Merkava Mk. IV "LIC"

Legend LF1165 (Full Resin Kit)

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Unfortunate for us modellers, currently there is no injection kit of the latest IDF main battle tank Merkava IV in the market. If you want a Merkava IV model in your display case, your only option is the product of Legend Productions from Korea (By the way, Academy and Hobby Boss announced that they will be producing injection moulded kits within 2009).  Legend Productions has an extensive array of IDF vehicles and their related accessories in their product line, the first Merkava IV among these is the #LF 1123, “Merkava IV Full Resin Kit”. A short while later, by some additions to this kit, Legend released the #LF1165 “Merkava IV LIC “Low Intensity Conflict” kit

#LF 1165 Kit is a completely resin kit consisting of 180 pieces. The box includes parts exclusive to LIC version of Merkava IV like the turret, belly armour, retooled side skirts, road wheels with rubber and PE parts for LIC accessories.

As it is with most resin kits, the contents are packed in a cardboard box despite the expensive price tag and the box is very heavy. Large pieces like the turret, top and bottom hull and bell armour are wrapped in air cushioned packaging to protect against damage.  Three medium sized packs contain smaller pieces, another package contains the tracks and the last package contains the remainder of parts, 2 PE frets, a small lead foil, small metal balls and chain for the turret, thin copper strips and a piece of nylon rope to simulate tow cables. The packs themselves are compartmented and protected by additional air cushioned packaging against damage. The kit does not include any building instruction sheet in the traditional sense. Rather than that, 2 A4 sized papers with photos of a model in progress and a completed model to guide you. There are also no decals included.

Be sure to use extreme caution when opening the box and taking the contents out, in case some parts were broken you will make sure the broken pieces are inside the box this way (in my own model,  the upper hull were broken in two pieces, luckily I could find the broken pieces in the box). Make sure you double check to make sure nothing is missing; Legend Productions is notorious for forgetting to put in all necessary parts.

On first impression, the level of detail on the kit is pretty impressive. The last detail on the turret is included on the resin. On the other hand, the Anti-Skid-Texture that is common on all IDF vehicles is missing; modellers need to find their own solution for this problem

Closer examination of the parts individually reveals no real problems, however there seem to be some bending on some pieces due to their form (for example on this previewed kit the gun barrel and the machine gun barrels were slightly bent). Also, some of the smaller parts in the packages were broken. Make sure you don’t open the package and locate the broken parts first. The tracks included in the kit require extensive clean up. They currently do not have any after-market alternatives and they seem to be prone to problems. Another problem is the irregularity between the upper and lower hull, when you fit them together they do not match perfectly, you need to work on the parts for a good alignment of detail.

Generally speaking, this is a kit you must not miss if you are into IDF vehicles; it looks really mighty when completed. I must add that this is not a kit for beginners or casual modellers, the construction will require lots of time, patience and skill, recommended for experienced modellers.