At this time I have seen a lot of people building the Merkava Tank so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. For me, I choose the Tamiya Israel Merkava MBT Model Kit, after all, I am a bit of a Tamiya Fanboy! Undoubtedly I should have a bit of fun with this iconic tank, So take a look at what I have done with it.
Again this is a reasonably priced kit, coming in at under £20 and overall I’m very happy with it out of the box. You can see my full review of the kit if you click HERE
Building The Tamiya Israel Merkava MBT Scale Model
With these sub £20 kits there isn’t a ton of stuff to do, though this is one of the reasons I feel they are great kits. Even a novice picking one up isn’t going to have too much difficulty in producing a comparatively great looking model.
Although there isn’t a lot to do during the build phase I’m still taking my time to make sure that everything is getting done correctly. I did spill some glue on the rear door, however after some careful sanding and re scoring the panel I think I have saved it.
Making The Cargo Cage
The next part of the build is the stowage cage, on this occasion I have stuck the mesh down before cutting it. I have to be honest so far this seems to have work pretty well.
After some neatening up the cage is looking very nice, I might use this technique instead of cutting the mesh first on future builds.
Painting And Weathering The Tamiya 1/35th Israel Merkava Scale Model
After all my research ONLINE I found that the paint colour for the IDF was a bit more green than the desert sand Colour I have. Hence I will be mixing my own paint for this model tank.
I have enjoyed some of the more fine detail painting work I have been doing on these model tanks. As a result I feel I have improved quite a bit, even so it’s still very easy to make a mistake.
Making A New Tow Rope For The Merkava Tank Model
When I used my lighter to heat the tow rope for bending I pretty much just melted them, consequently I now need to make some. Firstly I have saved the hooks and filled them down. Secondly, I have made some new ropes, unwinding string and rewinding several of the stands until I achieved the correct thickness. Thirdly I glued the new ropes to the hooks and used thin masking tape to recreate the metal braces. Finally, a coat of paint and some weathering and we basically have a perfect set of replacement Tow Cables.
Despite The Hick Up The Painting Continues
So disaster strikes, I can’t continue the model until I have fitted the side skirts on to the model tank. As you can see I then spilt some super glue and as a result, damaged the paintwork of the upper hull and side skirt. Therefore, before I continue with the weathering I will need to sand and respray the bodywork.
Meanwhile, The Weathering Can Continue On The Tamiya Israel Merkava MBT
