Hello
Just finished the traks… of the Acadeny Merkava 2… 1/35
any advice…
Greetings
TDC
well the tracks look good, but I’m curious about the over weathering of you lower hull! It’s too over done to be honest. I have never seen a Merk like this except when it has been stripped of it’s armour for upgrade into a Merk II Batash. The dirt and stuff would not indicate that it is ready for upgrade at an ordinance base. Can you explain why you went to such an extreme with the weathering?
Hello
I like to weathering my models… from pic’s I found in books and the Internet… In the same way I found that Abrams the other day. This weathering was took from Merkavas I saw in different pages. Even from Merkavas that has suffer accidents. Of those I use 4 photos for my model…
And weathering tip’s found in FineScale magazine I have collect for some years…
Greetings
TDC
Thomas, I know for a fact that NO crew would be allowed to treat their machine like that… are you intending to make a burned out Merkava? Can you refer me to these pictures because, even tanks that have had accidents (very few in any conflict involving the Merkava) would not be rusted out like this. I guess I may be bustin on you a little too much, but I am a nit picker when it comes to this vehicle. I’m not trying to be rough, but refer me to your pics so that I too may see what you have done here… I have every book published on the Merkava, pics from every possible internet site. I think you have a rusted out Merkava confused with one undergoing upgrades, or one that has come back from the Golan Heights which has a red brown soil in the region which gets stuck to the anti slip coating on the tank. I can see how someone would be confused with it being rust, but it’s dirt! 
I’m sorry again that I"m harping on you, but man, it’s easy to say you have sources, let me see them! It’s YOUR model dude!
Hello
The Abrams that I send the other day… he was rusted… and in very bad condition…
Not at all. Rusted…??? But my Merkava is not rusted… just extreme weathering, and probarly you already saw these pic’s…
I look at the picture trying to find the best way to apply the weathering.
This I believe is the best. This Merkava has a good weathering… and is not in a better condition than the Abrams.
If you take some minutes, you will see a good weathering condition on all the tanks in this pic.
The same for this two unfortunated Merkavas…
Greetings
TDC
Hello Anthony 14
That’s a good one for weathering… kool…
Greetings
TDC
Hello CDNTanker 25
Another view of the traks and lower hull of the Academy Merkava 2 1/35 scale model. Just weathering… no rust… 
By the way… those chain in the back of the turret is giving me a hard time…
Greetings
TDC
At first I was going to suggest gluing the track to the rollers on top because it is floating a bit, an then I remembered that the Merkava has side skirts. Never mind.
With respect to the weathering there seems to be a combination of both redish and more yellowish dirt on the wheels, but the tracks seem to have only the yellowish dirt. I would expect that if both types are on the wheels, both types should also be on the tracks. Given the degree of dirtiness you are choosing to portray, maybe there should be some dirt caked into the nooks and crannies of the treads. After you get the entire tank put together, maybe so light dusting to knock down some of the contrasts and tie everything together.
About the preceding weathering debate, you’re going for a far dirtier look than I would do for a new vehicle. And it is also true that most Merkavas don’t get that dirty of stay that dirty for long. On the other hand, the same can be said of M1 Abrahms and I saw several in a documentary called Tank School that got as mud caked as the dirtiest Pather from WWII. Even if only occaisionally and modern well maintained tank will get filthy, and if that’s the look you like, go for it. As one of the A/C guys says, “Build what you like, like what you build.”
Andy
Thomas, it’s the way that the “dirt” is painted on there. Yep, it’s the reddish brown soil of the Golan Heights that you see in those pictures. May I suggest you do the dirt with weathering powders/pastels? To me it looks like you rusted the tank out, which is where I seem to have gotten confused, the reddish paint on the tank here looks like rust to me. Now I do have one idea that might help you thought, why not put the tank together, and paint it. You might have a huge problem putting the lower/upper hull together, which will require more work now that it’s finished! Just an idea… As for the ball and chains, are you using Legend Productions, or the white metal ones included in the kit?
Thats James photo, I just fixed the link…
Hello to all
Thanks for the pic and for the tip’s, must appreciated. Looking at Legend Production… for the chains. I tried to use the white metal that came with the model… but is a disaster.
I understand perfectly that any crew are going to maintain his vehicle spic-span… regulation. I just like to wheathering my models. So I look for that picture that show a second of the life of that vehicle, at any given time, in training or in combat… I tried to find the must exagerated, the most dirty, the most extreme!!!
Or just I can imagine it… but part of the fun is to look at the picture and then tried to replicate that instant… I do that with the Abrams and find pic’s of the model in training with all the equipment for that purpose. The wheathering was taken from another photo… Same with one of my favorite tank, the Merkava…
So next time, if I send a photo, probarly is going to be dirty…
Greetings
TDC
The Legend ball and chains are ALOT of work, but there are sooo many benefits to the work involved. First off is the detail, they are more realistic. Second is the workability of the chains. It’s super cool to see the chains sway in ways that they do on the real ones. It’s just a pain in the but to get the balls to stay on the chains! Well worth it though compared to the Academy provided ones. Thomas I have no doubt that you are enjoying this, and I guess that’s all that really matters!
Thomas,
I know how you feel and what you mean about doing some tanks heavily weathered. I liked the M1 that you did and I liked the picture of the one you posted.
I have an M1 that looks alot like the photo you posted. Not really by my choice, but here is why. I have had the model for at least 14 years. I never completed it and lost most of the parts. All I had ever put together were the wheels, partial tracks, partial hull, turret, again, partial, and the main gun. At some point in it’s life it was placed in storage and some plastic fishing worms melted to it’s hull and caused a couple of nasty wounds. This model started life molded green, was repainted gray ( I was considering an entire kitbash project to come up with something WWII German looking ) and then it was shot with 2 holes and then painted all rust to look like a burned out battle damaged tank. Are you still with me? OK, then I found a few more parts. I got lucky and hit a good sale at Hobby Lobby and got TWO new M1 kits. More spare parts, some minor kitbashing and I have an M1 that looks alot like the one you posted a photo of. Due to the melted worm damage, I purposely made this tank look battle damaged. I even used green for some of the roadwheels and did some scratches and rust. Yes, it looks like a pieced together hard charging veteran tank and I love it!
Someday, hopefully I’ll be able to post photo’s and I’ll throw some pics of this beautiful ugly M1 on here.
-60
Hello m60a3
Yes, looking forward to see your model…
Thanks very much
Greetings
TDC