{"id":4661,"date":"2018-02-09T16:09:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T00:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ricklawler-propaganda.com\/propaganda\/?page_id=4661"},"modified":"2020-06-06T10:50:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T17:50:06","slug":"chariots-of-firepower","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ricklawler-propaganda.com\/propaganda\/modeling-projects\/chariots-of-firepower\/","title":{"rendered":"Chariots of Firepower"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Merkava or \u201dChariot\u201d is Israel\u2019s first domestically designed and produced main battle tank. It was developed in the late 1970\u2019s after Israel was unable to procure the British Chieftain. Incorporating the lessons learned by the IDF during their past wars.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Merkava was first used in combat during the 1982 Lebanon War, where Israel deployed 180 units.  <\/span>The wartime experience brought to light some vehicle shortcomings. These shortcomings were noted and adjustments were designed into the MkII production models. The Mk.I tanks were retrofitted with some of the new Mk.II features – such as the installation of chain netting to the rear of the turret in order to eliminate a shot trap.  <\/span>The results became known as the Mk.I Hybrid, which is the subject of this article.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There has, and continues to be a lot of discussion as to the colors of the IDF forces. Vehicles can be seen in colors ranging from light sand\/grey to dark grey\/green colors.  <\/span>Much of the variance can be explained by the period of service, with paint schemes changing over time.  <\/span>Of course, use and environmental factors such as sun faded paint and dusty surfaces also play a role in the debate.  <\/span>Speaking of dusty surfaces, IDF vehicles are certainly at the top of the list as far weathering opportunities with forces operating in all types of environments, from urban centers, muddy fields, snow-capped mountains or rock-strewn deserts there is no lack of inspiration. <\/span>This vehicle is painted in the brown\/grey tones of IDF Sand Grey \u201973.  <\/span>While an attractive color, I find working with light, or sand colored vehicles to be particularly challenging.  <\/span>As I view it there are basically two challenges; the first being how to make a mono-tone scheme look interesting, the second being how to successfully showcase light colored sand and dusty weathering over a lighter colored base color.  <\/span>Let\u2019s get started!<\/span><\/p>\n

What a mean looking machine!  <\/span>The Merkava kit was built nearly straight from the box, with only a few slight modifications – namely being the use of thin cardstock to replace some of the rubber fender parts and little additional cast texture on the turret by dabbing Mr. Surfacer \"\"<\/a>500.  <\/span>Painting begins with an overall spray of One Shot grey primer.  <\/span>Not only does the primer create a unifying surface for the paint to adhere to, but being that this is a sandable primer the One Shot is particularly nice to work with when fixing small surface blemishes or imperfections.<\/span><\/p>\n

The overall base color for this Merkava is provided using A.MIG-132, Real IDF Sand Grey \u201973.  <\/span>As is my usual style the initial paint coverage is non-uniformed, appearing botchy, or cloudy, in appearance with areas of the grey primer still showing.  <\/span>This I do intentionally as a basis of providing visual interest to the mono-toned paint finish. At this stage, the coverage is still too incomplete and just doesn\u2019t look right.  <\/span>Additional light sprays of the base color will soften these harsh contrasts while still leaving interesting, subtle color variations.  <\/span>Borrowing a bit of the pre-shading technique from the airplane folks, I continue by adding just a touch of A.MIG-046 Matt Black to the IDF Sand Grey color.  <\/span>This HIGHLY THINNED mixture is sprayed along panel lines and surface features in order to provide a little more definition (and interest) to the light Sand finish.  <\/span>The same Matt Black color is also applied by brush to the rubber portions of the road wheels and fenders. <\/span>The base color continues to be enriched by applying additional light layers of the sand color, with each layer having been given a slightly different tint.   <\/span>As before, I continue the same idea of non-complete coverage and cloud patterns.  <\/span>As you can see here the process has resulted in an interesting and complex \u201cmono-tone\u201d scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n