Meng 1/35 Merkava Mk4M

This is what you get for tracks. No, that is wrong, this is half of what you get.

These baskets were fairly “fiddly” but with patience it is not that bad. Certainly no worse than the cargo-cage and the balls-on-chains. This is my limited experience that Meng is as good as Tamiya.

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The instructions are quality printed and well illustrated. There were vague spots to be sure, but dry-fit 10X my brothers!

Close-up of some PE.

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Initial coat of 1500 down, then remembered some small bits.

This surfacer came from a rattle-can…using them still makes me skeeve. I was so afraid of filling in detail I left some spots thin.

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It appears to my newbie eyes that “Sinai Gray” is a moving target.

!

So I mixed my own with three different XF colors, using just my own judgement.

This (below) is from adding the darkest “olive” color I had into the dark recesses. There was a little left in the cup so I did a little aircraft-style panel lining, ha!

After a few top-coats, and using multiple variants, I found the end result to be a bit dark.

It looked good in direct sunlight, or bright LEDs, but under normal lighting it was dark. So I added more highlights or fading. It looks better!

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:+1:
Ken

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Excellent job Ed. Gotta get me one of these Merkavas ! The color you have mixed looks fine, eye balling it isn’t a bad idea. After weathering it won’t matter too much. Every pic I see of Israeli vehicles is different.

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Nice work and yeah the Sinai Gray that you have a color chip of is definitely a little too stand out but it’s meant to be weathered to death unless you’re doing fresh out of factory and even then it’s the wrong color but it can be used can be used very well just you have to cover with other stuff to make it look right

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Here’s a decent example of the “correct” color looking like multiple shades, same day, same lighting, same unit (presumably) yet different.

I think one reason I struggled with the darkness is my primer. I like the black primer on aircraft, makes panel lining better/easier. The surfacer 1500 was sprayed from a can and I was horrified at the thickness, LOL. I always shoot with a lot of thinner, so the color is layered but still thin. I’m thinking some of the black is showing through.

At least I’ve learned to look at it under multiple lighting, and to wait a day of four before changing my mind and making changes. Slowing down is hard for me sometimes, but it pays off if I can do it.

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Coming along very nicely, color looks great, for me the tracks were easier then I thought they would be

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I asked Robert Goldman which brand/ color was the closest to Sanai Gray and this is his response.
"Believe it or not. The color chips don’t lie it was always testors enamel Sinai Gray
Always.
You just add a drop of whatever to age it.
So base Sinai grey then a drop of thinners and a drop of french White and go within the panels then another drop and go within what you just did. It’s sorta an airbrush dry brush effect then just when you think you’ve ruined it you mist it watch the base coat

Long process but worth it."

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Quite a nice kit, although I didn’t mess around with the kit tracks, I used Friul for mine.

Here’s how mine turned out

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That girl has been running some dusty roads. I absolutely LOVE the antennas!

Did you leave the APS shields off? My kit (Mk4M with roof) has shields (from small arms) over the sensors, if that is the correct term.

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Thanks. I purposely left the APS covers off because the kit doesn’t give you the option of displaying them open or closed, only closed. There are loads of pictures of actual vehicles available that show the covers removed, so I did that.

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That looks great.

Cheers,
Ralph

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I have heard that the IDF AFV Paint color has sometimes been referred to as “chameleon olive drab” since it seems to change tone as the daylight shifts.

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Very nicely done Khouli

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It has to do with how much thinner they used to paint it in my day they even used diesel fuel because those painted in unit and not taking back to the shop

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