IPMS/USA Reviews

They say first impressions really do define a relationship- and when I first received this kit and opened it up to see the vast amount of plastic inside, I knew this would be a long term commitment. One thing to note is the mix of gates from the older Centurion kit, mixed along with newer gates with the newer features of this specific Sho't Kal kit like the explosive reactive armor (ERA). This led to some challenges during the build as the older Centurion parts trees had their labels raised in very small letters along the sides of the gates.- although the location varied. Sometimes it was on the edge and other times it was towards the middle. The newer trees had their labels as newer kits do - outside with a dedicated square label that is very easy to read. In the end, I used some masking tape labels I made myself as I grew tired of searching for which sprue was which.

Brief History

The Sturmgeschutz IV (StuG IV) (Sd.Kfz. 167), was a World War II German assault gun variant of the Panzer IV used in the latter part of the war. It was identical in role and concept to the highly successful StuG III assault gun variant of the Panzer III. Both StuG models were given an exclusively tank destroyer role in German formations and tactical planning in the last two years of the war, greatly augmenting the capability of the dwindling tank force available to the German army on the Eastern and Western fronts.

From December 1943 to May 1945, Krupp built 1,108 StuG IVs and converted an additional 31 from battle-damaged Panzer IV hulls. While the number is smaller than the 10,000+ StuG III, the StuG IV supplemented and fought along with StuG III during 1944-45, when they were most needed.

According to ScaleMates.com, AFV Club has released no less than sixteen different kitting's of the venerable British Centurion, five of which depict the various Israeli Defense Force (IDF) versions. The subject of this review is the Sho't Kal Gimel Type II, which is identified on the box top as being from the time period of the 1982 Lebanon war ("Operation Peace for Galilee"). 'Sho't' translates to 'Whip' and Kal is an abbreviation of where the powerplant was manufactured (Continental). Each new version of the IDF Centurion was given a new afterword which comes from a letter in the Semitic abjad, the alphabet or 'writing system' used in the Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu languages. In this case, 'Gimel' is the third letter in the abjad.

History and this Kit

The Magach tank was produced and based on both the M48, and with the Magach 6B on M60 tank hulls. I took this review assignment because of my interest in the M60 Patton tanks. Having built several over the last few years and AFV's M60A1 kit #35060 and Takom's M60A1 with the Explosive Reactive Armor, I was equally up for the challenge of the Magach 6B. This latest version of the Magach 6B has mostly aspects that we modelers can't see: the British 105mm gun and 750hp diesel engine. As the M60 tanks were modified into the Magach 6 series the most noticeable difference is the explosive reactive armor panels surrounding the turret and the frontal hull area, and the addition of a M2 50 cal. and two 30 cal. machine guns on the turret.

The Build

The Magach 6B is not a difficult build, though I suggest that the kit instructions are followed to insure the numerous small parts are included in the various sequence steps. My only departure in this build was to not include any of the internal parts as my kit was built for 'closed' version of the Magach.

Pen and Sword Books' latest release in their Tank Craft series details the Pzkpfw VI Tiger 1 Heavy Tank. This series of books is designed to provide model builders and tank enthusiasts a detailed visual reference of the actual tanks featured, as well as their scale model equivalents. This book focuses specifically on the Tiger I tanks deployed to the southern front for the North Africa campaign through the retreat and withdrawal into Sicily and up Italy until the end of hostilities in May 1945.