Hi everyone!
Some time ago my friend asked me to paint and
weather the kit he built. It was not a problem for me, what is more, I was interested in the subject he prepared. Shot Kal
was the first kit in Israel Defense Forces colours I painted. I like the result
and I would
like to share
it with
you. I hope you will spend a few minutes watching the effects of my work.
To create
all digits and symbols I used elements from Bison decals set (35056) and I
looked at the instruction from another set (35053). It was very helpful and
brought more details to the general view. I used very good liquids from Microscale
– Set and Sol solutions to soften decals and improve adhesion. The decals were
really good and probably it was not necessary to use both fluids but in my
opinion it is always better to use them than leave the decals alone. When all
stickers were dry I covered them with another layer of varnish. 
During the painting process I was thinking about
the realism of this miniature. The first and the best idea I came up was to
bring a lot of additional crew equipment and stuff. I wanted to create the most realistic picture of the
vehicle used by ordinary people who have their own needs and requirements, even if there are elements of the great war machine. The most of the
elements are placed on the turret basket because it was a natural place for the storage of any items. In my opinion the most attractive is the “homemade”
basketball board. Of course I prepared the ball too! The resin bundles are
hanging on the other side of the basket to make the balance for the board. The
red tarpaulin the same as national flag of Israel (hand painted) break the
sandy appearance of the tank and give more colors to whole tank. The RPG-7 and
the ammobag came from Shanghai Dragon 3001 set. The box with oranges, the water
bottle and the can with some food are a nice finishing touch the same as Galil
machine gun and ammo belt lying on the top of the turret. As you can see on the
left side I added transport straps, moreover in the front some chain enlaced
the battering ram. The last was the wire I hang on the front lights.
The vehicle and its miniature is very
impressive. I hope it wasn’t the last IDF kit I had on my workbench. Generally,
the subject is very interesting and gives a lot of possibilities with painting
and weathering. Maybe some Merkava or Tiran
next time? Who
knows what
the future holds?
In the
end, the kit was published in 2 model magazines - Military Modelcraft
International from September 2013 (in English) and in Steel Art No 113
from May 2013 (in Italian).
That's all for now! Thank you for watching!
