Academy MerkIV WIP

Lee, thanks.

Hugo, I agree, and add in the factor of modern paint, which is tough stuff. It leaves weathering as the main element in tonal variations.

I'm happy with the color also. I think it's extremely close to what I can see in some very good color pics, and it's Krylon.

Merkavas work well in urban dios, plenty of pics to go by. Have fun!

Very nice...it's very difficult to get color tone variations on modern vehicles and monotone, since they do not rust, get that damaged and un-mantained for long periods of time versus WWII armor.

I also have a Merkava on my stash...next build in the line...and want it to put it on a city dio...will see.

I like the color you used.

Well done.

Thank you, Pawel. That's my plan, because you never know, I may get motivated one day and give some proper ball and chain another try.

RBaer - I say that tank looks good, although I can see that about the ball and chain. It's probably best to give it some time, take a fresh look some day. Good luck with your projects and have a nice day

Paweł

I decided to put this thing together and see what I thought, so here it is:

I've done what will probably be the final dusting, next would be fuel stains, polishing up wear areas, adding the loader's MG and the front parts of the mud flaps, but I'm going to leave it alone for a while. I'm just not happy with the Academy ball and chain, and until I either get over it or decide to try something else, it stays in the case, as is. I've also decided to play with the T-34 in my previous post, just for fun.

Tried that too......  nyet.

So I might have a little time tomorrow, and I'm going to do two things: One, pop the turret onto the hull and see if the dang ugly balls are bunched up on the hull like I just saw on another build of the exact same model, and if so stuff this model back into the box and forget about it for a while; and two, take another look at the Friul tracks and sprocket and determine if the over-size Friul sprocket teeth can be re-shaped so as to fit the Friul tracks. If not, into the box it goes.

Should all things work out, or at the very minimum the balls not dragging all over the rear deck and wrinkling up the PE "chains", I may just leave the SpadeAce tracks on and wrap this thing up. The problem with that is that I'm just not in a happy place with this thing, and I drug something out from underneath a pile of spare parts the other night that I might play with:

Hmm,  I need something easy.

Maybe the Friul sprockets work with the SpadeAce tracks?

***!

Argh, tracks. SpadeAce tracks are cast off-kilter, something I just now noticed, making fit on the sprocket difficult. In a huff, I pulled some Friuls being held for another build and quickly put ten together to check on the Academy Sprocket. No go, pitch is different. So I pulled the sprockets Friul supplies with the tracks, and shoot me, they don't fit the Friuls either.

Rather that stick the whole thing in a box and bury it in the stash, I went ahead and installed the tracks, just for grins:

Now if I can get over my disgust with the nasty looking Academy B&C on the turret, I may just wrap this thing up. If I think too hard about it, it's gonna get hidden and forgotten about, and not in a good way.

G, are you asking what brake cleaner is made of? Id so, I have no earthly idea, but it also makes a great upholstery cleaner, learned that as a dealership tech at Acura and Lexus.....

Same with Sharpies in my experience, they're funky. Tamiya's ink pens work better, but I still just hand-paint. After a dark detail/pin wash, nobody knows the difference, and I have an infinite range of colors available. Sometimes I'll sue an almost pure black for a "new" tire, and faded blacks or even burnt umbers for "old" tires, mixing them up on in-service vehicles, especially IDF.

GMorrison

Looking good. Motivation to finish my M4.

I really suggest against Sharpies. If it's worked for you, fine. But they turn out to be really dark blue, not really black and it can show up under the right light. Also I found out the hard way that Dullcote dissolves the ink, and it bleeds all over the place.

Speaking of Rustoleum, I like the stuff too and use it on the bottoms of my ships. But recently I bought a can of their classic red primer, and after using maybe a quarter of it, it just stopped working. It's not the tip, that is nice and clean. Something in the can to do with the valve, just froze. I've tried about everything, including yes poking a skewer down the tube, to no effect.

$ 8.99 pain in the hiney.

So I went online and since I believe everything I read on the internet, this does seem to be a problem.

Shootski!

With the Rustoleum, have you tried writing to the company? And how about decanting it? I usually use decanted Krylon gray primers. That could help you at least avoid the freezing-up issue?

What is it made of?

Krylon! Never fails, always sprays fine....

G, I've had to dribble a little brake cleaner in the valve of some cans, nozzle off, and it usually works.

Looking good. Motivation to finish my M4.

I really suggest against Sharpies. If it's worked for you, fine. But they turn out to be really dark blue, not really black and it can show up under the right light. Also I found out the hard way that Dullcote dissolves the ink, and it bleeds all over the place.

Speaking of Rustoleum, I like the stuff too and use it on the bottoms of my ships. But recently I bought a can of their classic red primer, and after using maybe a quarter of it, it just stopped working. It's not the tip, that is nice and clean. Something in the can to do with the valve, just froze. I've tried about everything, including yes poking a skewer down the tube, to no effect.

$ 8.99 pain in the hiney.

So I went online and since I believe everything I read on the internet, this does seem to be a problem.

Shootski!

Yeahhhhh, that's just coming along superbly!

I hope my turret comes out as good, eventually!

Awesome!

Ah, yep.

So I came back from Scalefest all jazzed up, and dove back into the man cave Sunday night while my sweetie was having a girls' night....

I decided to mark this for a tank on exercise, and some of the pics I have show them filthy, with old and new mud packed up in the suspension. I don't want do make it "muddy", but I do want to make it look like it has been through mud, so I'm building up some dried mud (good logic, huh?) around the suspension.

Above, the side skirt is not glued, there just for the pic. It has a brown wash, then a black pin wash, same as what I'm doing everywhere.

Tool bags are painted, other detail painting mostly done, washes on.

Tracks (above) are primed and washed, will get some more washes.

Dust next.

Krylon and Rustoleum are my friends as well. The "Bonds with Plastic" paints make for excellent cheap primers.  :)

Lee, I've used a Sharpie before, but the color is so "black", it took a lot of weathering to tone the color down.

Karl, AEF Designs did a set years ago that were for the Merk2, and they were absolute trash. I've been mouthing off on other boards about the need for some generic B&C sets in DS-type soft styrene. Meng, and now Academy, are doing the pieces in regular styrene, easier to use for sure, but still not as authentic-looking as the actual metal chains and balls offered by several AM companies. Hmmm.......

Mike, thank you, and I like Krylon a lot. For the same amount of money, or even less than a can of Testors or Tamiya, you get two or three times the amount of paint, and I'm finding it goes on really well.

That color is excellent. Krylon has been making some really good colors lately.

This is going to be another one of your epic builds I see. :)

I must see more Karl.  :)

Russ, I scoured eBay for some simple resin set of those balls and was honestly surprised that no one had made a piece yet. I looked up how to do those balls--they don't look too hard, but just a major PITA. I won't get to it for a while, but I hope you're still around here when I do. :)

When I did my Panzer, I used a Sharpie. I will do the same on my Sherman.

Bish, I have thought of it, and I believe it's in my future.

Karl, I most eagerly look forward to your write-up on the Legends b &c assembly. Really.

A word: count the "balls" before you begin, I don't think they give you enough. I'm not sure because I always lose a few, and I've never finished a set.  And if you're not on some kind of anti-depressant now, you may need it. I would rather pull my own fingernails out, one by one. I'm so put off by this stuff I'm postponing a Merk2 hybrid build, and will most likely pass on Academy's Merk2D, something I would dearly love to build otherwise.

Hmmm..... maybe I'm the one that needs a "happy pill".

I am starting to question my sanity. I just picked this up on eBay AND picked up the Legends AM kit too. Looking forward to that chain screen........NOT!

Looking good, RUss. You're killing it...!

Have you thought about a circle template for the wheels. I tried one for the first time last month and loved it.

I hate painting tires......

I started on the decals, but may hold off on doing more since the kit decals are unaffected by both MicroSol and SolvaSet.  Hmmm.....    I've used other Academy decals before, no problems, but I did the Yanush stripe on the gun tube and almost gave up.

Thanks, Lee. The paint ought to be dry enough by tonight for decals, and I can finish and paint the tracks, time permitting.

I may put this one back up for a couple of weeks, there's a show coming up and I would really like to finish and bring my IDF M26....

This is cool, nice work.

Thanks, and yep, base coat. Decals soon.