IDF Group Build Mk. II 2010-2011

Well this paint experiment was quite interesting

I mentioned earlier about Revells instructions listing their own brand of paints for the Merkava III as 39 Dark Green 25% + 89 Beige 75%

Going through all my paint colour reference sheets , you can't alway's get a direct match from Revell to Tamiya or Gunze but by matching Revell to Humbrol and  Humbrol to Tamiya , I came up with Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green  25% + XF-49 Khaki 75% and did a test spray on both the Revell Merkava III (tan plastic) and the Esci Merkava II ( dark gray plastic)

Even with the different coloured plastic there doesn't seem to be any difference and here's a shot outside in the sun

The colour scheme is quite definitly a light olive green and with weather powders and wash's added I'm sure the colour would lighten some more

I'm not sure how this compare's to your build Mike , I could even add more XF-49 Khaki if I think I needed more of a brownish hue ???

John .

Just as well I held off sending an ebay email reminder the 1/72 Esci Merkava II just arrived at the front door

I now have all three versions , so I'll have to get stuck-in and finish the current on-going IDF armour builds and get a Merkava started .

John .

GRIN -- I think you can be right so long as your shade matches something in the real world, though information can never be specific enough to demonstrate conclusively that you're wrong... Which is a handy loophole!

M/TB379

Thunderbolt379

Fascinating, John! Thanks for these shots! Well, the Centurians at the bottom of the last page look pretty much like the colour on my Merk II, and it is a confounding shade, the eye fluctuates between green, tan and grey at will, as if the brain is feeding in different lighting conditions! I guess that makes it excellent camoflage!

The OT-62 is interesting, it sounds like an amphibious APC built on the running gear of a T-62 (though those wheel hubs look more like a PT-76...) Conversion possibilities!

M/TB379

So the lesson learned here is....

You can't be wrong with whatever shade you choose. Or you can never be right, I haven't quite decided yet!

Fascinating, John! Thanks for these shots! Well, the Centurians at the bottom of the last page look pretty much like the colour on my Merk II, and it is a confounding shade, the eye fluctuates between green, tan and grey at will, as if the brain is feeding in different lighting conditions! I guess that makes it excellent camoflage!

The OT-62 is interesting, it sounds like an amphibious APC built on the running gear of a T-62 (though those wheel hubs look more like a PT-76...) Conversion possibilities!

M/TB379

Happy to help Mike .

I must saytrying to match the IDF Colours on their Armour can be really frustrating especially given the number of reference books I have and a lot of the really good in-action photo's are in B&W ...Arghhhhh.

Anyway heres a pic from the IDF Armoured Corps Museum at Latrun of a merkava I

My eye's tell me there is definitly a green shade to the colour

Of late I've been looking at info on the IDF Centurion and I was gearing up to kit bash one of the six Airfix 1/76 Centurion kits in my stash to a Mk 3 or 5 version and here are three pic's from the same book as the Merkava

I still haven't figured out what shade I will go with ???

John .

John -- many thanks for this very informative text! So, it's not my eyes going funny after all, they really are an infinite variety of shades! Phew...! Well, given that some units adopted a green hue at times of the year when there was vegaetation around, I might let the colour stand. That explains why some folks do have that green tinge in their finish, and it's not just an assumption on the part of kit companies that tanks must be green!

Right, I feel confident to go on and complete the Merkava. Big thanks for getting this project un-stuck!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I forgot to add that the 1/72 Revell Merkava III in my stash , where the painting instructions list the two colours of ;

Revell 39 Dark Green 25% with Revell 89 Beige 75%

I'll have a go at mixing this combination and do a test spray and see how it looks

John

Hi Mike ;

One of my Israeli reference books ," Israeli Military Vehicles 1948-1998 by John Myszka , has an interesting couple of page's on the vehicle colour schemes ...

This little excerpt is quite interesting ...

There does appear to be variations in the color schemes depending on the time of the year and location .

I hope this helps a little .

John .

BTW , I won a 1/72 Esci Merkava II off ebay a couple of weeks ago , from a seller here in Australia . I'm a little concerned it hasn't arrived yet ; might be time for a ebay email kindly reminder .

Hi guys,

I'd appreciate your thoughts... remember the Merkava II I started for IDF 1? That model is still languishing and the main reason lately is the paint. I mixed the paint recommendation in the kit and it is nothing like the shades the IDF Modeler website recommends these days. The problem is, it's virtually finished, full wash and weather is done, running gear and skirts are mounted, detail painting is mostly complete -- and I have an issue with going back and redoing all that.

The shade as mixed has a green element, and I've recently seen a Merk finished in a Tamiya aerosol colour with a similar green cast. Was there ever an Israeli paint that had a green tint?

The model is at the stage of needing its external fittings, decals and dust to be done, and it would be great to have it finished, but will it stick out like a sore thumb on the shelf? Has anybody else been in this situation?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Still lurking this one as well!

Hi RBaer ,

My progress has been a little slow on the M51 , I have managed to get the bogie pieces and wheels airbrushed

These two IDF reference books arrived today

Each book contains over 390 pages of great info on the IDF Halftracks and Vol 1 starts with the history of those early sandwhich armoured trucks as well .

I did finish an IDF 1/72 M7 Priest for Thunderbolts (Mike's) "Have Gun Will Travel" GB ;

I kit-bashed the Italeri Fast assembly M7 Priest with the M4 Sherman bogies, wheels, tracks and engine.

I plan on doing another one in the not too distant future , along with a milicast resin M32 recovery tank kit-bashed with a Dragon M4A1 small hatch sherman . I would like to have the Sherman lifting the engine from the second M7 Priest build .

I've also started a 1/72 BM-24-12 Katyusha for Mike's Have Gun Will Travel build , so I'll post those WIP pic's here as well .

John .

Still here too -- always interested in IDF subjects. Frankly, since I seem to have lost the ability to spray metallics lately (can't figure out why yet...) I've been eyeing off some camouflaged Mustangs, one of which is IDF 1948. if we were to dive into an IDF III I'd cut the shrinkwrap on that one in a heartbeat, and match it with the Fitter...

Cheers, M/TB379

I'm still here.........quiet though.

Primer's on, hope to have pics up this week end.

Thank's for posting the pic of the interior support piece Shellback , even in the 1/72 scale it wasn;t all that clear as to the actual position , the pic will be of immense help .

Only a little progress on my Cpl Overby M51 , I got the bogie pieces glued together and I gave all the wheels and suspension pieces a few coats of Tamiya XF-20 , 57 and 59 for the Sand gray scheme ;

I might find some time to start on the M48 A5 105mm as well this weekend .

Back to the M51 , the resin sill along the side of the upper hull is extremely thin and quite brittle and a small section has already broken away , so I'll use Dragons seperate sill piece and the PE to replace the very front track guard section ;

John .

Do it! IDF fitters'  tracks are busy, make great models. And if you get back to the Merk I, I guess I'll have to dig out the Merk II I was doing in the same GB, still unfinished.

Thanks, guys -- food for thought here, maybe an open rear is a possiblity...

M/TB379

Helo H34 i found this picture of the interior ,

Inmy usual frantic haste to upload pic's I forgot to include these two of the small support piece that fits on the iside of the hull side . You can just make out a similar one in the link Shellback posted ;

Its the part marked with a red dot ;

John .

Lok at this link . This guy used the Academy kit and scrathed built the interior of the Fitter . Its Belgian but it should be the same shouldnt it ?

http://idfmodelling.free.fr/view.php?name=kit_veh_pictures/m113_10e

Ah-ha! So there is a support! Thanks, John! I get the feeling Academy supplied the interior of the ambulance version, IIRC there's a casualty treatment station to starboard, which seems not quite right for an engineers' vehicle. I must pull that kit and have aother look, if I can modify the interior for an open tailgate it would be great, but otherwise I'll close her up...

M/TB379

As it happens , the first of my three 1/72 IDF Armour  orders from Tracks n Troops arrived today ;

The M113 Fitter and Command vehicle are designed to use with Trumpeters M113 kits ;

Here's some close up pic's of the crane interior support piece ;

A scan of the instruction sheet ;

Another close up ;

Not sure if the pic's are of any help with the 1/35 version , perhaps they might help a little .

On another note , a couple of Korean War Armour builds have stalled , so I have re-started on the Cpl Overby resin M51 after drooling over the pic's Mike posted of his 1/35 build  ;

For some reason Dragon molded two wheels onto the bogie arms , which makes it a little awkward airbrush the hubs and then the wheel rims , oh well , I might hand brush the rims with some Gunze H-18 steel after airbrushing the bogies ;

The seperate two wheels dry fit nicely into position , I must say Dragon sure do make nice Armour kits .

Hopfully more pic's to follow on the 1/72 M51 .

John .

I never thought about the internal support for the crane .....................time to google and see what i can find .

Yes, that's right. It looks pretty good in the box, though I find myself wondering that the crane has no internal supporting structure, it is simply applied to the roof of the vehicle -- does anyone know if this is correct? It doesn't seem right that a crane that can lift an entire powerpack would not be rooted into the vehicle's chassis in some way.  So I ask myself, did Academy apply an external detail to a kit that comes with an interior which actually represents the APC or ambulance version? The answer is of course to leave the back ramp closed, then nobody is he wiser...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thunder , is that M113 recovery vehicle the Academy kit ? Seems i have one of those .................

Thanks, John! I do appreciate it! I've certainly learned from studying the fine builds by other modellers and if my results can serve to help others in turn, I couldn't be happier.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Awesome build Mike

The pic's you posted will be of a significant sorce of reference for my future IDF Sherman builds , particulary the painting and weathering .

I must agree on how great the HVSS and wheels look along with the tracks .

All in all , your IDF Sherman is something sure to be admired .

John .

Thanks Vance, Shellback and RBaer! I certainly had a ball building this one, there are only a few fiddly bits and generally it's a well-engineered kit. I had a lot of fun, and the research process was entertaining as always.

My next IDF armour should be the M113 recovery vehicle, and there's a P-51D in 1948 camo that's just begging to be done too. Oh, and finally finish the last details on that poor Merk II from IDF I...

M/TB379

Looks good! I like the finish, not overly beat-up or weathered. IDF paint is apparently very durable, so only shows wear in very heavily used areas like grab handles, tool box tops, etc. I think you nailed it.

I have done absolutely nothing in the past week, been on vacation, and now back on a long work week, so don't expect to get much done soon, but do enjoy seeing progress from you guys....

Mike , impressive looking !