Wednesday 27 July 2016

Merkava - A little side project

I was aching for a little diversion, so I decided to start building the 1/72 Merkava (Mark I) from ESCI (#8323). I picked the kit up for just €5 from a second-hand table at the latest convention.


I can't really find any flaws in the engineering of the kit. Details conform to my expectations of a 1/72 scale kit from 1988. The tracks are link-n-length, which fit superbly if it weren't for my clumsiness in their assembly. (Mental note : next time, start with the individual pieces and fit in the larger parts, instead of the other way around)



Profiting from the work on it's larger scale brother on the workbench, I didn't need to do any research for the anti-slip. I still have more than enough sand (50 micron aluminum-oxide), which is pretty much scale-accurate (since I used the 110 micron sand in 1/35 scale)

 


Friday 22 July 2016

Merkava - last details

One last detail I forgot : the 2 big tow-cables that wrap around the turret. The instructions have you connect them with a simple wire, but that looks plain ugly and the real vehicle uses chains to keep them up. So I started looking for alternatives.

I ended up going to a store that sells jewelry-supplies (like thread, pearls, trinkets and .. chain!) The smallest silver chain they had looked close enough in scale.







Tuesday 19 July 2016

Merkava - Construction finished

Construction on the Merkava is finally finished! The base coat is on as well and the anti-slip has turned out really good.
Now comes the dreaded part of weathering and making it look less ... bland.