Israel flag MR Models MRA-35114 Merkava Mk. II/III Replacement Wheels Israel flag


Review Description - click on the pictures to see larger versions
The real thing, the wheel of a Merkava Mk. II Another picture of the real thing. The content of the kit The wheels in greater detail
Click for larger view Click for larger view Click for larger view Click for larger view
General comments:
The Good:

The best thing about this kit is the moulding quality, is is near outstanding, German workmanship at its best. The idea behind the kit is also good, since it takes the hassle out of building the wheels in the Academy kit, that are not very well thought out. You have to combime a rubber rim with the plastic wheel, which in principle is not bad, its just not done very well by Academy. My scan doesn't do the wheels full justice, they are moulded good.

The Bad:

The research behind this kit is not very good, in fact I think, the only thing MR Models has done, is modifing the Academy wheels so you don't need the rubber rim, and then made a kit from that. Apart from the missing rubber rim, the wheels looks the same as the Academy offering, which is not very accurate, as can be seen by the pictures above. They miss both the indentations in the outher parts of the wheel and the sharp step in the Academy wheel is also not present in the real wheel.

All the small indentations in the outher tim of the wheel are wrong, they should protrude from the surface, rather than the opposite.

The Ugly:

The real blunder in this kit, is the fact that MR Models didn't bother to check the fact, that the front mainwheel has holes in BOTH the INNER and OUTHER wheel. So MR Models did the same mistake as Academy did. So much for research! I hope MR Models do a better research in their other models.

All in all, I'm not impressed with this kit. The basic idea is good, somebody ought to make a replacement for the Academy wheels, so the modeller can avoid the hassle with the rubber parts, but MR Models did not deliver.

Last but not least, these wheels are for the Merkava Mk. II only, no Mk.III production vehicles use these wheels.

The pictures of the real Merkava Mk. II wheels are from the Verlinden Warmachines No. 11 Merkava Mk. II/III.
 
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