Old pro

Italeri do the mk1 there is no real mk2 available, the old Esci mk2 needs some serious surgery to get it to be one, there are 3D printed of a mk1B and Mk2B from SSmodels, the Trumpeter mk3 is better than the Revell mk3 but the Revell kit is the only one with an attempt at the ball and chain.

They are for locking open the hatches to stop them smashing you on the head

Hard to tell

That is a real tank, part of 2AD in Texas in the early 80s, they carried a number of M1s in various schemes as part of evaluation. Other tanks were either in a MERDC pattern or temporary camouflage had been applied mud /whitewash.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/us/m1_abrams.php has a lot of M1s in various colour schemes but how true they are? Or just Google M1 MERDC pattern.

Most pictures show green, there would be no need to repaint the interior to match the outside colour, but if you have a picture then who’s to say you’re wrong?

Nice they have an armoured hull for the V1 because it’s just going to drop on top of them when they launch 😂😂😂😂

It would be nice if Takom took up the slack or even Meng, Achzarit springs to mind! I am beginning to understand why Hobbyboss put tarps on, building the new basket for the Merkava 2 with all the rods at different angles, Most tanks have covers on anyway but Hobbyboss make them look empty with a tarp instead of the tarp covering something. not bored of modelling, love the building and altering phase, it’s the painting and finishing stage where I stall. I don’t like having completed models stuck away in a box, but display space is limited. I used to sell the excess one rather than hide them. I think part of me wants to hold on to them, not finished in a box is OK but if I actually finish one then I’m going to have to decide what to do, part of me is already mourning some that I’ve sold and now wish I hadn’t!😭😂

The Esci/Italeri Merkava mk1 and 2 (don’t know if Italeri re released the mk2) are essentially the same kit but the mk2 should have the extra armour for the turret sides, however to build a mk2 you need a mk3 for bits, I used the Revell one cause it all I had at the time, the exhaust need swapping out and the mortar needs adding to the roof, a new stowage basket and engine deck armour, while I was at it I remade the turret side armour as it was a little simplified and did the roof armour for a later version and then one thing led to another☺️ i got the Black dog conversion for the Tiran, but the turret is so miscast it’s unusable but it’s still on the todo list, I’m suffering from “I’m bored with that, let’s do something else” syndrome at the moment 😂😂

Fun pic From left to right MaGach 6b Revell/Goffy? I think MaGach 6b Baz Cromwell Merkava 1 Italeri Merkava 2b Italeri/Revell and a lot of scratch building Merkava 2D Cromwell Merkava 3 Baz Trumpeter Merkava 3D Cromwell Merkava 3D Hobbyboss Merkava 3D(LIC) Hobbyboss Merkava 4 Hobbyboss The dark ones are in Hataka Sinai grey which I think is too dark for small scale and could do with lightening a bit. The lighter grey was an own mix going from photos, that however seems too light now, I was hoping that weathering would shift the tones a bit, but I’m now thinking that lightening the base colour and darkening the lighter ones is the way to go. I am hoping to get a Merkava 1b in there as well but that needs an Italeri and Revell kit chopping together.

Yeah Israeli tanks seem to be heavily weathered, the current situation has thrown up relatively clean vehicles for now. the first picture, all 3 are Merkava 3s the first (or the one on the left) is a mk3D the other two are mk3 Baz with the extra armour added to the roof. Or another way of putting it, one Hobbyboss and two Trumpeters 😁

To be fair, the Merkava 4 in the picture is on the extreme end and not normal, a better representation would be where you are not so far out. There is a lot of variation in colours that seem to depend on lighting and where and which vehicle. I was just trying to point out not to get hung up on the correct colour, the current situation has thrown up pictures of vehicles in a variety of shades from light grey, through sand to green to dark grey and everything in between.

I think lighting conditions have a lot to do with it, bright sunshine in the last, overcast in the first, but then again Merkava 3s have a different tone to Merkava 4s. Hataka have a range of IDF colours and have two variations of Sinai grey 82-87 and 87 onwards of which the later one is more green in tone. of course the terrain completely changes it again

IDF colour can change a lot before you even start adding weathering

The placement of flags differ from unit to unit or even tank to tank, front right fender or front left, also front right hull or left or even centre same at the rear, or non at all, there is no right or wrong unless modelling a specific tank. Regimental markings are also varied, normally on the clansman RTU on the right side of the turret but also sometimes on the hull fronts (lower glacis) for call signs best to refer to this thread.

All BAOR vehicles carried the flag (when available) the jerboa insignia didn’t come back into fashion until gulf war deployment

Not sure what typical Russian modifications are? There are typical Ukrainian mods that only Ukraine use but most of the separatists T 64 are Soviet era either from Russia or from stockpiles in Ukraine. There is plenty of photographic evidence that both Ukraine and the separatists used brown paint on their vehicles, usually green, brown and black, and sometimes grey on everything from T 64s to 2S19s so it seems a more Ukrainian thing, but all these photos are from before the 2022 invasion, technically before then it was a civil war. the problem with the tank graveyard photos are the amount of weathering the vehicles have undergone being exposed to the elements, ascertaining the colours and distinguishing from rust is difficult but yes both sides had brown camouflage colour. There are plenty of pictures cropping up claiming to be recent but can be traced back to before 2022 and much earlier, even before 2014. There are pictures of soviet era T 64s in grey camouflage and the Ukrainians are still using brown but unless you have a picture that identifies it as a separatist tank I would be wary, I once had someone try and tell me the Bulat was Russian.

If it’s the picture I’m thinking of, then it’s a T 72, there is a T 64 with sort of the same on the side skirts but it doesn’t extend over the turret or hull. Most T 64s used by the republics were from Ukrainian storage/stockpiles and pre Date the current conflict so any camouflage schemes would be Ukrainian. The T 64 is a Ukrainian designed and manufactured tank, hence why all the Russian one were stored/destroyed, lack of spares and generally being expensive and crap. I have not seen any photos of a T 64 currently not being used by the Ukrainians alone, I have not seen a separatist one since the start of the invasion ( depending when you believe the invasion started) the T 64

So not as Belingcat claims as belonging to the 200th MRR 😂😂

I would say the lower hull and wheels have a near perfect coating of mud and dust on them, normally the lower hulls are left plain green and only the upper camouflaged, rare occasions maybe one or two wheels but mostly just green. As to the H–1100 number, I presume it’s a shipping number same as the H 2200 normally seen, although I have no idea why the difference, the only other time I’ve seen it is here.

It’s probably a variation of these ones from South Ossetia

I am a bit dubious of their quality when they show misprints or imperfect moulds on their website, that and a lot of their stuff seems to be poorly modified kit parts, not that the workmanship is poor but that the details are not corrected properly. Their T 62 looks really off, small stuff I can handle but I don’t want to be changing a huge block of resin, might as well just build my own.

While I would never say never as there were plenty of camouflaged vehicles in Chechnya, never seen a camouflaged T 72. one thing to note is that Russian T 72s carry a mixture of early and late features, such as Nadboi cladding to the turret and late pattern front track guards, and 3 turret bins, with the third replacing the snorkel and that moves to the rear. Chechen Tanks also are a mixture, but definitely have more early ones and also more colourful is you count the white turrets.

Just looked at the Instructions to the ACE MT LB, this one is given as“Soviet Army, Afghanistan 1988. with the numbers repeated on the rear doors. so quite late on,

Apparently the decals are supposed to be 1, Georgian forces, 1, Iraqi, 1, DNR, LNR, 2, Russian/Soviet vehicles (but doesn’t say where) and 2 Ukrainian