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Magach 6B Gal Batash.


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Many thanks. There are other parts that I would have replaced with some scratch built bits, but being a group build, I'm constrained by time (I am a slow builder!!)

 

John.

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The turret went together quite easily, although once again, the attachment points are very vague. The main gun took a bit of cleaning up as it came in two halves and therefore needed the joint scraping and sanding. Hopefully it will have disappeared once the paint goes on. There is supposed to be a fire extinguisher on the turret roof, but I must have lost it, so I made one from scrap plastic. I left off the forward .50 Cal.MG as it isn't present on the box art, but the two 7.62mm MAG's were cleaned up and put aside for separate painting.

24b291db-e370-4a00-a252-62066867cc0a.JPG

 

The turret basket will be filled with various bits of kit and stores after painting. Another little peculiarity from Academy is the fact that they include markings to go on squares of canvas which hang on the sides and the rear of the basket, but no canvas! Obviously, you are expected to make your own. I'll do that using pewter foil.

0779f83e-75a8-4714-a8cb-d6edbd622a26.JPG

 

The two lengths of tow rope which are fixed around the rear of the turret will be painted and fixed in place when all other jobs are done, otherwise they would get in the way of the decals.

48c88aad-8305-4eca-a139-fe5a682ba122.JPG

 

Next  up is the paint shop. Thanks for looking.

 

John.

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3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looking real good John ... Cant wait to see her in paint. 

 

3 hours ago, Badder said:

Hi John,

That's gonna look great with some paint on!

 

Rearguards

Badder

 

59 minutes ago, Hewy said:

I agree with @Badder, good job John, after your sabbatical, I'd swop my rear basket for yours any day of the week, the rear of the turret looks ace

Thanks everyone. I added the three canvas pieces made from pewter foil to the turret basket and sprayed everything with Halfords primer. Info that I have says that these tanks were finished in Sand Grey. I've got this from both AK and Vallejo, but the name is the only thing that they have in common. The Vallejo looks to be correct whereas the AK has got a definite green hue to it, so I'll go with the Vallejo.

 

John.

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12 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. Now that is looking rather good. Can’t wait to see it with some paint on! 

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix. Appreciate it.

 

John.

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I changed my mind with regards to the paint that I used, and decided to stick with the one that I always use and prefer, namely Tamiya. I have the Desert Eagle Publications book on the Magach 6B Gal by Michael Mass, and in it he builds a model of this variant using the Academy kit. His paint mix is XF25, XF62 and XF65 in a ratio of 6-3-1, but sadly, I don’t have two of those colours, so therefore I went for my own mix. XF55, XF57 and XF59 in equal amounts with a few drops of XF62. I was reasonably happy with the finish, and any discrepancies can be put down to the effect that the desert sun has upon these tanks.

f692cb0b-8c98-4a84-aaaf-635966659ee2.JPG

 

John.

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The colour looks good John, it's a fine rendition, I doubt even the Israelis know the proper mix, when I researched mine I came across a picture online through linking on links and found one of 3 magach 6s in a camp, all different shades🤔, khaki  and grey to varying degrees seem to be the ingredients, good job 

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Thanks Dennis, Glynn. You're right about the variation in the colour. I tried Michael Mass's mix, although I had to substitute other greys because I didn't have the correct XF's, but it came out very green after adding the olive drab. The one that I used is nearer to the one given on the IDF Modelling site.

Just a few more bits of detail painting and then some gloss varnish and decals.

 

John.

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Couple of coats of varnish airbrushed on. I used Tamiya X22 Clear thinned 50% with Tamiya X20A thinner. This was left overnight to harden and then I set about applying the decals. Now, I know that I’ve done my fair share of moaning about this kit, but each stage brings up another gripe. There are not many pieces to the decals, thirteen in all, of which two are not used for this tank. The small items were OK, but each one of the larger items broke up when I tried to slide them from the backing paper. I could understand this if it were an old kit that had been sitting on some shops shelf for years, but it is a comparatively new kit. Before adding the white rings around the gun barrel, I brushed on a thin coat of acrylic varnish to the decals to try and add some strength, but one still split. Hopefully, the setting agent will make each one lay down neatly and a coat of varnish will seal them in.

 

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This is where I’m up to now and about to slap some washes onto it and keep my fingers crossed that I don’t make a mess of it.

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

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  Looks really good John, I'm no idf nerd,and might be wrong, but the  2 white stripes (battalion) opposite the  symbol, (might mean command tank)  on the back, should they be three stripes  to match the barrel? 

Edited by Hewy
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14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Very sorry to hear about the decals, some weathering should help cover anything up though ? 

Thanks Dennis. Yes, some weathering and maybe some strategically placed bits of kit.

 

John.

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13 hours ago, Hewy said:

  Looks really good John, I'm no idf nerd,and might be wrong, but the  2 white stripes (battalion) opposite the  symbol, (might mean command tank)  on the back, should they be three stripes  to match the barrel? 

Thanks Glynn. You could well be right. Seeing as one of the stripes split when I applied it, it could end up being covered up by a bit of crew kit hung over it.

 

John.

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Hi John. I agree with Glynn - it does look really good despite the decal issues - and I'm sure you will be able to 'disguise' the problem ones. Hope the washes go on okay.

Kind regards,

Stix

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2 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. I agree with Glynn - it does look really good despite the decal issues - and I'm sure you will be able to 'disguise' the problem ones. Hope the washes go on okay.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix. It was the "gimels" that caused the biggest problem, one of them splitting into three separate pieces, and I didn't have any spares. Started applying the washes last night. Had a few complaints from the household authority with regards to the stink of thinners upstairs.:shrug:

 

John.

 

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OK John, I was wrong sorry, I've been doing some nerdy idf swotting up, your tank so far is "3rd battalion"  3 stripes on the barrel... "second company" two bars on the rear right, you must have your arrow pointing toward the rear of the tank this means second company aswell,  when you put it on of course ,, the a type symbol as you said  is gimel the third letter of the hebrew alpha bet, this marks its position in the plattoon, sorry for banging on, I must get out more

This should help if you don't already know about it

https://scalemodels.edgaraaldijk.nl/idf-markings/

Edited by Hewy
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Hi Glynn. A bit of a mine field, isn't it. I think that Academy just supplied decals for a generic tank, as there is no mention in the instructions as to what unit it belonged to. They do supply the tactical signs (arrow heads), but they don't feature on the instructions. Another little anomaly from Academy. Another is the fact that they have left it until the decal placing instructions, to tell you where to position the two spare track links and the shovel!!

Thanks for that link. Very useful.

 

John.

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After looking at some photos online of Gal Batash's, I'm going to stay with no tactical signs. In the photos, some had others didn't. Another reason is that they would need to be positioned on the side skirts which have some raised detail and after my experience with Academy's decals, there's no way that they would settle down over the detail.

 

John.

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