Attached are some photos of my just completed Tamiya Leopard 2A5, depicting a tank from the 3. Kompanie, 413. Panzerbattalion as it appeared last fall. A friend was doing an exchange visit with the unit, and so I benefitted from an extensive collection of very good detail photos which helped tremendously in the build. The kit was built from the 2A6 kit, and I added a metal barrel from Barrel Depot, PE Grilles on the rear deck from Voyager and the Tamiya replacement baskets at the rear of the turret.

Based on a previous review of the kit, I corrected the error in placement of the attachment to the large door on the right side of the turret.

Using the photos, I made modifications to the Hoffman device on the front of the turret, and scratch built the control module located by the left side hatch. Additional modifcations included scratch built MILES gear on the front deck and corners of the turrets, front fender attachments, depicting the storage rack on the very rear of the turret as empty (what goes there anyway?), folding up the rear skirt over the drive sprocket as well as the rear flaps, and scratch building the new style smoke canister configuration which the original vehicle had.

I also added antennas to the two stubs provided in the kit (and showed the caps removed and tethered) as well as the rod attached to the rear deck camera. Since the vehicle I was modeling didn't have the tow cables on board, these were left off.

Final modifications were using transfer on letters to get the exact license number of the vehicle and substituting a "1" for the "0" in the kit decals to get the 413.

Overall I found the kit very accurate and a pleasure to build. This was my first attempt at masking and airbrushing a pattern paint job and I have to say while I really did like the results, it sure takes a LOOOOONG time to mask off before you add the next color!!








Tom

Camo came out really nice. Did you use that narrow masking tape? I usually use shaped card but fancy a cleaner line like yours for something in the future.

Thanks. I used regular blue painter's tape, the same kind you use to mask painting around the house. It's reasonably "low tack" so it stays down well and didn't ever pull up the paint when removed. It even worked very well covering the clear optic view ports.

Like most folks, I painted the entire kit in the NATO Green overall first. Then using the drawings in the instructions, I cut out the shapes to cover everything that was supposed to remain green. I guess it's because I tend to be overly precise, but took quite a bit of time covering each section to make sure it matched the pattern fairly close.

Next I sprayed the NATO Brown, and then covered the sections which were to remain that color. Finally I sprayed what was left in then NATO Black.

While this meant that those sections actually had three different coats of paint, it really doesn't pose a problem, probably because the paint gets darker as you go.

Biggest problems are when the line goes over something other than a flat surface. Getting the tape to stay flat can take a long time. There are a few places (like the smoke rack) where the lines aren't hard, but the blend seemed OK.

I did have to go back and re-mask a couple of places where the color ran under the tape, but I find that as long as you're airbrushing the paint, it's pretty forgiving.

But you really have to watch trying to make corrections and touch-ups by hand, because it's just about impossible to get the shades to match.

Tom

Hi Tom,
youy did a very nice job on this one. The only points I would mention is the shiny look of the MG3 and the tracks.

Your work on the MILES gear is very inspiring for me. I should depict the French equivalent for my Forad AMX30 when I have time and am no more lazy !

I'll echo the cooment about the shiny tracks, but other than that, great job! Nice attention to detail and great overall dusty finish.

Nice build, but a few things stick out for me.
-there are no retaining chains on the MGBD covers

-the tracks seem really silvery...the diehl tracks tend to show surface rust around the metal portions in between the track pads. The center guides are usually bare metal as you have shown them and some bare metal on the end connectors but in bewteen should be dirt and surface rust unless it is brand new track and then it is just black and not silver.

-The Germans use the AGDUS not MILES
-the small empty stowage bin can be used for kit or chocks and chains.

Thanks for the great comments. I had debated putting the chains on the MGBD and taking your suggestion, I've gone back and done that. Took a bit if time, but I have to admit they look a lot better that way. Just got a bit lazy! It is sort of dumb to go to all the trouble to scratch build the new style and then leave off the chains!

I also went back and dulled up the track a bit more with the wash. I'll try and post some updated photos later.

Thought I'd throw in this photo of the original vehicle that the model was based on.



Tom

I snagged one of these from a LHS yesterday. Seeing this makes me want to get it going. Beautiful work Tom, and your masking and paint job is top notch. Thanks for sharing!

Jason, what I was wondering about are the brackets on the back of the turret shown below. The kit has something in them that may be some sort of chocks, but every photo I had on every vehicle in the field, showed the brackets empty, so I scratch built them that way.

Are they for chocks?

Tom

Yes, that's where the chocks (should ) be stowed.. still, as they are rarely used I suppose the crew likes to keep them somewhere more convenient, such as the workshop...



Cheers
Henk

oops, beautiful leopard by the way. Good job on the paint, and just enough weathering to make it dirty, without hiding the paint.

Well done.

Cheers
Henk

Glad you suggested it! I think this works.



Tom

Thanks, Henk! The first couple of coats was a very thin mixture of mostly water with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black applied with a very large brush. After a couple of coats of that, to darken the paint a bit and to bring out the details in the lines, I used a mixture of Tamiya XF-19 (Sky Gray) and XF-60 (Dark Yellow), again diluted down quite a bit and applied with a big brush.

Tom

I can see how you painted your tracks so shiny...man the real one is in definite need of replacements. All the rubber seems to be worn down to the nub. Sure would have hated to replace all those pads !!!!!!!!!!!

Funny you took an A6 kit and downgraded to an A5 and I took an A5 and upgraded to an A6. Well I got my kit on ebay for around $12 and the cheapest A6 was more than twice that at the time. I think this tank has the biggest turret ever done in a mass produced tank (none of those experimental / drawing board WW2 things count)

Don't fix it if it ain't broke.....