Magach6MEM

[rbaer]

This will be a major re-do or refurbishment of a model I did a number of years ago, based on a Tamiya M60A1 and the Academy M9 dozer kit. It was originally a quickie almost OOB build, and as anal as I am, I was never really pleased with it. So, after having snagged a Legends -MEM conversion I have something to go with.
The goodies:

And the stripped M6o, with some gaping holes in the hull being fixed:

The Legends turret base had some serious warpage and shrinkage, so out came the Aves (need some more of that stuff...) and plastic stock.

I'm not a huge fan of resin, but I really want to do this one right, as it fills a major hole in the Magach family that I've done so far, and I just flat out like the look of it. I also have a set of Friuls almost ready to go, and a Merkava parts bin to scavenge the drive sprockets from.
Onward through the fog...

[bullardino]

Count me in, Russ.

[Deleted]

great stuff watching with interest

[rbaer]

Thanks, gents.
Say this three times, real fast:
"A Megach a day keeps the doctor away"..... It's worked so far.

[wbill76]

Ooooo another fun IDF project from Russ's bench, what's not to like? Will be following with interest!

[Leon]

Count me in Russ,looks like a very interesting project.

[TRM]

Nice pile of goodies!! Making headway too!! I'm in!!

[bbd468]

Bring it on Russ.....BOOKMARKED!!!

[rbaer]

T'anks, guys! Next week is my "nights" week, should have some quality bench time, and the M50 is in the painting stage, which means paint, wait for paint to dry, paint some more, wait for paint to dry, and so on. I'll get a lot of "waiting for paint to dry" building time, hopefully. I do like my IDF stuff.....

[rbaer]

Ed Zachary. I've got the -6Gal conversion also, the one with the whole turret, and just picked up a "mini-conversion" for the same variant; both found and purchased after I scratched one, of course. I'll be doing something with those eventually. And then there's this, built using the old AEF M60A3 turret, for something that went a different direction:

I still have a couple of M60 kits in the stash, so who knows.

[AndyArgent.]

Nice texturing on the turret

[rbaer]

Thanks, Andy. I still don't know what I'm going to do with that turret. It was started for a build of a -6B, but I decided to use a spare Academy turret instead, probably because I did a better job on the bustle rack on the plastic turret. I did take a lot of time to do a mantlet with the Israeli-only mantlet dust cover.....
I did however get some work done on the Legends turret I'm using on this build, mainly correcting for warp and shrinkage. I'll get some pics up as things progress.

[Jaymes Crowther.]

Alright Russ. I've wanted to do a Magach 6 Mem I've got some shots with the dozer assembly. Legend's stuff seems to be hit and miss but you will work your magic. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Jim

[rbaer]

Thanks, Jaymes.
I did a -6 with a dozer a number of years ago, using the AEF turret and Verlinden dozer ass'y on Tamiya's original M60A1 kit, and used it as a painting tester. I still have it on the shelf somewhere.....
Found it!

It's a little rough, and I'll probably dis-assemble it for parts in the near future, but it was up to par for a long time.

[rbaer]

Thanks, Dicky, but it's got too many obvious faults to be in the case now, so it's sitting in the cave, waiting its turn at the scrapper. A lot of it will get re-used, eventually I'm sure.
In the meantime, I got a little more done on the Legends turret fix, to the point where I'll be starting on the actual build soon.
I'll get pics up when I actually have something to take pics of.....

[danb.]

That turret looks mighty impressive buddy

Dan B

[rbaer]

Thanks, Dan. I'll use it one day, for sure.
So, on with the show. More whacking and hanking today, getting the lower hull set up for some suspension detail and fittings. I also found there in the little Legends M60 goodies baggie I just picked up:

And began prepping the hull for them:

which involved a lot of plastic card and putty, but all the kit M60s have nasty final drive housings, so since I had these.....
Also done was removal of the old shocks and I started cleaning up the hull where the new lifting lugs will go. Messy looking.....


Upon reflection, I realize it would have been easier to just pull anothe kit from the stash, but where's the fun in that?

[deafpanzer]

That's the best part of modeling... another reason I usually enjoy following your builds!

[bullardino]

I really enjoy the way you hack the kits. You look like the guy with the razor in Reservoir Dogs

Great job, keep up sawing

[rbaer]

Dicky, Andy, it's the process that's so much fun, right? And I guess you could say I'm following the same process the Israelis did when they re-did their M60 fleet..... yeah, yeah that's it.
Luigi, I'm gonna have to go watch the movie now.
Speaking of movies, I watched "The Beast" again last night, and the T55 on the shelf queen shelf (can I say that on TV?) is waving to me.....

[wbill76]

I'm sure the patient will survive the surgery when it's all said and done Russ, looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[rbaer]

There ya go, another Frankentank.....
So, a late night at the bench Saturday yielded some more progress. As I plan on using Merk tracks, the final drives had to be modded to fit the Merk drive sprockets, also modded.....
And I got the shock mounts and shocks done. For some reason, the Israelis did not use the shock at the #2 roadwheel, at least according to Legends, and I don't have another reference clear enough to confirm or refute that, so I went with it. Also added were the extra hull lifting eyes.
So far:

There's a gap here where the hacked sprockets and final drives meet, not done yet.....
Little shakin' goin' on, too much coffee this morning too.


I guess it's a good thing I didn't try and do any painting on the M50....

[rbaer]

After jackin' with P-bucket for an hour or so, I got pics.
I didn't get a whole lot done this morning (story for the Pub...) but I do need some more Mr.Surfacer 500 and I wish I could get a small sheet of Dragon's DS materiel about .020" thick. But..... I got the gaps inboard of the drive sprockets covered and did some filling/texturing on the hull sides, which is in need of smoothing still. I started on the front fender rubber ends, using brass, and quickly remembered why I didn't use brass on the last one I did: I constantly knock them off, and I can't really wait till the very last to stick them on, so it's back to plastic. Enough BS, pics:
Texturing as it is now, with the need of a bit more filler. I'm also fattening the welds on the IDF-added lifting lugs.

This is still pretty shaky, but it almost shows the plastic stock rings I whipped up on the sprockets to hide the gap/join of the Legends final drives and Acad Merk sprockets, not accurate but believeable.
Edit: better pic...


Now over to the pub....

[Leon]

Looking good Russ.Gotta back off the coffee a wee bit .I know the feeling.

[rbaer]

Somebody told me I should drink less coffee, back a while ago. I'll be in trouble if they ever find the body.....

[rbaer]

Quickie update between orders, busy day....
More work on the hull rear, fenders, etc. I tried to cut the feeble attempt at an infantry phone box off the rt rear fender and couldn't get it off cleanly, so I grabbed another fender from the junkyard. That quickly turned in to redoing the both of them and the dust skirts inboard of the final drives, something that was a necessary thing anyway. I also added the extra towing lugs and detailed up the trans access covers. I have to confess, I like this kind of modeling; maybe that's why I haven't touched the M50 in a few days now.
Oh, well. Pics so far:




In the interest of speed (and cuz it's easy and works) I'm using a really nifty Vallejo acrylic putty for the majority of the weld beads in this one. The putty has an applicator that allows me to apply the putty just like I was stackin' dimes. Works great!
Back to work (really).

[bullardino]

Very nice, Russ

[rbaer]

Thanks, Luigi. 'Preciate it.

[rbaer]

Well thanks, Dicky. The M50 is close at hand, be sure of that. I took a look at the bustle rack for the M60, and I'd be willing to bet that when it comes time to assemble the 50 or so pieces of brass that make it up, I'll need a break.
I had a couple of hours Friday night on the M60, and got into some resin. Yech, losts of casting blocks, warped parts, broken parts.....
but the detail on the parts I can use is very good. I found the front fender rubber flaps in the Legends box, very nice parts, so they went on, and the front fender supports got detailed up as well. So far:

The Legends driver's hatch was a nice, period-correct piece, but small. Shrinkage? So
I backed it with plastic card and set it in. The border needs a little cleanup, but it'll work.

Front of hull. I've straightened the left headlight since this pic was taken. Good thing I picked up plenty of hex-rod when I was at the store last week.

Left side air cleaner and fluid resevoir/pump, I guess since most -MEMs carried the mine roller or dozer kit. Speaking of which, I may try and scratch up the Nochri mount, again since it's common on this variant.

And finally the right side air cleaner, storage box and infantry phone.
I have to say, this is a lot more resin than my normal comfort level, and I'm finding that while the parts are pretty good, cleanup and prep takes a long time, but once that's done, adding the piece in question usually moves me along nicely, since so many of the pieces are cast complete with all detail. I may invent some new words once I get into that turret basket, but I'm okay for now.

[Deleted]

Nice work Russ!...Just one thing tho.....have you used the right piccies for the last couple of captions??