He's gonna look much better in matt..he's pretty glossy right now in those pics but that just might be the flash .
He's still looking pretty damn good matey 👍 😀

Nope, no flash, he is quite glossy, at the moment.

You need a gloss coat for the decals to adhere to & a gloss coat for the oil wash, so you can have it darken the creases but be able to wipe it off the higher areas without discolouring the camouflage pattern.

Same as my lighting right now..very very glossy ..tomorrow I'm gonna be attacking it with oils and once I've decided on which colour I'm going to use it then be semi glossed ..then it's done 

TC is ready for final matt coat, however he has to wait for three machine guns & a bunch of balls-&-chains to get to that stage before he is done.

Then he, the machine guns & the balls-&-chains will be installed in/on the turret & that will be that part of the build completed.

Nice   

Quote from: Old Wombat on August 11, 2023, 10:42:21 AM& a bunch of balls-&-chains

When all else fails resort to close combat ? 

Quote from: NARSES2 on August 12, 2023, 05:46:35 AM

Quote from: Old Wombat on August 11, 2023, 10:42:21 AM& a bunch of balls-&-chains

When all else fails resort to close combat ? 

Statistical armor to help defeat ATGMs.

Well, the balls-&-chains are a no-go, despite being "3D printed for all kits 1/35 scale", they don't actually fit this kit 1/35 scale!  

Far too late to do tonight but all machine guns & the TC will be matt coated tomorrow & the turret finished.

I remember a couple of Merkavas I've built in the past and I think even the one in the stash as metal balls and chains and even their to long to fit .ya gotta cut them all to fit.

They're actually very well done 3D resin prints but, to have them work on this kit, I should have had them at the start & removed bits from the styrene kit to fit these into (& trimmed some bits to length) as I was building.

Still, live & learn (I seem to be saying that quite a lot, lately).


PS: Being 3D printed they're not overly flexible, so where they hit the hull they're either going to force a certain display form (ie: turret straight ahead) or they're going to break (quite a lot of photo's show Merkavas with broken ball-&-chain units IRL).

I'll admit that if I was going nuts on a Merkava is be using real chain and just glue the balls to the chain..time consuming as hell but if I wanted to make myself more demented that's what I'd do 

Glues are drying on the turret!

However, I forgot that I'd still have to paint the antenna farm at the back of the turret once I'd fitted the wire for the antennae.

But, still, nearly there!

Quote from: scooter on August 12, 2023, 06:26:56 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on August 12, 2023, 05:46:35 AM

Quote from: Old Wombat on August 11, 2023, 10:42:21 AM& a bunch of balls-&-chains

When all else fails resort to close combat ? 

Statistical armor to help defeat ATGMs.

How about that, I learnt a new word.  Deflagrate.

IMO bar armour has the specific purpose of making a model harder to pick up without bending or breaking something.

Quote from: scooter on August 12, 2023, 06:26:56 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on August 12, 2023, 05:46:35 AM

Quote from: Old Wombat on August 11, 2023, 10:42:21 AM& a bunch of balls-&-chains

When all else fails resort to close combat ? 

Statistical armor to help defeat ATGMs.

"Lies, damned lies and the thing I spent most of my working life playing with" 

Fascinating piece

I'm impressed with how ineffective it is, given the costs in vehicle weight & maintenance man-hours!