Doog, thx!

G, it is pretty ugly......

So, girls' night last night whoopee!

Pigments added over a quick shot of clear flat:

Then all the periscope "holes" were filled with Krystal Kleer (basically a PVA glue used to make windows), headlights and tail lights painted and more "Kleer" added, tracks were dirtied up and contact areas polished,then installed.

Freakin' ANIMAL!!!

That looks monstrous, Russ. Can't wait to see it ready to rule...!

Bad weather means....

Weathering!

Decals are done, some chipping with Humbrol buff was done, then I dry-brushed (yep, dry-brushed) with a light gray to bring out all the bolt heads and panel edges. Pastels will finish up the dirt, then I'll add some stains. It's also time to dig up a suitable MG for the loader and do some tow cables.

Da pics:

More later....

Thanks, Karl.

I'm hoping to get some time in on this over the weekend, won't take a whole lot to wrap it up.

Looking really cool, Russ! It looks "legit"! I'm sure it's going to finsih up in a big way!

T'anks, gents.

I've started separating out the individual numbers I'll need to do the skirts, each gets last three digits of the tank's registration number, oy veh that's a lot of little bitty decals. I'm starting to feel some sympathy for the guys that do all the stenciling on modern aircraft.

Lookin' real good Russ.

You've made it all look like its supposed to go together perfectly. That's awesome!!

Hurrah! Great to see another update.

Well, the flu sux.

But, I have managed to get a gloss coat on, and start the decals......

Numbers are all from an Echelon IDF "digital" sheet, gun tube stripe and other miscellaneous markings are coming from what's left of the Echelon sheet I bought for the Merk1 recently completed. Lots of decals to add yet, but I'm still tanked when I get off work, so not much happening now.

G, thanks!

Karl, I've thought about both, especially on the black-painted areas of the rear fenders, but the jury's still out.

Take a look at the anti-slip on Merkavas, some of it looks like pea gravel....

Really neat stuff, Russ!

The only thing I would suggest is to take some sandpaper to that front glacis and sand down whatever medium you used for that texturing. It looks a bit distracting--too large for scale by far. Maybe the rear fenders too...you can always just hit it with a spot-airbrushing or however you applied the paint. I think it would improve the look of the model a lot.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, nice!!

And gloss:

Decals next, after vacation.

And some silver on the track-contact areas of the road wheels, idlers and sprockets:

Gloss in hand, but I've started a fire-pit in the back yard, where a 50 year old ash tree used to be, so that's my daylight project for a while...

doog, G, thanks!

I was really impressed with how good the concept worked when I saw the pic that inspired this build, sure wish I could find it....

Also, the side skirts are going to really change it up, should make the hull look much more like a Magach 6B Gal or 7C.

Very cool! Everything does 'fit together' like it should be a real vehicle.

Brutal, just brutal-looking!

I'm digging its' groove!

I decided to go with the gray, but as if it was a hasty overspray of the normal IDF sand-gray, so I took some Humbrol buff and a couple of old brushes, and worked the Humbrol into the nooks and crannies that might have remained unpainted or poorly covered during a re-spray. I then used a thin black acrylic wash on everything, and pin-washed bolt heads and such.

Tracks are temporarily fitted, next is a gloss coat, then decals and detail painting, and I'll finish with dust. Pics so far:

Hmmm, paint!

Friuls are mostly assembled, am I'm almost settled on using the primer as the actual base color, rather than IDF sand-gray, for a number of reasons, primarily since this is supposed to be a theoretical LIC-type AFV, it would be in a different color than other IDF tanks, and secondly because I kind of like it. I think normal urban dust and Middle Eastern dirt would really work, and I have to admit, I'm tired of people telling me my IDF sand-gray is "too sand" or "too green" or "too whatever". If it's gray, it's gray.

Thanks Mike.

I have pics of the thing ready for paint, and one of the primed turret, but P-bucket is broken today, gotta wait till after work. Hope they'll have it working by then.....

It's amazingly awesome is what it is. I've never seen anything like it, but I want one. lol

Thanks, Karl.

It's starting to look like a "Johnny Cash car".......

Wow, that's toally wild, Russ! It's cool with all the different colored plastic on it too! I'm really dying to see what it looks like when the paint brings itall together!

Turret's about done, less the ball and chain RPG screen.

Hatches are both workable, haven't decided on figs yet.

Also added were some Blazer packs on both sides and next to the driver's hatch.

I'm starting to run out of things to do, or at least things that I KNOW I need to do....

ET Models droid built up and installed:

And mantlet and gun recoil shield in final form and installed:

More small stuff to do here, but I think my larger, technical hurdles are behind me, unless I decide the mount for the RWS needs to be modified to lower the weapon somewhat.

Thanks, Karl.  I'm a little concerned about how high the RWS actually is. I may have to build up a cable-cutter for the turret roof, for stuff like power lines.  I actually have a couple, came in the extras that AFV Club packs in the RWS kit, from one of their Stryker kits.

Looking wild, Russ! Cool stuff!

Goodies:

I'm having to modify the mantlet here, goal being to make something like the Merkava2B, to accept the 120mm gun tube.

Because of all the stuff already on the turret roof, I'm placing the RWS mount high on the new cupola, which means bracing will be added at the "front" of the mount, down to the turret roof. Rolled-up sandpaper is holding the whole mess on now, can't attach all this until I'm almost done with painting.