Merkava Diorama – Part 3

Hi everyone,

Just came back from my break, and believe it or not, I feel even more tired than before - especially with this heat wave we're living through.

Despite the sweltering heat and the unbearable humidity, I have managed to overcome my lethargy and sit down and paint. I had left the Merkava tank off at the highlights.  It was now time to continue with adding some interest to the model.

So the next step was to add the washes and filters followed by the panel lining.  I will quickly explain the difference between a wash and a filter for those of you that do not know.  Basically a filter and a wash are the same thing, except for the concentration of pigment.  A filter usually contains 5% to 10% pigment and a wash has 15% to 25% pigment.  These values may differ according to brand or user.

I use filters and washes to add chromatic diversity and richness to a more or less monotone and boring colour scheme. This is done by adding the washes and filters to different panels on the tank, thus altering the colour slightly.

When the washes have dried properly, I use a dark brown enamel wash to panel-line the tank. Capillary action does most of the work for you, but if some of the paint slips, then just use a cotton swab with some enamel spirits to clean it up.
The next step is to add the decals.  I wont go into detail on this, as there are thousands of tutorials on the subject, but I strong recommend using decal setting fluid.


All the decals went on without a problem, but the decals of the turret were a bit tricky and required a heavy dose of patience. When the decals have dried, give them a coat of gloss varnish followed by a coat of matt varnish to blend them in.

After the decals where ready, I continued to add more chromatic diversity by oil-paint staining.  In this technique, one basically adds dots of oil paint over areas of the model then gently wipes it away with mineral spirits until a see-through patina is left.  I recommend leaving the oil paint on some cardboard in order to absorb the oil.  I used mostly white, burnt and natural sienna and burnt sienna.


The last step was portraying the wear and tear and the adding of pigments. This is by far the most entertaining part, but also the step that can make or break the model.  I admit my enthusiasm brought me close to ruining the model.  For now I only worked on the hull of the tank.

After adding the scatches, using a very light shade and hull red, I applied first some pigments on the tracks.  To add volume to this, I mixed the pigments with some plaster of paris.

I then went ahead and added different pigments to different areas of the body, in order to maximize on the chromatic diversity pigments offer. A unique aspect of the Merkava is the engine grills and exhausts on the sides.  I used black pigment to stimulate the effect of exhaust. I over did it a bit on the side panels, but I will fix this latter on with the use of some water and mineral spirits.



A new technique that I tried out today was that of oil and engine spills. I used a product from the Mig series called Engine and Oil Stains. I used the paint in 3 stages.  In the first stage, I thinned the paint down by adding a large amount of thinner and laid down a foundation.  I subsequently added another layer with less thinner and the final layer straight out of the bottle. The effect are very pleasurable and help to diversify the monotone colour scheme of the Merkava.
One again, that is all for today.  Until next time farewell and good health.






    NR