Tamiya Merkava Mk 1

[NecronautDrummer]

Despite the issues you have had it sure looks fantastic ND...if you dont mind me calling you ND? What did you do for your anti slip coating? Looks awesome! ;D

Thanks,
Gary

ND is just fine with me ;D
A lot of people recommended using a 'terra cotta' finish spray bomb from Tremclad (i think?). I think that would be adequate for most vehicles. However, after seeing some pics of the HEAVY anti-skid coat on these tanks, I decided to go with something that would create a little more texture and relief. Tremclad makes a line of paint in spray cans called Textured, which renders a very pebbled finish. I found some at the local hardware store, assembled the appropriate parts on the hull and turret, masked off the appropriate areas, and went to town! After lifting off the liquid mask, I retouched any areas I over-masked by stippling Mr Surfacer 500. It was pretty easy to find the right amount of drying time between brushing it on and stippling it to match the Tremclad texture (about 20 seconds). Too much jabbing at the Mr Surfacer actually created a much rougher texture compared to the Tremclad. While it might look out of scale for a lot of other vehicles, i think this worked out just fine for an IDF vehicle!

So, it's getting close to the time when I need to start planning for my other big experiment with this model, hairspray chipping. The model now has a very nice and even coat of Tamiya's light gray surface primer. I was planning on doing some preshading over the relatively light primer coat, as well. Of course, the paint will be a sand-toned colour, but would a light gray undercoat provide enough contrast to show any chipping? I'm not going for a rusty rat-rod look, just something to show some typical wear and usage. I'm inclined to coat everything with a medium gray to create more contrast before a seal coat and hairspray. If it's too much, it could always be toned down with a coat of clear gloss (for decals) slightly tinted with sand, buff, or deck tan. I used that idea on my Harrier to tone down the contrast of the decals and black nose paint, and it worked out pretty well, IMHO. I'd appreciate some feedback on this issue, everyone! ;D

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Decided to go with the primer colour as the chipping show-through. But, I imagine a lot of the black preshade will come through too. I'll preshade the roadwheels, side skirts, etc. tomorrow. My trigger finger's a little sore after all that.

Happy modelling! ;D

 

[NecronautDrummer]

After a protective varnish coat over the preshading, I hairsprayed (straight from a can of Tresemme; it makes a really fine mist!) and left it to dry for a couple hours. I basecoated last night with XF-59 Desert Sand, and highlighted tonight by adding some XF-55 Deck Tan to the basecoat colour. The final highlight was about a 50/50 mix. I'll do some light chipping tomorrow night, and paint the roadwheel rubber then too.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Quick update:
Friulmodel tracks are almost finished. I find that the thicker rods/pins create a very noticeable bend to the tracks, so I'll be sticking with 0.020 wire/rod for future builds. It seems to keep the track very straight.

Chipping of the paint is going slow. The high-grit textured paint seems to have a lot of bite. While the smooth surfaces produce a nice and natural chipped look, the parts of the tank where there's the textured paint require a lot of work to rub the paint off. The grit will get rubbed down to the original textured paint color before the spots around it start to rub off.

Areas with the pure primer underneath don't show a heck of a lot of contrast. Wherever I preshaded, it seems to look better. Should have gone with a darker undercoat, I guess.

I figure it'll be sometime into next week before I finish the chipping (rock show Friday night, metal band rehearsal Saturday night, and a baby shower of all things on Sunday).

 

[NecronautDrummer]

I'm resurrecting this thread to finish my build off. It's been almost a year since I've done anything scale model related. Time to get back at it. Grendel's Jagdpanzer from the 2012 Spring Contest is in the closet calling my name!
Tracks are done. Hairspray chipping didn't work at all. I think letting the acrylic paint dry overnight had something to do with it. Anyways, I went at it with some dark gray paint. Pics later tonight.

Mappy modelling!

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Great work. looking pretty impressive

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Pics:

After spraying the sand colour and hilighting it, I realized that the IDF vehicles have a greenish tone to them Since then, I've been lightly coating this with Tamiya Khaki to shift the tone to the greener look. I'll be chemically rusting the tracks as soon as I can find a creme brulee dish for the burnishing fluid bath.

Cheers!

 

[Aaron Jefick]

Hi, you've an excellent job, sorry I did not see the post timely, non-slip surface is not in the Mk. I, as this is carried Mk versions. R Hybrid, but excellent work, congratulations.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

??? This Mk 1 definitely sports a non-slip surface...
http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/andre_patschke/merkava_mk1_walk.htm

It's the big reason why I did this tank in the first place... to experiment with scale non-slip textures.

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Very nice work! This is going to look beastly!

 

[dogfish7]

Looks like the F-1 of Tanks! 8)

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Quick update...
Another round of chipping with Panzer Gray, a couple coats of Future, some decals, A couple more coats of Future, and a US Medium Green color filter later...


Once the filter medium gasses off, I'll do a pin wash with some of AK's OIF enamel wash, streaking, lots of road dust, and a very light mud and rust application. I'm thinking of building a small dio for this tank with it pulling off of a paved road, just to set the scene for it a little. Any idea how I could replicate a paved road surface?

I also blackened the tracks and applied some dark mud color, North Africa dust, and track rust pigments, and fixed it with some AK pigment fixer. However, I'm getting a sort of zebra-stripe effect where 10 links appear light, the next 10 appear dark, etc. It's a pretty regular alternating pattern. It was normal and even-looking before I applied the pigment fixer about 12 hours ago. Does it need longer than that to cure and gas off, or is this just what tends to happen with pigment fixer?

Thanks for the help and encouragement, everyone!

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Looking very imprrssive man. Thats weird about the pigment fixer. I havent had that happen to me but I havent used a ton of pigments either so Im not sure.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

looks good dood.

Would have to see a photo of the pigment fixer issue to comment, but fixer will always darken and lessen the effects of pigments.

 

[Aaron Jefick]

The work is exceptional, many go with the Mk fake. I; leads slip, the museum curator Latrum had the idea of putting it, without any historical data to substantiate this surface on the tank, you've made ​​the Hybrid version, which carries chains in the basket and some modifications, would be correct.

But still a great job, congratulations.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!
I applied a dirty brown filter on Sunday night and on Monday. Tonight, I went to town with a brownish black oil paint I mixed up. I faded it back with some new and half-decent brushes I picked up from Michael's on Sunday afternoon before turkey. I really gotta say that good brushes make a HUGE difference!



I only worked on the front of the vehicle. Is it too much? All thoughts and comments welcome!

 

[dogfish7]

Looks great!