WIP

babak chalangi
Nice😉

Gábor Bélik
Following

Bart Goesaert
looking nice. do you drip or paint the cellulose thinner on your model? Doesn't it melt the plastic?

Murad ÖZER
Bert that's the idea, melt the plastic so that the baking soda can get a grip. i am using a 4/0 quality brush, painting a very small controllable amounts (something like 3 or 4 times the brush size) since the thinner is extremely thin it can get into unwanted places and volatile then sprinkle tiny tiny amounts of baking soda right away then reapply thinners but this time letting the soda absorb via capillary action instead of brushing on in order not to upset the soda layer.
As you can imagine the process is labour intensive with all the application iaw cross checking reference picures panel by panel. rear section took 2 hours straight to apply, i am expecting at least 10 hours in total...

Erik Apunkt
Good start, Murad! 👍
Which colour are you going to use on your Merk?

Just wondering about the soda's grit. How does it compare to the actual Merk's overall rather coarse anti-skid coating?

Murad ÖZER
Erik thank you, it does look ok to my eyes at the moment but what happens once the paint and washes are on that remains to be seen.
Once the antislip is applied allover i'll try taking some shots in super macro mode with the camera for you to decide.
As for the color it's gonna be the elusive '82 desert color which no one agrees on what it is.

Urban Gardini
But most all of the Mk. I was without the antislip surface! It was introduced with the Mk. II. Lookin' great though!

Murad ÖZER
Urban hello, i've posted this one in several idf related forums and no one contested against the anti slip so far!? before applying it i did a preliminary research on the subject myself and my opinion from the pictures of the era there actually was some sort of anti slip material but either it was not as much pronounced as the recent merks, or the olden pictures were misleading / not detailed enough.
if this is bogus indeed then it's too late to remove the antislip unfortunately 🙁 looking at the bright side, this had been a great experiment on my part as it was the first time i attempted such a thing. 🙂

Urban Gardini
Yes, but to your support there's an museum Mk.I out there with the non-slip surface.

Kerry COX
Attention to detail, its underestimated on AFV's, especially the tracks and rubber bonded road wheels. If you look at some of the images posted by the IAF you will see where the vulcanised rubber on the road wheels is completely missing, or badly shattered.

Murad ÖZER
Kerry, i did damage the rubber blocks, not to the extreme you are mentioning but there are dents and whatnot enough to distinguish in scale on photos.

Urban, rgr that, like i've said it's too late for this one BUT if i can find some detail set for this baby i'd love to build another one (it took 2 or 3 nights to come to the paint stage and i was lazy!)... and that could be without anti-slip.

Kerry COX
Good to know Murad and I think I mentioned in one of my comments on some other armour album I saw, that this is one thing that many judges are looking for now, the look that the vehicle has been 'on the move' and not the 'wallowing in mud' look. and I will say here, your work is certainly enjoyable to follow. Cheers 🙂

Cortex
I'm adding this to the favorites because I have same kit in stash and want to learn from your build, if you can only please mention the color codes/types used and the ratio of paint/thinner since I'm new to airbrushing.

loved it : )

Murad ÖZER
basecoat is tamiya XF49 Khaki mixed with XF55 Deck Tan. ratio of the mixture is not constant, pure vertical areas have more khaki than deck tan and pure horizontal space more deck tan than khaki.
thinner is regular cellulose thinner from local hardware store. thinner ratio isn't constant either, but at least 2 or 3 times the amount of paint.
you have to understand the consistency of paint is not same across the board, lighter the color already thinner it will be so will need less thinner and vice versa darker colors will need more thinning *usually*.
more importantly my comp. pressure was always around 12-15psi with a fine needle attached to the ab. i did NOT panel fade, instead most of the tank was painted in parallel strokes much like painting from the spray can; pull trigger off the model > move the ab at a constant speed across the model > release trigger off the model > rinse and repeat. just make sure the direction is logical, think of gravity and streaking on vertical surfaces, direction of airflow / vehicle travel on horizontals.
hope it helps but i doubt, you have to botch kits on your own and develop a feelin in the process, there's no easy way around the airbrush imho. 🙂

Curtis Caden
Meng showed on their instruction sheet for the Merkava Mk.3d an assembly option of either all rubber road wheels or only 3 of the 6 wheels with rubber. I don't know their basis for the build option. Tried to find photos but really don't know one version from another. I really like what you did with yours. You inspire me. I would like to build another Merkava and for that matter any other IDF piece I can find!

Cortex
Much much much appreciated ! I will keep practicing on smaller and cheaper models until I'm ready to build the Merkava.

cheers : )

Curtis Caden
Cortex471 you should jump right in. While I really appreciate what Murad Ozer did with the paint to get the shading you can buy ModelMaster Israeli Armor Sand/Gray and go straight out of the bottle. Start with a museum piece and then fade and weather it as you have time. I am taking notes from Murad Ozer on his painting techniques as that is an area where I can certainly improve.

Jan Hazes
Nice work so far 🙂 You have patience I don't posess.

Kerry COX
Patience is acquired grasshopper, it is not a possession. 🙂

George Bacon
Looking good. Want to watch this one!

Szilárd Kun
Nice. 🙂

Murad ÖZER
Thanks for the comments folks, much appreciated! 👍
Regarding patience, even if you are one of those modellers who wants to get over with the assembly asap, this kit needs none! This practically built itself in a night or two than baam off to figuring out the idf colors... 😄

Kerry COX
Well put and well done, and I want a kit that does it's own building for me too. LOL 🙂

Vorya hidaryan
Amazing job Murad 👍

Kerry COX
The oil marks got me thinking about how much effort to make it look like it is well maintained is what gets my eye.

Es-haq Khosravi
Great job!

Mats Bengtsson
It looks amazing. I haven't built armour for some time but looking at this make me want to pick it up again.