comin sir.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
The conversion is a great idea. You have been busy and made fine progress. Neat work.
Jim

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Alistair, great start and correction. About the airfilters I think the corner towards the turret was sloped to clear movement of the turret. Check references before you make that change. I could be wrong but I did that for my 1/35 Magach Tamiya conversion.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Road of Bones]

Hi Alistair, great start and correction. About the airfilters I think the corner towards the turret was sloped to clear movement of the turret. Check references before you make that change. I could be wrong but I did that for my 1/35 Magach Tamiya conversion.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi Richard,

If you look at this example at Latrun, you can see the squared-off SLAC (as well as the T42 tracks):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magach
Do you have any pics of your Tamiya conversion? I’d love to see a Foenander take on one of my favourite vehicles...

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Alistair, I have... done way back in the eighties. Pretty shabby and one of my first attempts on an early Israeli conversion. I didn't even correct the high sit of the Tamiya kits suspension. The reference was from an early Airfix magazine article with B/W drawn plans. The rest was mostly guess work. The hard part was repositioning the engine deck louvres. Another article had the M551 and I did a Esci Fujimi 1/72/76 from Easy Eight converstion for that too.

View attachment 377706View attachment 377707View attachment 377708View attachment 377709View attachment 377710View attachment 377711View attachment 377712View attachment 377713View attachment 377714View attachment 377715 :flushed::smiling4:

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Guest]

About the airfilters I think the corner towards the turret was sloped to clear movement of the turret.

Not sure about that, but the change came with the M60A3 of ca. 1980. The filters could be (and were, to some degree) retrofitted to existing tanks, but as built, all M60A1s had the flat-topped, side-loading air cleaners. On a quick look through Tank Battles of the Mid-East Wars (2): The Wars of 1973 to the Present (that being 1998), all the Magach 6 and 7 tanks have the side-loading air cleaners — the only top-loading ones I can find in there are on M48A5s of the Phalangist forces in Lebanon.

 

[rtfoe]

Yes they were boxy and flat. Is there a reference from the top? Perhaps the plans from the Airfix article was wrong with the height that necassitated one corner to be sloped for clearance.:smiling3: It's so many years back I don't have that magazine now. I don't know if it was a field conversion as the side loading looked like a crude flap with hinges on the top and two grab handles.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[scottie3158]

Bones,
Lovely work as always. This will make a great build.

 

[Guest]

Yes they were boxy and flat. Is there a reference from the top?

I could go dig up my M60 Tech Manuals if you really want to know

Perhaps the plans from the Airfix article was wrong with the height that necassitated one corner to be sloped for clearance.:smiling3:

That’s correct: the front inner corner is cut off a little on the side-loading type. Here’s a TM picture from the American Fighting Vehicle Database that shows the different types:

View attachment 377744

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any photos of a vehicle with the aluminium top-loading model, though.

 

[Si Benson]

Tidy work Alistair:thumb2: Think I built one of these once?

 

[rtfoe]

I could go dig up my M60 Tech Manuals if you really want to know :smiling3:


That’s correct: the front inner corner is cut off a little on the side-loading type. Here’s a TM picture from the American Fighting Vehicle Database that shows the different types:



I don’t think I’ve ever seen any photos of a vehicle with the aluminium top-loading model, though.

There, Alistair...you need to nip the corner that's facing the turret for clearance. So I wasn't too wrong :smiling6: phew... Thanks for the reference Jakko.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Road of Bones]

Thanks for the input Richard, Jakko :thumb2: I love your Magach Richard- looks to be an early one, with the M48 turret. The figures are especially nice (but your figures usually are!).
Si- good to see you! Find some pics of yours, if you would.
scottie- thanks sir!

Well, after a week of lockdown, I didn’t have much progress to show:flushed:. Last night I got a good bench session in, so I started by thickening up the glacis plate armour, and re-making the tow cable (the last was a bit short and over-thick):

then I turned to the turret. The IDF replace the mini-turret that the TC has on the US version (the one with the .50 cal in it) with one of their Urdan cupolas. In order to make this, I started by cutting 3 concentric circles out of card:

These were then slathered in green putty:

I found an old headlight in the spares box, and sanded it back to make the dome of the hatch. Once dry, I filed and sanded the cupola back, added the hatch dome, and made the brackets and hinge assembly. Lastly I added the covers for the periscopes:

The IDF also make their own, larger turret baskets. This will be full of stuff and have identification panels over it, so I only made a shape of it out of more card, and used stretched sprue to make the ribs. A couple of strips of PE formed the leading edges:

A good evening’s progress! Thanks for looking chaps,

Alistair