Game Object with multiple meshes -> fade out

[timber vault]

I have a Rocket Tank game object that consists of 4 children game objects.

I need to fade out the entire tank when it's too close to camera.
All the logic has been implemented and works fine.

The problem is the Rendering Modes

If I set it to Opaque, I cannot modify Alpha channel to make it transparent.
If I set it to Transparent, I have each individual mesh trying to overlap each other even at Alpha = 255, see screenshot. **Fade **mode gives a similar outcome.
Changing render order/queue only changes the order in which they inevitably overlap each other. Joining meshes is not an option.

I figured I could change the Rendering Mode in real-time to Transparency and back to Opaque using Shader Graph and a bit of code.
Is it ever a good idea though?

Or should I have two separate materials and switch between them?

UPD: looking at Material Variants

[wide sparrow]

You could keep you shaders opaque and use a dither texture to alpha clip as you get closer.

[subtle field]

Opaque dithered indeed is probably the easiest (and most performant), and can be smoothed out with TAA but in both cases it will have an unique look to it

[subtle field]

This always happens with transparent geometry because they sorted by object position relative to each other, and by vertex index relative to themselves
There's the empty pass #archived-shaders message method that can be used to clear any transparent geometry before rendering the current one
Or alternatively you'd look into some implementation of Order Independent Transparency
https://github.com/happy-turtle/oit-unity

[timber vault]

I went for the dithering option. thanks! I can now see what Elden Ring did there which is kinda funny. (and many other games)
I'll save that Order Independent Transparency solution for later though