Merkava Mk. IV – Decals

When you add decals to your model, it will be no longer an anonymous vehicle but will tell its own story, like this Israeli Merkava Mk. IV.

In order to choose the decals I gathered up some informations about IDF tanks tactical markings, then I decided to represent the ג (Gimel, the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet) tank belonging to the 2nd platoon, 2nd company, 1st battalion, 401st brigade.

The following markings show the platoon number and the order of the tank within it (the third one, in this case). According to the Hebrew writing system, they are read from right to left: "02ג". On the fenders there should have been also two small dashes, displaying the company number, but the decals lacked them.

The direction of the "wedge" indicates the company number: "V" for the first, ">" (towards the front) for the second, "∧" for the third, "<" for the fourth and "Z" for the fifth.

The battalion marking is shown here, and it is also indicated by the number of white rings around the main gun. Moreover, the four white "corners" mean that the tank belongs to the 401st brigade "Ikvot HaBarzel" ("Iron Tracks").

The label below:

שקע התנעה
24 V

שקע טעינה

says: "Starter socket 24 V – Charging socket".

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