it is with great trepidation and quite some anxiety that I am posting pics of my first build on this great website and community.
I want to start by thanking all of you for having been a great wealth of information over the course of the last year or so it took me to complete this building. I thank you because you have shared everything about your builds and techniques debating among the community on each possible way to tackle different issues (heck, even on how and when you decide to cut off pieces from the sprues!).
So…what good you see in this build has mainly been achieved by trying to put into practice things I have read and seen on this very website and to you all shall get the credit (well, yeah, maybe also a little bit to me, no?) . On the other end, what bad you see is mainly due to my inability to effectively put into practice things “learnt” here and as such the blame is all mine.
Ok then, before I let you with the images, here is a brief summary about the kit and the build.
It is the “old” (i.e. first issue) Academy Merkava IV.
I used the Legend Merk. IV LIC resin set. A word of caution here: I bought the set almost at the same time as the kit, as such, it was the set intended to be used for Legend’s own Merk. IV. Fitting it to the Academy kit was really not an easy task, at least for me. It seems that the Legend’s kit dimensions are a bit different than Academy’s. This was mainly evident in the belly armor area, that I eventually had to split in half and “enlarge” because it was a little too short (some 5 mm) in length. Also, there seems to be a mismatch between the relative position of the front and back hooks where the armor gets attached and as such I had to re-adapt the rods (increasing the length of the front ones and shortening the back ones).
I chose not to install the “heavy” side skirts and went for the Academy ones instead, though I replaced the “wavy” pattern of the bottom part for the straight ones seen on more recent tanks (scratchbuilt)
I also used Legend’s ball and chain turret skirt. It was really not fun putting it together. Long and boring and also painting it while retaining the “flexibility” in all the chains was a real challenge for me as well.
Techniques (all were a true first for me):
• Anti-slip coating: I tried to replicate it using sandblasting powder and white glue+water. I tried to follow some of the advices of my conational Guido when picking the size of the powder, but I guess I either made a mistake there or I used too much of it. In all I am not too happy with the result as it seems that some of the finer details of the kit surface (e.g. rows of bolts/rivets on each armor plate) have gotten lost under/with the anti-slip. From a distance it does look somewhat the part but if you get closer and compare with pictures of the real tank it does not match too well. To “punish” me for this, I ordered Academy’s new Merk. IV that has anti-slip molded on
• Painting: I primed with Tamiya Light Grey primer, then pre-shaded in black all panel joints and some recesses and finally painted the beast in Lifecolor 1982 Sinai Gray. Second or third hand was given just a tad lighter. It seems the color is affected by lighting conditions (kind of the real thing, from what I have read), but it looks to me a bit less “green” when compared to the real thing. I then sealed the whole with a good coat of gloss (Gunze Aqueous). Then decals went on. There is a slight mismatch between front and back fender numerals (see pictures) but I messed with one decal and ended up losing it…It was also my first time using Microsol and I must say I am really satisfied with the results: at least to me it looks like it does have a “painted on” look in most location, what do you think?
• Weathering: after another gloss coat I started the wash process. Initially I employed a brown wash but I think I had picked too reddish a brown oil color and it just did not look ok, so I darkened it with some black and things looked a bit better. Also, given the way the anti-slip was made, I could no go all the way across with a large flat brush, but had to do more of a pin wash instead (if I have correctly understood what that means!). On the side skirts I also tried a bit of “rain streaks” effects – not sure how it looks, though, especially after the pigments. Yeah, pigments! After the final matt coat (and the experience on the turret almost threw the model in the trash: Gunze Matt is most likely intended to be used as Tamiya’s, i.e. as a “matting” agent for their gloss, because the moment it started drying I was seeing a nice white coat developing all over! I tried to gloss it again and then ended up trying the Vallejo matt coat which gave much better and safer results) I applied some MIG pigments. It was difficult (and still is) to get the right feeling. I need much more practice on this for sure. In some areas I tried a pigment+water application going back after it had dried and remove the excess, ending up with too much in some instances or having it in places not oringially intended. In other areas I tried the dry approach and it difficult to understand how much you are putting.
• Tracks: here is where I made one major mistake: I waited until most of tank was put together AND painted before tackling them. It was a pain and here also I risked the whole work a couple of times. The kit link and length tracks also were a challenge in itself. Something I need to keep practicing or, better, do without! I am leaning to buying Friul’s for my next Merk. So far I have built Bronco’s individual tracks for a “dormient” Chally 2 I would like to build and I must say that working tracks look the part much better and (hopefully) will also end up being easier to wrap around the running gears. Anyhow, for painting them I used several layers building up from steel, than balck wash, than black+rust paint, then some “rubbing” with fine sandpaper to ring the steel back out and finally wet pigments to “dust” them.
Well, that’s all folks for me.
Now it is your turn.
Have no mercy but please be kind! LOL!
