Bill Cross shares his photos of the Meng Merkava IIID with ET photo etch and metal tracks.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi Bill
WOW! That's an excellent build, Bill, and the painting and weathering looks great.
Best regards
Jacob

Thanks, Jacob, nothing is more satisfying than the praise of one's betters and peers.

I would say the result IS worth all the grief, well done.

Thats a cracking build

Now that is a most convincing desert weathering job! I think I have sand in my eyes from the dust that your Merkava has kicked up. Thanks for sharing.

—mike

AWESOME Love the weathering/finish A1

Aw, shucks!

Thanks, Gents.

Awesome. Look really cool. I like.

Paweł

Thank you, Pawel.

Can you guide us on the proper IDF tank colors. Did you mix your own or which company provides the right color. Great build--inspiring!! Well done.

Dave, I laid down a base coat of Tamiya XF1 flat black, then oversprayed Lifecolor UA020 (Israeli sand gray). I then mixed some of that paint with acrylic white to lighten it about 50%, and sprayed that on the highlight areas.

After a coating of clear flat, I then experimented with AK Interactive's OIF & OEF enamel wash (AK121). It's tricky to use because if properly-mixed, it comes out like black ink. Once the wash dries, it lightens up quite a bit, but I used a lot of mineral spirits to thin it out, as I did not want the tank to look too badly-used. Israel's military operations don't usually last very long (this tank represents one from Gaza in IIRC 2009), so you don't want your vehicle to be too beat-up (I did split between rubber-coated wheels and metal ones 50-50).

HTH.

Darren, should we put the painting information in the body of the feature?