Hey guys I just finished this tank up today, this is my first tank, took about 3 days or so to build, it's the Tamiya kit, I usually build aircraft, but I wanted to try something new, so my local hobby store recommended this kit. I built it straight out of the box, some of the colors aren't 100% accurate as I mixed up some colors I didn't have. I used model master and Tamiya paints.

The base is a 12 inch ceramic tile and the gravel material is taken from my grandpa's stash of HO scale train supplies.

I had one issue with the kit as the rope that goes around the turret broke as I trying to bend and glue it into postion. I really enjoyed building this kit, and already have my eyes on a M1A1 for my next build. Any feedback, tips, or criticism is greatly appreciated!

Thank you for looking!

This one is the first kit ever released of the Merkava family. You did a good job on it.
I think you'd better replace the towing cables around the turret by some twisted electrical wire. It would be easier to bend it around the turret.

Olivier

Looks pretty good to me, Merkvas always strike me as being elegant looking tanks (tank elegant???). Yes, fix the tow cable, it spoils it. I have used brass wire for hanging pictures in the past but you'll need to prime the bare metal before painting or you will get wee shiny brass specks shining through (not a good look). Also noticed the rear lights need to have the light lenses picked out in deep red (only the small recessed areas).
Otherwise a really good effort, the shading is good not overly done.

thanks for the help and tips, I will definitely fix the tow cable and also paint the rear tail lights, I must have somehow over looked that step in the instructions.

anyways I'll fix the cable and the tail lights, I also started a Tamiya M1A1 last night!

Hi there G.Houle,
cool build, as the others say the only thing not so nice is the
tow rope. But that is easily fixed.
Do you how rough the anti-slip covering is on the real tank?
I only ask because you could paint the tile in Israeli grey and say you have mounted the kit on a piece of armour from a Merkava.

Here's the proof:-


I wish my first tank looked as good as yours



Paul

thank you, I appreciate it, that's a good idea about making the base look like a piece of the armor! I might do something like that on the next build, I'm having a good time building armor though, this site and the modeling armor vechicles by osprey has been a complete life saver!