Chariot of Fire- Meng Merkava IIID

[Deleted member 7237]

Thanks Pete!
There is no noticeable odour to the True Earth stuff, and it cleans readily enough using IPA thinners. You really need to shake/stir the bottle though, and I do think a second application to the model is a good idea too. It should work a treat on your Magach 7

Cheers for the feedback Alistair much appreciated.
Pete.

 

[Road of Bones]

My pleasure Pete

 

[adt70hk]

Alistair

Apologies for being so far behind on this. I've got to say it is looking very good already and so am looking forward to seeing it finished!

ATB

Andrew

 

[Steve Jones]

Anti slip has come out really well. You can also see some of that delicate PE you have had to deal with. Wonderful work all round Alistair

 

[Road of Bones]

Andrew, Steve- thanks chaps

Grabbed a couple of hours this week, so I gave the anti-slip another touch-up, and then fitted the retaining straps for the ammo cans from the Eduard PE set:

I also started with the crew, a pair of resin figures from Valkyrie. I have used them before on the D9R build, and they’re pretty good. These come with a choice of heads & helmets:

(Apologies for the poor focus) Finally for now, I fitted the gun travel lock, which I tweaked up by adding some bolt heads:

In truth, I’m just fiddling with it now, until I can get a chance to break out the windy-stick and paint the running gear so I can fit the tracks ahead of mounting the skirts. That might be tomorrow evening, depending on how the mojo takes me...
Thanks for looking chaps,
Alistair☠️

 

[scottie3158]

Bones
This is a great build looking forward to the paint.

 

[Road of Bones]

Thanks Scottie!

Readying the figures for priming- had to use a small amount of putty to fill gaps in the arm joints, and the helmet mics needed repair (I do wonder how long they’ll last though!). I’ll do these in oils again once primed:

Then I looked at the wheels, and realised I hadn’t distressed the tyres. Out with the Dremel, and I bounced the scouring bit around the edges of the tyres to take some chunks out of them. Here are a couple in progress:

Post dremel on the left, and scraped clean on the right. I’ve used this technique many times, and I usually carve an extra few nicks and chunks using a scalpel while I’m cleaning them up. Next stage will be to mount all these on sticks for priming. I have a bachelor Sunday this weekend (huzzah!) as SWMBO is otherwise occupied. Looks like the ideal time for wielding the hissy stick!
Thanks for looking chaps,
Alistair☠️

 

[SimonT]

All looking good Al

I have Mk1, 2, three versions of Mk3 and a 4 and this is making me want to start them all - must resist, must resist, too many things on the go already

 

[MikeC]

Alistair,
Very well done on the build so far, fantastic. Although I was getting a bit worried about the non slip, but you have covered that, no pun intended. As Simon T states, it makes you want to get one out the stash and follow you.
Mike.

 

[Jakko]

Those microphones are really easy to break. I’ve not handled any of these figures, but I have used some Hornet heads with American CVC helmets that have much the same, and you really have to be careful not to touch them at all, pretty much.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
All continues to be looking really good. I like the figure but why are the shoulder joins so often poor. Even on an otherwise well fitting figure at least one shoulder will need fettling.
Jim

 

[BigGreg]

every new installment it's always a pleasure and great fun to watch... LUV IT

 

[Road of Bones]

Mike, Simon- go on then! Show us yer Merks
Jakko- I have managed to keep them intact in the past, but these seem especially flimsy.
Jim - too true, sadly. Probably a consequence of having to break them down to make castings, I expect.
Greg- my biggest fan! Thanks sir!

Well, best-laid plans of mice & men aft gan aglay, and all that. I mentioned to SWMBO that it was a pity that she was going to miss yesterday’s bright weather by going to work, whereupon she declared that she could do what she needed to on her day off on Wednesday instead. Off to the retail park we went for cat supplies and cushions and all those other bits & bobs that seem so utterly inconsequential to us men (but not cats, obviously). Still, I got to have a walk round the woods and a pub lunch, so fresh air and Moonshine Ale was a bit of a bonus. No airbrushing though

I did a little bit though- made a couple of fire extinguishers for the turret brackets out of rod and spare PE:


I did get all the wheels and MGs mounted up on sticks ready for priming too:

With any luck, I’ll get a chance to fire up the windy stick at some point this week.
Thanks for looking chaps,
Alistair☠️

 

[BigGreg]

ahhh wonderful...the wheels are nicely aged... and the details are everywhere...and this is something i really enjoy...MOORE MOOORE...

 

[scottie3158]

Bones,
The great work continues the aged wheels look good.

 

[Steven000]

Looking good Alistair! Happy primering ,
Steven

 

[monica]

loooking real good do like the added detailing makes so much of a difference ,nice work

 

[Road of Bones]

Greg, Scottie, Stephen- thanks gents
monica- hi there! Thanks for lending your support! Glad you like it

Ok then, a bit more fiddling...

I was perusing my refs, and realised I’d detailed the barrel clamps incorrectly . I carefully modified them to the correct configuration:


(Basically, I had the short lengths of plastic rod on the wrong side of the clamp, when they needed to be wrapped in one end of the clamp, the short wire represents the screw thread that allows the crew to tighten the clamp manually).
Thanks for looking chaps (& chapette! )
Alistair☠️

 

[BigGreg]

... level of details is great... keep on doing hat you do....

 

[scottie3158]

Beautiful work.