1:35 Merkava 3 and Namer - Wheel Hub & Spare Wheel (for Meng Kits)

The engine at the front as part of the armor

The Israeli school of design built its main battle tank on an idea that nobody else took so far: the power unit traveled forward and became a further obstacle between a hit and the crew. A space with a door thereby came into being at the rear, through which ammunition can be replenished, the wounded evacuated or, at a pinch, a few soldiers carried. Out of this philosophy grew the Mk 3 version too, and later the turretless heavy carrier whose name in Hebrew means leopard.

Both vehicles share the arrangement of the running gear and the shape of the hub cover, and it is just this element that the set replaces. Alongside the hub it also brings a spare wheel of the kind that crews carried slung on the body, because a damaged running gear was among the most frequent combat failures and a change in the field had to be quick.

What it will do to the model

The hub covers on the real machine are intricate, and an injection mold manages them only in a simplified way. The casting preserves the depth of the pressings and the shape of the bolt heads, so the chassis stops looking smooth and plasticky. The spare wheel moreover completes the silhouette of the body, which without it looks empty.

A few notes on the work

The mounting is prepared for the kits of the Meng company. Before gluing it is advisable to check whether the covers seat parallel with the plane of the running gear, otherwise the asymmetry will be apparent at first glance. The vehicle kit itself is sold separately.

If you are building the model into a dusty scene, leave the lower part of the spare noticeably lighter. The deposit holds differently on a slung wheel than on those that turn, and this discrepancy looks credible.