Tamiya Merk1 WIP, Finished 9/9

Thanks, Terry.  BTW, apparently a lot of the e-mails/messages I sent last week got lost in the etherworld, happens sometimes when I'm out of town. You have mail.

And pics of what I did last night, not much but progress:

^ The commander's sight and cover. I thinned the cover plate down to something more like scale thickness and replaced the support struts with .020" brass wire. The gunner's sight has the extra armored cover and retaining bolts added. This part I've only seen on a couple of pics, but they were of Merk1's without anti-slip of balls and chains, so I added it.

^ And the inside of the basket. The corners used to have big interlocking tabs, so those had to go.

Wow, going to town on this one, Baer!

Lookin' good 

Thanks, guys!

I have some more pics from last night's work, but working off-site for the next couple of days, might be able to get them up tonight. It's slowing down a little bit, getting into some of the finer details on the turret that Tamiya totally skated on.

Well, the off-site job kind of fizzled, so all of a sudden I have some time....

Last night I started the loader's hatch, did the driver's hatch stop, mounted the Academy stretcher, and stared at pics for a long time.....

The hatch is pinned to be operable, not sure how many figs I'll use yet. All I've added to it so far is the interior pad, still need to find a pic of the inside latch and handle.I also trimmed the Academy stretcher to fit, looks a lot better than Tamiya's part.

Tamiya had the driver's hatch lock base there, all I had to do was add the actual lever, done from scrap plastic. I hope I don't knock it off, it's pretty small.....

Hatch work last night:

^ Handle on the loader's hatch, and top locking lever and pull-handle, apparently used to close the hatch from full-open position, all using bits of scrap plastic and brass wire. Also added were the small arms holders for the turret crew when they're up top, kit parts with holes bored through.

And while I was there, I blanked off the hole in the gunner's sight, blacked it out and added the sight cover. Hinges are short lengths of plastic rod stock.

Thanks for looking, as always!

The kit tow cables (both Tamiya and Academy) were pretty lousy, and I couldn't get either of them to drape correctly, so I decided to whip up some "liberated" Soviet cables, from one of the many T-55s or T-62s captured by the Israelis in '73.  That's my story anyway. Looking in the Tamiya T-55 in the stash and a Trump KV-1 right next to it made me realize the tow cable ends were pretty much the same, and the Trump parts were already set up to accept a cable, no filling or drilling required. I've also started robbing parts from a Legends Merk3C conversion that has too many damaged and poorly cast parts to be used intact, replacing Tamiya bits if and when the Legends parts are actually better. At this point, I've probably only got a few more bits here and there before it's ready for primer.

Pics so far:

A few more bits last night:

^ Hanger brackets for the side skirts, spare track links, fire bottles and something else on the infantry phone bracket, some subtle foundry marks on the turret, doo-da, doo-da......

That's coming along really nicely.

I am far from an expert on modern armour, so don't take my word for it, but I can't see anything missing. Well, except for the side skirts which I am guessing will be added after the tracks.

Thanks, Bish.

No skirts planned for the old gal, I want to show off the suspension, although I've see quite a few pics of tanks with just the rear one or two pieces on when the front fenders are off...    must be a result of urban conditions.

Very nice!

Thanks!

A few more bits and pieces, mainly details that are left out of the kit or super-simplified, but as long as I can do them without having to buy AM parts or pieces, I'm trying to do what enhancements I can, mainly on stuff that has obvious deficiencies.

Commander's MG and mount, with an obvious pin mark that I missed last night:

Gun tube lock:

And I popped the stretcher off again after it was pointed out to me that the real thing has four handles, which makes a whole lot of sense, and did all four from brass tube and masking tape.

Gotta be getting close to "Prime-Time"....

Well, gee whiz, lots done lately. I picked up Tasca's M2 set, confirmed that there was at least one Merk with a mantlet-mounted MG in Op. Peace for Galilee, so that was simple enough....

Then, in a real effort to avoid a remission of my AMS, I went ahead and shot some primer, using my personal favorite, Krylon automotive gray, from the can.

After priming, the suspension springs and all the intake/exhaust screens and vents got a heavy wash with black acrylic, and since I woke up way too early this morning, a first coat of color, Tamiya TS-46 Light Sand from the can. I need to make a trip to the local Hobby Town for more paint and a few other goodies, but it's in color....

I'm happy so far with the different textures on the hull front and turret, but will probably bring them up a little more with washes.

Hello!

It's a pleasure to look at - your model looks great under that coat of paint! Keep up the beautiful work, good luck with your project and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you, Pawel.

Well, long time no post.

Been busy with other stuff, but got into the model room last night, I feel better now, thank you.

Knowing that my base coat was well-cured ;)  I laid down a wash on the hull and running gear parts using gray and black acrylic, thinned with alcohol, black on the suspension units, road wheels, hull grates and engine exhausts,  and gray on the hull top and sides. I want LOTS of contrast here, since this is a one-color scheme that will get plenty of dust later that is almost the same color as the base coat. I've also get all the road wheel and return roller tires painted in as Floquil grimy black enamel as are the rear mud flaps. First pic is the washed hull and the unwashed turret together, to show the difference:

I felt the Tamiya TS-46 was too "sandy", and wanted to better represent what I think is IDF sand gray, circa 1982, so I chose a gray filter/wash. I like it so far.

^ Lots of contrast here, stark now, but I'm still happy....

^ Heavy black wash down on the suspension units, partly to emphasize the coil springs, partly to create shadow.

^ Again, shadow, and emphasis of the cast hull front.

^ Contrast, contrast, contrast.

Turret washed, gun tube striped and detail painting begun:

Howdy, RBaer!

I just got back from a trip, and I wonder why your thread gets so little comments? It looks fine with the weathering. Cooler still is the absence of the traces of the disaster - i mean the missing font quarter! Keep up the excellent work and have a nice day

Paweł

That's looking very nice, and you defiantly would not know how this looked at the start.

Thanks, guys.

Regarding the piece patched in, I was lucky in that I was able to do all the joins in either hidden areas or pre-existing seams like welds or panel breaks. No biggie though, it's all modeling.

        Hey!

    I'm really loving this progression of excellence.  

Why, thank you, sir!

I've done a little more early-morning detail painting, but will wait until I have some significant progress to post pics.

Some stowage, sleeping mats made from Aves 2 part putty, and some Verlinden ration boxes. I want to get all this painted before I cover it up with an air recognition panel.

I'm also looking for a color pic of the particular tank in the pic I'm working from to try and pick out the markings and the color of the mats, as some of these were pale blue, just like the ones sold at WalMart, used to put under a sleeping bag. I may go ahead and paint them blue anyway....

An absolute home run on this beauty, man! Seriously, this is like Modeling 101, sign up now. This turned out fantastically!

Why, thank you doog!

Speaking of things to be learned while modeling, here's a good one: when you're tired and start thinking about taking a break, DO IT!

I was getting ready to place two small decals on the rear equipment doors Friday night late, and got everything set up to slide the decals on to the model, grabbed the MicroSol and put two wee drops where the decals needed to be, grabbed a decal, turned to the model and saw I had two big blobs of dissolved paint where I had put the .......    

Plastruct liquid glue!

So.....     I put everything away and let it all dry for a day, sanded the spots and had to re-spray. Tense but OK, except now I'll need to source some more decals, which is interesting anyway, since it turns out I don't have or can't find the decal sheet that had the markings I need for this particular tank. Rats, cuz it's time for dust and I need to get the relatively few markings this tank carries on before I dust it up, and it needs to be ready by the 15th of next month. Hmmm.....    I may end up hand-painting. Anyway, here;s a pic of the affected area after the cleanup and re-spray:

And after the wash to blend it all back in:

And the only pic I took of all the work I did Friday night:

I have the turret stowage painted up, ready for the air recog. panel, forgot to take pics....

Turret and tarp pics:

Waiting on decals now, need to see how much gloss I'll need to apply, then after decals dirt and done.

Looking great. All those details.

Thanks!  It's almost funny, now that I've got paint on it, there are a few things I missed......  but gotta save something for the next one, right?

So my decals showed up yesterday, yay!  After taking a look at the placement guide Echelon sends along, I decided the whole model would need a gloss coat, good thing the ModelMaster gloss dries fast.....   then it was decal time. I quickly found out that Echelon's decals are on the thin-side, but lay down really well. They also included a Yanush stripe, which I was able to get on without too much damage. Even it laid down with only one application of MicroSol.  Everything then got another light coat of clear gloss this morning, and now I can start the final dusting. Yippee!

Pics with decals, glossed up and shiny:

Model on, Garth!

Pigments!

My mixture:

I wanted to get my base color looking more like the 1982-vintage IDF sand-gray and work in some road and urban dust, so it's a mix of brown, gray and a funky muddy green.

I still have some detail work, light lights, attaching the air recog panel to the bustle rack, antennae, securing the one end of the tow cable, and possibly crew. The figs I wanted to use are not exactly appropriate, so I'm looking. I really don't want to use the Academy figs I have again, my display case is starting to look like an IDF cloning lab....