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1/35 Meng Merkava 3D


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Hello

I basically stopped doing Armour in about 2008, with my last proper tank build way back in 2010, however there were a couple of things I had always wanted to build. One of these was a late Merkava 3's. I didn't fancy the full blown Legend version so when the Meng version was announced I knew I had to go for it.

The kit itself goes together really well and the detail is superb. It lacks any non-slip coating or the bags/covers for the storage area, so for the non-slip I used Rustoleum textured paint after copious amounts of masking to the hull and turret. The rear storage bags were polystyrene wrapped in PVA soaked tissue with similarly soaked tissue for the lids and the cover for the turret storage bin. The one 'main' issue is that the hull top was quite warped where it is cut out for the exhaust. Whilst easy to fix with staged gluing of parts, I didn't notice this at first and I glued the skirt mounts on before correcting the warp. This meant that when it was all straight they were slight out of line, but it was too late to do much about it.

I kinda enjoyed the build, the non-slip was a bit of a chore but it turned out ok. I also haven't got any pigments left so weathered it purely with an airbrush. It is painted with Tamiya Acrylics.

Hope you like it.

Cheers

Ian

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Edited by fu_manchu
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I think it looks great, I like the faded dusty green. I've must admit I've been looking forward to seeing one of these made up. They're very futuristic-looking tanks, not quite like anything else.

Your non-skid surface looks excellent, and the ball-and-chain screen behind the turret seems to hold up well - is it all injection moulded?

Will

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Thats a most impressive build of this very interesting tank. The LHS had some of these in stock & the boss showed one to me, I was really impressed by the amount of plastic in the box & for a moment almost took up 1/35 armour. looking at your build & taking into account Wills comment about how futuristic it looks, I've not realised before how much the turret resembles the Millenium Falcon. Oh well, I think so anyway. :lol: Super bit of modelling. :thumbsup:

Steve.

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I think it looks great, I like the faded dusty green. I've must admit I've been looking forward to seeing one of these made up. They're very futuristic-looking tanks, not quite like anything else.

Your non-skid surface looks excellent, and the ball-and-chain screen behind the turret seems to hold up well - is it all injection moulded?

Will

Cheers guys.

Yes, the kit is all injection (apart from the string rope and lead foil for the ID panels). You can hold off building the rear basket until the end to avoid damaging them too much and some can be added right at the end. I also initially left the balls attached to the plastic runners so that they had their combined strength. Only towards the end did I free them up to individual ones. I did manage to break one, but it glued back on perfectly, so I was quite relieved by that!

Ian

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Superbly done!

Regards

Pete

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Prior to 2001 I only built armour, since then I mainly do aircraft but it's always good to go back to your roots..

That is one great build, you have there, worth all the masking..!

Very nice job....

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Thanks for the comments guys.

OzH - me too, I was exclusively armour until I did an 'opposites' build on another site, that was the first aircraft I had done since I was a kid and i was a total convert!

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