Meng Magach 6B Gal Batash Israeli Main Battle Tank (TS-040) 1:35

[Mike]

Magach 6B Gal Batash Israeli Main Battle Tank (TS-040)

1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models

 

 

The Magach name has been used for a number of tanks over the years, based upon the numerous Patton tanks from the M48 to the M60, which is probably the cause of some confusion, although calling four tanks Patton confuses me already, so why not continue?  The 6B was based upon the newer M60A1 chassis, with modernisation from the base model, the fitment of the Gal fire control system, and passive appliqué armour that gave it a rather Merkava-like profile.  These were in response to combat performance issues during the major conflicts such as the Yom Kippur and Lebanon, where their resources were seriously depleted due to some design defects, such as the location of flammable liquids in high risk areas and insufficient armour.  Initially the armour issue was remedied by Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), but as this can be seriously lethal to accompanying troops, the Gal Batash switched to 4th generation composite armour to reduce the potential hazard when standing close by.

 

The ongoing upgrades eventually led to the Magach 7, and these in turn were replaced in the early 2000s by Merkavas.  The chassis of the Magach is still in use however as the new Pereh missile carrier, which uses the main hull, and is disguised to look very much like a tank, despite its non-functional barrel and the 12 missiles it carries within.

 

 

The Kit

This is another new tooling from Meng, who have a growing line of Israeli equipment in their catalogue partly due to their links with Desert Eagle Publishing. Inside the standard satin-effect Meng box are fifteen sprues, M2 machine gun breech, hull and turret parts in sand coloured styrene, a flexible sprue in the same colour, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, a tree of black poly-caps, a length of braided wire, decal sheet and the instruction booklet, plus a separate colour and marking guide.

 

It's a Meng tooling, so the detail is excellent, and there is plenty of clever moulding to improve that further without upping the part count unnecessarily, such as the super-finely moulded muzzles for the crew served weapons such as the M2 Browning derivative.  The surface of the armour is also textured where appropriate, either as cast, or anti-slip on the horizontal(ish) surfaces, and there are lots of crisp weld-lines depicted too, especially on the big hull part.  It's also nice to see a complete package with PE and material for use as towing cables, so that the modeller doesn't have to lay out additional cash or go scrabbling through their spares bin to complete the model.  The tracks are individual links with pins in sub-sprues to ease construction and a clear jig to hold them in place during the building process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do not adjust your set: The sprue above really is that wobbly

 

 

 

Construction begins with the road wheels, which are made in pairs with a poly-cap trapped between them and have separate tyres, which will please anyone wanting to avoid cutting paint lines between the parts.  The return rollers are in pairs too, but these have their tyres moulded-in due to their size.  Finally, the drive sprockets comprise three parts with a poly-cap inside, all of which will aid adding and removing them during painting and track construction.  The lower hull has a set of S-shaped blocks fitted to the floor, which later receive the torsion bars for the suspension, while the side-skirt stand-offs and suspension detail are added around the outside, together with the final drive housings.  There are even individual casting codes for the hulls supplied as PE plates that attach to the rear of the hull.  The torsion bars are made up with their swing-arms and stub axles, then slid in through the hull to rest in their mounts that were previously fixed to the hull floor, and here you will need to be careful to put the right ones in the correct holes.  Some additional damping is needed, and these are added along the way, then the wheels can be added for the first time, and the rear bulkhead (lower) decorated with towing hitches etc.

 

Now for the top of the hull, which begins with the glacis plate and turret ring section, which are moulded as a single part with some nice texture.  Some holes are drilled in the underside and a couple of bits are removed, then the driver's hatch and some lifting eyes are fitted long with the vision blocks and another casting number from PE.  The angled rear deck is then joined with the front and they are both mated to the lower hull, then festooned with all the grilles that are found on the M60's engine deck, and that's quite a few, including the little exhaust insert grille on the right rear.  At the front, the lower glacis plate is added with some substantial brackets, presumably for a mine plough or an entrenching tool, then the additional keel armour is placed "over the top" of the underside, and a few more shackles are added.  The fender parts are next up, and they are decorated with stowage boxes and the air cleaners then added to the sides of the hulls, being held in place by slots and tabs, and some glue of course!  The upper glacis gets a pack of appliqué armour blocks and the rear is finished off before the  v-shaped styrene front towing cables are attached together and draped over the armour, then joined by the fender guards and the front light clusters.

 

 

 

Tracks.  They're always there on a tank, and everyone wants to know whether they're easy, hard or somewhere in between.  As previously mentioned, the tracks are individual links, and are spread across four identical sprues along with the tiny track pins that are moulded in groups of six and are designed to be mated to the links still attached to their sprue rails.  The links have four sprue gates each that are placed upon the curved sections where the links join, so clean-up doesn't have to be 100% perfect, just good enough not to interfere with the next link along.  The click loosely together, and you put them on the jig in groups of eight, close the top part over them and then slide the grouped track pins into place, taking care to ensure you have the links in the jig the correct way.  The sprue rail is then cut off, which is best done with a brand new #11 blade to ensure a tidy break on each pin.  Each track run has 101 links, so you're in for a bit of work, but that's tracks for you!  The runs are completed by adding a single pin to the final joint, which will have to be done manually, so prepare the tweezers and rest easy knowing there are spares in case the first few ping off into the ether.

 

The side skirts are there to hide all your hard work on the tracks, and these too have armoured panels, the front two of which protect the fighting compartment, so are of the composite variety and thicker than the others.  They attach to a rail that has hangers between it and the panels, and once both are complete, they glue to the sides of the hull, completing the lower half of the model.

 

The turret is a shell (excuse pun) with no interior, and as such has no gun breech, but instead has a short tube that pivots as the gun would, slowed down by a pair of poly-caps to avoid droopy-barrel syndrome.  The upper half is glued in place on top of the lower after drilling some 1mm holes to accept some of the additional armour and suchlike, but the inclusion of casting texture and the original turret shape suggests that this may later be seen as an M60 kit, but only time will tell.  The mantlet, lifting eyes, mushroom vents plus hatches, radio antenna masts, and a flexible mantlet enclosure that's on the flexible sprue fits around the gaps, and keeps out the abrasive sand on the real thing.  Either side of the mantlet are a pair of prominent smoke grenade launcher packs, which have the 10 grenades moulded in place, and have an outer box and mounting brackets added to fit at the correct angle.  The armour package changes the look of the turret noticeably, with a more Merkava-like double sloped front that is built up from individual panels before being applied to the turret cheeks, and a modular pack that attaches to the top of the turret in clusters around the important hatches and vents.  The commander's cupola has a movable hatch and a collection of vision blocks fitted, plus lifting eyes and a large hinge-pin before it is slotted into its hole in the deck, which remains mobile and secures in place with a bayonet fitting on the cupola ring.  The front sighting box with covers and back-up optical sight are added to the turret top along with a large stowage box and spare ammo for the turret machine guns, and down the sides are cleats for more cables, plus a tread-plate steps that make getting on and off the turret easier for those with shorter legs.  Additional fuel and stowage are attached to the bustle, with styrene rails and a PE mesh floor, plus a pair of very well moulded ID panels that fix to the rear and sides of the bustle, and have some very believable creases and folds that are different on each one for more realism.  The final towing cable drapes round the rear of the turret, and is made up from the included braided wire and styrene eyes, resting in a set of hooks around the bustle, then hooking around the cleats at the sides.

 

The main gun has a complex cooling jacket that doesn't lend itself to a metal barrel, so a two-part styrene barrel is provided that shouldn't take much in the way of clean-up, and has a separate hollow muzzle that has rifling moulded-in.  The recoil bag is moulded in flexible styrene and has all the concertina ribs moulded into it, slipping over the rear of the barrel before it is fitted and the remainder of the visible mantlet is covered over by the platform that will receive the M2 machine gun remote station.  This is built up next, and appears to have been moulded with an anachronism in the shape of the barrel-changing handle, which is also shown sitting up vertically on the barrel. This shouldn't generally be there as it was phased out after Vietnam, and would hang below the barrel as it rotates freely when in place.  The breech isn't attached to any sprues, so take care not to lose it, and choose one of the alternative barrels that you will find on the small weapons sprue.  Many Magachs also didn't have the conical flash-hider, but some did, so check your references.  The gun has a small mount, twin spade-grips and a large dump bag on the right side to receive the spent brass, and an ammo box on the left.  Staying with the crew-served weapons, there are also two FN MAG mounts for the commander and loader hatches, which is a derivation from the American M249 and British GPMG, and has a prominent carry handle that should flop down to the right when not in use.  I'm reliably informed by a gent that has fired one, that if the handle is vertical, the barrel is likely to try to follow the first few rounds downrange!  It's a simple matter to cut them off and reposition them, and unlike the M2, they have solid muzzles that you might want to try and drill out while you're messing round with them.  Good luck, as it's not easy at that size.  The commander's gun has a large searchlight and a big box mag attached, while the loader's is on a flexible pintle mount due to its position on the far left of the turret.  With these parts in place, the turret and hull are joined with a bayonet fitting on the turret ring holding both parts together.  Done!

 

 

Markings

In this box you get two markings options, both of which are Sinai Grey, an elusive shade of grey/sand that you can happily now get bottled, rather than having to mix your own.  Meng's collaboration with AK Interactive and the new(ish) Gunze Acrysion codes are given in the instructions, but as everyone seems to have an Israeli paint set these days, it shouldn't be too hard to find the correct shades if you don't have those to hand.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Tank 10 Gimel, 2nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, IDF near the international border with the Gaza Strip
• Tank from 9th "Eshet" Battalion, 401st Brigade, IDF in the centre of the Samaria region, August 1998

 

 

 

The decal sheet is small and printed in China in black and white, with red used only for the Meng logo.  Registration, sharpness and colour density are all up to scratch, and the carrier film is relatively thin and cut close to the printing, so should go down well with your choice of decal solutions.

 

 

Conclusion

A highly detailed tooling of one of Israel's Main Battle Tanks from not so long ago.  There's lots of scope for weathering, and the level of detail out of the box will doubtless be enough for the majority of modellers, due to the quality of the tooling.  That said, if you want a covered bustle stowage bin and smoke launchers, read on.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Israel Main Battle Tank Magach 6B Gal Batash Fully Loaded Rear Basket & Closed Smoke Grenade Launchers

1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models

 

 

This aftermarket set from Meng gives the modeller the option of depicting a bustle with a full complement of personal equipment, covered in a tarpaulin to keep out the desert sand that gets everywhere.  It also provides the covers for the smoke grenade launchers at the front, which are often covered up for the same reasons.  The set arrives in a small box, and inside are five resin parts on easily removed casting blocks, plus an instruction sheet.  The bustle is shown fully covered up at the top and sides, with the main part a C-shaped back and sides, with the mesh floor depicted as another resin part that is shown upside-down on the instructions.  You use some kit parts for the rails along the back and the cleats for the towing cables.  The topside is the final part of the bustle, and all the parts apart from the bottom are covered with realistically draped creases and folds that suggest the contents.  The smoke dischargers fit onto the kit back plates and stand-offs, with a nicely realised and tailored canvas cover over the top portion of each one.

 

 

 

Superb detail throughout and a very realistic texture that will make your Magach look more lived in.  It's not cheap, but it's definitely good.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[denstore]

Nice. I have the kit on route from Hong Kong. Now I think I have to order the resin parts as well.

 

[Bullbasket]

Looking at those sprues, it appears to be light years ahead of the Academy offering. One thing though. Given the use of slide moulding technology today, I'm surprised that they still produce the main gun in two halves.

Thanks for the review Mike.

John.

[Hewy]

It looks a really nice kit, great info cheers

[Terry1954]

A good review and quite interesting given @Bullbasket's observation above, there appears to be the basis of a state of the art M-60 underneath. I wonder if they will produce an M-60 going forward? I know they would be in competition with Academy, Dragon and AFV club releases, but who knows?

 

Terry

[denstore]

2 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

A good review and quite interesting given @Bullbasket's observation above, there appears to be the basis of a state of the art M-60 underneath. I wonder if they will produce an M-60 going forward? I know they would be in competition with Academy, Dragon and AFV club releases, but who knows?

 

Terry

Hopefully it will be an easier build than the AFV Club M-60 kits. The Dragon kit isn’t an alternative, since it isn’t especially good even if it is new. The Academy kit is old and mostly a copy of the Tamiya kit. The ESCI kit is probably the best of the older kits.

This kit will probably compete with the Takom kit, which is a very nice and modern kit.

[Terry1954]

1 minute ago, denstore said:

Hopefully it will be an easier build than the AFV Club M-60 kits. The Dragon kit isn’t an alternative, since it isn’t especially good even if it is new. The Academy kit is old and mostly a copy of the Tamiya kit. The ESCI kit is probably the best of the older kits.

This kit will probably compete with the Takom kit, which is a very nice and modern kit.

Thanks for that. I thought I'd read various issues re the other newer M-60 kits, hence my hope that this could at least be used as the basis for a decent new tool example. I agree with your comment on the ESCI version, I have one in the stash, and have also been struggling for some time to turn Tamiya's example into a back dated M-60 with the original rounded turret and equally spaced idlers. Must start a "WIP so far" on that one!

 

Terry

[Bullbasket]

I think that a lot of people will be swayed by price, seeing as the Tamiya and Academy versions are nearly half the price of the new Takom and Meng offerings. My personal opinion though, is if you can afford it, go for one of the two newer kits. Probably less need for a load of AM parts.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

I've just bought this kit, having long balked at improving the Academy offering.  It is indeed vastly better.  And no sooner had I got my hands on an AFV Club earlier Magach 6b at a reasonable price than Meng announce they're doing one from their Gal Batash kit.  Although theirs is the last configuration 6b with the sleeved barrel and Merkava Batash tracks.  Basically all they've done is left off the spaced armour from the Gal Batash and added some ERA. 

 

But it still needs a new barrel.  As noted above, why split lengthways in this day and age? AFV Club give a metal one: OK, without the thermal sleeve.  The Magic Models sleeved aluminium barrels are extremely expensive, and fiddly with all the etch for the sleeve bands.  I've bought a couple of Accurate Armour resin barrels intended for Merkava 1, which look very much as if they are about the right length for a Magach.  Will see when I get them........  I bought the Legend basket sets, now re-issued in versions for Meng as well as Academy kits.  Vastly cheaper than the Meng offerings and just as good, if not better.  Why is Meng's resin so much more expensive than anyone else's?

 

One last point, it is mentioned above that Magach 7 is a development of Magach 6.  Common but logical misconception.  The Magach 6 designation was assigned to the M60A1.  However, when additional M60s were requested by Israel there were not enough M60A1 to meet the demand and some M60 were supplied instead (i.e. smaller M48-style turret).  These became designated Magach 7, the next available number.  So the Magach 7 is a parallel M60-based development alongside the M60A1-based Magach 6, with the Magach 7C Gimel being the equivalent of the Magach 6b Gal Batash.