Question: IDF Merkava true color

Small Shop EU has a product which will create a good non-skid surface replication -- check their web site.

Cookie Sewell

A dirty airbrush works for me- I can get the effect even when I don't want to.

An anecdote, relayed years ago by a fellow club member, who traveled to Israel, and spoke to "people who would know": the rather darkish gray-green was intended to be the same color as the bark on olive trees. Most of the photos do *look* lighter...but they also appear rather dusty as well.

While subtle textures are important in 1/35th, any texture you apply in 1/72 that is significant enough to see will almost certainly be too coarse for the tiny scale. I wouldn't even attempt it. IDF Sand Gray is not sand or gray, it's a dingy gray-green color introduced shortly before the 1973 war, and it has gotten progressively darker in recent decades. Testors Model Master offers it, and one IDF vet I've spoken with claims that mixing US Armor Sand and Olive Drab 50/50 will also produce a good representation. Of course, on operations, the tanks quickly acquire a coat of light-colored dust, so the exact shade will be academic. Gerald Owens

Talcum powder or maybe very fine model railroad sand or fine sand made for these airbrush sized mini sandblasters sprinkled on wet paint & maybe painted over again if needed?

I here the Israelis let women drive their tanks !!!

Cheers,

Nigel

in article snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, frank may at snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote on 9/14/04 1:16 PM:

I also thought about fine sugar or salt. what do you think?

Steve

How about.... *before* painting, apply some very thinned down filler putty (Squadron/Testor/Bondo; thinned with Testor's Liquid Cement). Before it hardens, stipple it with a coarse brush, such as an old toothbrush. Then, paint as normal, doing any extra highlighting/shading/weathering/dirtying, of the "non-slip" areas as needed.