Meng 1/35 Israel Main Battle Tank Merkava Mk.3D Late

Now this is what a MBT in the modern era should look like.  Looks like something out of a "war hammer" video and/or board game series!  When it comes to cool looking armor design the IDF have it figured out.  Its sort of medieval meets WW3 battle weapons.  Anyhow I needed to build this kit for the previous stated attributes, as well as, it fits with my desire to build all of the IDF armor past and current.  A 3rd reason is the fact that it had received good reviews, and it was by Meng.  I had not built a Meng kit to date and wanted to give it a try to see what all the hype was about.  Well overall it was a great kit but I believe a bit over engineered for my taste, somewhat complex in many areas.  Especially the multi-piece turret with armor plates.  The complex suspension and multitude of very fine, intricate delicate parts took its toll on my patience but I stayed cool and took my time.  The worst part was assembly and preservation of the ball and chain armor hanging down from the rear turret.  These parts attempt to replicate fine chain to scale suspending steel balls...many of them.  Not a huge deal to get them in place but to get them in place without bending, or worst yet, breaking, was an insurmountable task.  Anyway after repetitively breaking a few I knew I was in trouble and they are very challenging to re-attach individually.  So I sent off for an expensive after market kit which supplies actual tiny steel balls with lengths of very fine to scale chain and you need to assemble and attach each length of armor chain individually to the tank.  This was all to fine and to frustrating for me so I did not use any of it and returned to mending the original plastic.  I did OK in the long run but I am still missing a few lengths as you may notice in the pictures.  Other then that the kit assembled well and I completed it and as always had a good time making it look menacing and well battle worn.  Hope you enjoy!