Merkava Mk. IIID

This is a model of what is just about the latest Merkava III variant. It has the add-on side armor, belly armor, the 'Baz' and 'Yoni' systems, and the steel road wheels. The donor kit is the Academy Merkava III but about all that's used is the lower hull and suspension. The main conversion kit is from AEF Designs and is an extremely well done set. Added to that are the AEF belly armor and steel roadwheels. In addition, I used the Blast Models MG and detail set, Eduard photoetch, Friul tracks and a little scratch building around the turret basket.

I first built this kit about 3 years ago. In looking at on my shelf I decided I wasn't happy with the results, particularily the balls & chains and the finish. So I rebuilt it.

I made the balls and chains using a technique recommended here on TL. The balls are small necklace beads that can be bought at an art supply store. They're attached to the chains using a tiny loop of speaker wire. The chains are also attached to the mounting strip using speaker wire. It's a mind numbingly slow process and I did about 2/night while working on other projects. It took a solid month of this before I had all the balls and chains I needed.

Painting was done with Model Master enamels using the panel fading method and the 'dusting' was done using highly thinned Tamiya Buff.

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