Father's Day gift - Merkava Mk 1 (Tamiya 1:35) ***Finished***

[SimonL]

My current builds on the bench are being shoved to one side for this.

 

 

It’s Father’s Day here in Australia and my son, knowing my hobby, has given me this. I have zero knowledge about IDF armoured vehicles, so I will need to do a bit of digging. Any advice on the paint scheme (Tamiya suggests Desert Yellow XF-59, but I guess that may not be accurate) and how I should paint the tracks (are modern tank tracks like the ones from WW II, so a sort of grey-brown colour?) gratefully received! I’m going to take a stab at thinking a dusty look will look good on this as well.

Edited October 12, 2022 by SimonL

[Bullbasket]

Have a look here Simon.

https://www.svsmgallery.com/Top-level/Walkarounds/Armored-Vehicles/Tanks-1946-to-Present/Merkava-Mk-I-Latrun-Armor-Museum-Israel-by-Vladimir-Yakubov/

 

John.

[Milan Mynar]

Here you are some photos of the Merkava Mk. I from my archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimonL]

Thanks John @Bullbasket and Milan @Milan Mynar. I’ve spent the afternoon doing some reading. Clearly with IDF paint colours, it’s quite complicated. And here I thought olive drab was complex! My understanding is that the markings in the box are for a very early example, so I don’t need to worry about the anti-slip coating on the top of the hull. Good thing too, I imagine I would make a bit of a mess. I was planning to keep to Vallejo paints if I can - it looks like they have some appropriate shades, I’m thinking 71.142 IDF Sinai Grey 82 is probably the go. 
 

Cheers

 

Simon

[SimonL]

And I’ve made a start. Refreshingly simple after the last few kits I’ve built. Clearly a product of its time (early 80’s I think) as it has the various holes on the base for adding batteries and a motor. I’m not going to worry too much over these as they won’t be visible. In very short order I have the wheels, idlers and sprockets sorted. Wheels have poly caps in them so will be easily removed for painting.

 

 

[SimonL]

Been gradually putting this together a little bit each night this week. It may be old, but it goes together very nicely. No particular issues. There were a few places that needed blanking off with some plastic card.

 

 

I decided to put the side skirts earlier than suggested in the instructions. Made it easier to get them on straight.

 

 

And here it is dry fitted, still some bits to stick on the turret and a bit of cleaning up to do.

 

 

that’s all for now.

 

[Stef N.]

That looks a very tidy build. Looking forward to your painting stage.👍

[Hamden]

 

Nice work so far looking forward to more of the same.

 

  Stay safe          Roger

[SimonL]

Painting has started @Stef N.. So far a couple of coats of brushed on Vallejo Model Air 71.142 IDF Sinai Gray 82. It’s pretty thin, due it’s designed purpose being for air brushes. I usually find three brushed on coats works, so one more to go for complete coverage.

 

The tracks were “primed” with Tamiya Acrylic XF 84 Dark Iron and then a thin coat of Vallejo 303 Track Primer, from their Panzer Aces range. Pretty happy with the appearance. Next step will be to make them look pretty dusty.

 

 

 

[Jasper dog]

Brilliant,  what a super quick build, a really refreshing way to model!

 

The Vallejo appears to be brushing on really well too.

 

Atb

Darryl 

[SimonL]

Thanks Daryll. I enjoy complex kits as well (within reason!), but it is so refreshing to just have a simple, straightforward, build. It’s also refreshing to do something completely outside my usual “themes” - and that’s entirely down to my son 🙂

[SimonL]

Bit more picking away at this a little bit each day. Finished construction of the turret, pretty happy with how it looks. Managed to get a couple of coats of paint on. 
 

 

 

Final coat of paint on the main hull, pretty happy with how it looks. Painted the rubber mud flaps with Tamiya acrylic NATO black.

 

 

 

Started the process of making the tracks look dusty. A mix of Vallejo Desert and European Dust washes, in ratio of approximately 2:1 roughly brushed on with quite a bit of water to get it to flow properly into all the nooks and crannies. Here I have one track partially done and the other not yet started to show the difference. 
 

[Bullbasket]

My interest in the IDF has always centred around the time period from early post war, up to the 70's. Magachs are about as modern as I would normally go, but having seen what you are doing with this one, I think that I'll be looking out for one when I go to Telford in November. Nice work Simon.

 

John.

[SimonL]

Thanks John, it’s not a “genre” I would even have considered. Had a look at the local hobby shop and they seem to have  a few IDF kits - the Academy M51 and Magach 6B, assorted Hobbyboss APCs (very odd looking!) and a solitary Takom Merkava 1  hybrid. Can you recommend any kits (noting I am  still pretty new to this AFV lark and am very much an out of the box builder)?

[Bertie McBoatface]

You're building it up very nicely. Smart work!

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, SimonL said:

Can you recommend any kits (noting I am  still pretty new to this AFV lark and am very much an out of the box builder)?

There's one kit that you can't go wrong with, and that's the Tamiya M51. Of all the M51 kits (Tamiya, Dragon and Academy), Tamiya are the only ones who have got the muzzle brake right. The other two are way too big. The Tamiya one is a nice kit and depicts a fairly early version (Dagem Beth or B Model).

The Academy Magach 6 isn't bad, but there are now newer, better offerings from AFV and Meng, but a lot more expensive.

Dragon do a Magach 3 (M48), which is a nice kit, but again has some issues, but if you can live with them then it builds up into a reasonably good looking model. And of course, there are several versions of the Merkava (l,ll,lll and lV) available.

Not forgetting that the Israelis used a lot of different versions of the Sherman in the early days, so just about any kit will suffice with a minimal of change.

HTH's.

 

John.   

[SimonL]

Thanks John! Food for thought when I get this one finished.

 

Meanwhile started on the detail painting, such that it is. Painted the mantlet cover Tamiya XF57 Buff as recommended in the instructions. Looks a bit stark, but I guess will be a little toned down when I apply some weathering.

 

 

Managed to connect the ends of the tracks without having a complete meltdown. This will safely be hidden by the side skirts.

 

 

3 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

You're building it up very nicely. Smart work!

 

Thanks!

[SimonL]

Spent today doing the rather tedious work of painting the rubber tyres on the road wheel using Vallejo Dark Rubber from their Panzer Aces range. I also took the opportunity to repaint the mantle cover with Tamiya Acrylic Khaki - the buff just looked to light. Couldn’t resist dry fitting it all and checking the tracks worked ok. 

 

Looks pretty menacing.

 

 

 

[Hamden]

 

Nice very nice and I agree the mantle does look better after the repaint.

 

   Stay safe            Roger

[Jasper dog]

Lovely work Simon,  great work with the paintbrush. 

 

Darryl 

[SimonL]

Just a little work today to blank off some of the empty spaces with black painted plastic card. I also faked up some exhausts using the thin metal from a tea-light candle.

 

 

[Bullbasket]

Nice work with the exhausts Simon. Another material that is excellent for that kind of work is pewter foil. You can buy it online.

 

John.

[SimonL]

Thanks for the suggestion John - found a few examples online.  Would you recommend any particular thickness? I’ve found 0.15 and 0.2 mm thick sheets, which sounds pretty thin to me.

[Bullbasket]

3 hours ago, SimonL said:

Thanks for the suggestion John - found a few examples online.  Would you recommend any particular thickness? I’ve found 0.15 and 0.2 mm thick sheets, which sounds pretty thin to me.

That sounds about right. If you were making exhausts, you can overlap the joint and squeeze it together with a pair of pointed nosed flat pliers. It's also good for tarpaulins and of course, straps. I also make some of the brackets for the pioneer tools from the material. The one on the axe on my M50 is pewter.

 

John.

[SimonL]

Been picking away at this. I took the dry fitted kit apart, and after a brushed on coat of floor polish to gloss things up, I put on the limited number of decals (so much easier for AFVs compared to aircraft!).

 

 

 

I took the dry fitted wheels off to start the weathering process. This is the result after a brushed on coat of Vallejo Oiled Earth Model Wash, followed by diluted Vallejo Dark Grey Wash. I also made the bogies and area under the skirts mucky in the same way (not that you will be able to see much once the tank is put together).