This is a 1/35 scale Tiger Models IDF Nagmachon, late version, OOB apart from some stowage and a figure. Thirty five hours which is lightning fast for me. Absolutely lovely build, Tiger Models are just a dream to work on, probably my favourite actually. The fit and molding is just out of this world. Loved every minute of this one.
For those of you not familiar with this rather Warhammer-looking vehicle, the Nagmachon is a modified Sho’t Kal hull which as we know is itself a modified version of the venerable British Centurion. When the IDF retired their Sho’t Kal fleet they converted a lot of them to Nagmachots and the Nagmachon is a 52 tonne beast of a specialist low intensity warfare vehicle derived from this. The distinctive “doghouse” on top covered with slat armour has a 7.62mm FN on every corner. A lot of them were used as engineering support vehicles but they have been retired now in favour of Puma and Namer family APC/IFVs.
I think it’s come out nicely. It’s a dusty, well worn vehicle but not beaten to hell, nice subtle chipping and paint fading was the order of the day here. There are three airbrush dust passes in three different dust colours, plus three different raw pigments. I know some people look down their nose at putting raw pigment onto a model but I think it’s really effective in this case in adding a couple of non-uniform colours of dust and earthy tones as befitting a vehicle in that part of the world. I chose not to go too mad on the mud so there’s very little on it, although I think I overdid the streaking a bit which is annoying as I think this one of my better builds and I find it a little distracting. A pity. But you live and learn I guess.
The figure is a praying IDF soldier (with an odd resemblance to everyone’s favourite Vulcan science officer…) wearing a white kippah and teffelin on his arms and head, from Masterbox that I had in the stash left over from the Merkava IV build I did last year. The stowage is IDF and US and Bundeswehr from the stash in IDF green, with straps made from masking tape sprayed beige. The stowage really helps this build I think.
The instructions showed numbers on every section of the side armour but none of the photos I saw had it on there and the number plates were not on the rubber part of the fender up front but just above it, so I went with the reference photos. I think it looks better this way.
All in all I’m fairly happy with it. I wanted to build a Nagmachon with lots of visual interest which is hard as it’s all one colour, but I managed to get lots of different colours and tones in there and the fake shadows I added with panel liner, shaders and some judiciously applied Tamiya X-19 clear smoke help break up the monotony.
Next up is a short break for a week or so while I do some home jobs and then a Canadian Leopard 2A6 from RyeField. I also finally have my huge Ukraine diorama ready to go so I’ll be posting photos of that next weekend.
Do you like it? Anything you would have done differently? Let me know in the comments.
