I'm building a Merkava Mk1V Lic as seen in the Gaza invasion of 2009. What colour do I use from the Vallejo range.

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Paul I do not know about Vallejo but the paint and pigment offering from Lifecolor shows a lot of promise.

lifecolor's IDF green is extremely close to what I've seen in photos. get the IDF set which includes sand gray 1 and 2 and pigments Golan dark earth, Sinai sand and Lebanon dust

Cheers guys I'll have a lookat Lifecolour
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this for armor: http://thinkhobbies.com/470-lifecolor-detailing-set-spg01.html

this for uniforms: http://www.mjwmodels.co.uk/lc-ms10-3-easy-3-uniform-colours---idf-army-2543-p.asp

Ilan Levy wrote an article for IDF Modelling listing all the variations of colour for IDF Vehicles

http://idfmodelling.free.fr/article01.html
Sinai War 1956
LIFE COLOR UA 003 Olive Drab
TAMIYA XF-62 Olive Drab
HUMBROL 66 Olive Drab

Six Days War 1967 (FS 30372)
LIFE COLOR UA 020 Israeli Sand Grey 61-73
TAMIYA50% XF-60 Dark Yellow + 50% XF-57 Buff
HUMBROL 85% 083 Ochre+ 15% 117 U.S. Light Green or 72 Khaki Drill

Yom Kippur War 1973
LIFE COLOR UA 020 Israeli Sand Grey 61-73
TAMIYA33% XF-57 Buff + 33% XF-59 Desert Yellow + 33% XF-20 Medium Grey
HUMBROL50% 092 Grey Green + 25% 093 Desert Yellow + 25% 034 White or 50% 72 Khaki Drill + l25% 093 Desert Yellow + 25% 034 White

Lebanon War 1982 (FS 36134)
LIFE COLOR UA 035 Israeli Sand Grey 82
TAMIYA 50% XF-20 Medium Grey + 50% XF-57 Buff +
HUMBROL 50% 164 Dark Sea Grey + 20% 163 Dark Green III + 15% 062 Leather + 15% 121 Pale Stone

After much research I would also add for modern vehicles (form about 1997) a mix of Humbrol 72 Khaki Drill and 66 Olive Drab (mix to a shade that you like but tend slightly towards green. I used this on my Merkava 4 and found after weathering that it was a good match.

I'm building the same model. I'm using Vallejo Surface Primer IDF Sand Gray 73-614 as the overall base color.

I really like Vallejo Air 71.044 Light Grey Green for my modern IDF pieces. It may not be a perfect match but I really like the way it looks.

I find Humbrol 84 is a perfect match for modern IDF vehicles.

I know this is an old thread, but I just did some research this morning, trying to do the best possible match of a Tamiya mix for the Lifecolor Israeli Sand Grey 82. I know that others, including dmiles in this thread, had given their own mix for Tamiya colors, but I came up with a mix that is absolutely spot on, a perfect match for the Lifecolor Sand Grey 82. The mix is 5 parts XF-20 Medium Grey, 3 parts XF-22 RLM Grey, 1 part XF-52 Flat Earth.

That is:
5x XF-20 Medium Grey
3x XF-22 RLM Grey
1x XF-52 Flat Earth

If you are looking for a duplicate for the Lifecolor paint in Tamiya colors, this is IT!

In addition, not to be contrary, a great Tamiya mix for current IDF vehicles is 2 parts XF-20 Medium Grey to 1 part XF-49 Khaki. To my taste at least, the 1 to 1 mix of XF-20 to XF-57 Buff turns out too grey. But that's just me :-) I have learned that there are so many factors with respect to IDF colors, including the paint mix for individual real life vehicles, the different exposures to sun and weather, and the dust and dirt that these vehicles are exposed to, not to mention the weathering does to any given model, makes the initial base color far less important than the color on some other vehicles.