rshermanking

rshermanking

Durahl

"Day 42... I'm still riveting this thing and there's no end in sight to it... Last week Martha took the Kids and left for her mother because she couldn't deal with it anymore... And the Dog... Oh my god the Dog /sob" 🤣

RichJohnson

Holy crap.
are the track pads 3d printed?
That looks Insane to assemble but I bet it will co e out looking good. Kinda tempting as I have an idea I want to do with it…

Panther F

Thanks for the pics, err... I think.

Maybe a few years ago I would have been insane enough to start a kit like this, but I'm half blind now as it is! LOL

I've worked with a lot of PE... the bending isn't so bad but removing that much is a HUGE task so good luck! It'll look great once you survive the build but I think the rivets will win in the end.

Must show how many pints of suds you go through to get it done.

rshermanking

the tracks are moulded plastic and are screwed together

Michal_Kaczorowski

Are those rivets resin printed?

rshermanking

yes 3d printed

Panther F

Thanks for taking the time to show these images, wow. I'm thinking it over and it's helped a lot.

heavyaslead

Looking forward to getting my kit, ordered one a few days ago, Hooben said they are making a second production run and new orders would send out in about 2 weeks.

The site has an option for metal rivets for about 200 dollars more.

I hope the vehicle runs scale speed, ~5mph !

Panther F

200 more for metal rivets... I was afraid to ask what the metal tracks cost.

The Black Friday savings of $90 helped!

ankhx

I'm in the same position but they told me several weeks... Don't forget it's Hooben so we're looking late winter/early spring!

tankme

This actually looks like a cool model from Hooben, but I'm not sure what I would do with it if I bought it...

Martellus

That looks incredible! A far cry from the T-55 kit I bought years ago... Is Hooben somewhat reputable these days? I thought they swore off most 1/16 stuff at some point, but now I see they have a huge collection of kits, not just this MKIV but some really neat stuff I never expected.

Martellus

Well I dug a bit deeper after reading the disaster thread about the Merkava, may be late but I did find this video. Not a fan of the sound but I expected to replace that anyway, the track in their video seems to be slipping/popping though.


I really like the idea of setting it up a three person vehicle to mess around with every once in a while.

Durahl

Can't say much about their models since I don't own any of theirs but their Staff seems kinda... How should I say... Untrustworthy.

About 4 weeks ago I contacted Sales about 1:16 scale spare parts I might consider using for a future D.I.Y. Project to ease with the build... Came back to me with 1:10 prices 🤔
Ordered parts they previously mentioned as being in stock under the assumption they'd be shipping them in a timely manner - 2 weeks in no change in order status 🤨
At the beginning of the following week I contacted Support about the whereabouts of my Order - "Will ship this week" which didn't happen 😑
Contacted them again this week asking again about my Orders status - So far no reply... 😞

If by the end of the week I'm not seeing a change in my Order including a Tracking ID I'll be having my Money refunded by PayPal.

RichJohnson

Hooben is slow, they have to print your parts that you want. Your lucky they are selling you parts to begin with since you dont have the tank.
I love my merkava, but I have had to work on it more than any other tank I have, and most of my tanks I built myself on top of a marketed chassis, taigen Tamiya henglong etc. The merkava has been mostly all mechanical repairs, some cosmetic but not alot.
I sort of expect the same with my coming Leopard 1a5 but we will see. It does not have the fancy control arms the merkava has.
But I got to say, Hooben worked with me alot and had good communication through facebook the whole time I was having broken arms on the merk. They agreed to my terms for a solution which was not any kind of refund.
I am hoping that the Leopard 1 will be a better mechaincal tank, hopefully they mostly copied the tamiya. Which I am building three more of right now lol

Martellus

The MKIV seems more robust in some ways which gives me hope it would be a bit more solid than the Merkava. Did you buy direct from them, or use twin horse or someone?

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

For just a hot minute, I thought I had found the Black Friday sale of sales on the Hooben website... added what I thought was the kit to my basket for $225! Upon closer inspection, it seems that's just for the metal rivets... kit is a little bit more.

herrmill

Arkmodel, Hooben, Twin Horse, Thor all the same company, just different name plate. Forget his new German registered company.

Have been sitting on the fence over this one since I heard it was coming from Feng. Am very much on the fence after seeing these photos.

What part of WBGV are you from? I'm originally from New Martinsville.

Martellus

I worded that wrong. I just meant in the vein that some branches seemed much more responsive than others for their customer support. Twin Horse had been quite fast in replying to my questions at the least.

I am not originally from WV, but am in the area south of Pittsburgh these days.

Either way, Twin horse said the next run of kits would be 1-2 months when I messaged him on the 29th of Nov.

ankhx

Hooben told me this week the new run should be ready late December / early January

Crius

If Hooben tells you the grass is green and the sky is blue, you better go outside and check for yourself.

ankhx

Very true, I just hope I'll get it by next Christmas

heavyaslead

Finally got my delivery (about 4 months later)

And I have to say, from the unboxing, quite impressed with the kit. For the price point its very good quality.

It is a real kit, hours of assembly time

and those rivets...