Wow that's one impressive model. I've been following your build from the beginning and it's great. I will definitely save this build log for when I get around to buying the kit.

Rob

Hi, nice build so far.
Began 3 weeks ago with the same project as you are.
Front and rear trucks are almost finished.
Also the gun barrel, breech block and ammunition wagon are almost finished.
Making the build in a random order, but that is how I build...
Have several pictures uploaded on my account, take a look if you want...
Must see how I get them on the forum...
You mentioned problems bending the mufflers for the exhaustpipe..
Well it was not easy indeed, certainly with part no8 as a template, but did use it anyway.
Result a 4mm to small cilinder but round it was, rolled it between a flat surface and a piece of wood pressing with my hands.
Then took a template with a wider diameter 2mm and rolled it again,result a perfect round cilinder.
As for the brass wire A and B a made a template of a piece of plastic, bending gave no problems and they are all the same.
Hope you can see it in my pictures.
See you went on with the build, and when you come to the elevator build, no problems so far. Only with the parts c29 and the shaft on the back side of the elevator is to wide.
While elevating the gun the outside of part c29 reaches the inner underside of f15.The shaft is to wide or I made a mistake. still have to solve that issue.
Maybe you have the same problem, so we can solve it together.
Keep following your build, and work on mine.

Regards, Marc

@ Rob - thank you very much for your comment!

@ Marc - thank you very much for your comment as well! I've just seen your pictures, you have a nice, clean buid there.
Your PE exhaust parts looks very good indeed, much better than mine. I will need to add a lot of weathering to cover the shape error on my model.
Yesterday evening I've prepainted inner parts of elevator mechanism (I hope to post some pictures of assembly today evening) and the platforms with mix of scarlet, rust and black in 3:2:1 proportion - it gave me nice burned rust/ground paint effect I wanted to have in case I will not be able to reach some parts while painting in main color. Tomorrow I'm going to proceed with elevator's assembly and I will let you know about the shaft - thanks for warning here!
I have few advices for you as well:
1. Pait your wheels and platforms at least in basic color before wheels assembly - it is pain in the a$s afterwards...
2. Your pulley seems to be hanging on single wire - it should be on at least two to make it work - instruction is very unclear here and there is obvious lack of attachment points, but it is easy to arrange something that at least looks real...
3. If you have closed main body (gun chassis) already you are going to have a really hard time with painting it.... I've done painting of subassebled parts of the whole elevator, gun barrel with stock, lock, and inner parts of chassis before the asaebly and it was not easy in unassebled state.
In case you find some other roadblocks, please let me know! I will do the same here.

Andrzej

Thanks for your reaction Andrzej,

Main body is closed but the gun and elevator are not fixed yet.
Have find a way to disassemble the gun and elevator so I can fix the elevating problem. And painting is easier to do.
You can push the innersites of r.1 and l.1 a little so you can remove the the whole block.
All with good care....
The wheels are not fixed because the painting is indeed difficult afterwards.
Also the ammunitionwagon is unfixed. Shell unfixed to.
Looking forward to your painting and the rest of the build.

Have the Trumpeter BR 52 (finished), goes nicely with the Leopold.
After the Leopold I make a start with Trumpeter King Tiger 1:16 with Henschel Turret.
Outstanding model, details are awesome.
Furthermore I have a Dora railway gun in the box (Soar Art) It is huge, also impressive.
So I'm not bored for the next year.

Marc

Andrzej

Nice looking progress. I do agree make sure to paint the gun in sections. For what ever reason I totally assembled mine and then painted it. But I was able to get decent coverage over everthing.

I am plannig on doing some weathering this weekend and adding those final few details.



Remember all you other Big Gunners...just under a month left!

@ Marc,
the paint did not dry enough to start working with it.... I'll try to assemble it today.
I have BR52 waiting in a box. for its turn. I want to build it for SLL campaign on Model Geek. I've recently finished 1/16 T34-76, a lot of work but nice model as well - this Saturday I'm going to bring it back home after month-long show.
Don't mention Dora gun.... please... I wanted it so much, byt my appartment is to small for this monster and my wallet is not big enough as well....

@ Jim,
What camo scheme did you use for your Leo? I will do mine in Italian scheme (yellow-brown).
I'm doing my best to have the gun finished in time, but I hope you will be able to consider short slide over the deadline... . No, seriously - It is very possible that I finish the gun in time (if no accident happens down the road).
I'll try to prepare some pictures and text today to describe further progress.

Andrzej

Andrzej

I did mine in the boring Panzer grey scheme. I have forgotten to post any recent photos. I only have this one cluttered picture.

Jim, it's not boring - it's impressive!
I considered painting mine it these scheme but I think I'm not very good in realistic weathering of Panzergrau so I decided to go into yellow-brown.
It really looks impressive!

Andrzej

Thanks. Some folks don't like grey tanks, but I do. My next armor project will be grey as well, go figure.

I have the mig pigment for fading grey.

I plan to give it a wash as well before I get started with the pigments. I used the Archer decals and they came out pretty nice.

Hi,
I wanted to post this yesterday, but my internet connection did not work... so here it is now:

Step.G.4.1. Elevator’s assembly details.
Detail CC – guide’s support: two parts that are supposed to create openwork structure. It needed a lot of putty and sanding but work is easy and result is very nice – straight, flat surfaces.


Elevator’s guide assembly – detail CC plus 3 other details: front, rear and movable handle. Some ejector marks are present on flat parts and they need filling. Unfortunately this concerns almost all flat parts that will be seen in next steps (by the way - you can see some putty not yet sanded on the corner of one of parts )


Movable bracket will be used to guide the piston of the elevator’s servo, racks and bars attached to the gun’s support structure and keep whole movement in a straight line.


Rear end of servo – two cylindrical parts with cylinder end part closing main servo of the elevator.


Support structure for the servo – very good fitting of parts makes this assembly quite easy – walls are not perpendicular, but parts are designed in a way assuring right angles between them. It is planned to be done in two steps.



13 parts were used to build these details.

Step.G.4.2. Elevator assembly.
We already have all details required for elevator assembly. It may look complex but if done in right sequence causes no problems.


I started with assembly of servo on its support – it is done with two small (relatively) C33 parts creating axle for servo’s movement. After that whole servo is being closed with rear end part made in previous step.
I started next step with attaching two metal shafts in C29 part creating axles for placing other movable parts of elevator and the gun’s stock (if “stock” is good word to describe this structure… I feel that it fits better than “cradle” here).
On firs shaft I placed first rack, elongated piston’s bracket with the guide’s handle and second rack.
On the second shaft I placed the gun’s stock, placed the servo with its support in place putting the piston rod inside the servo’s cylinder and closed whole thing with second C29 part.
Voila – elevator is done.






As you can see parts are already painted with mix of scarlet, rust and black giving a good base for final painting and assuring that bare plastic will not be visible in case the part would not be reachable during final painting.
I did not position all parts on front shaft yet – I’m going to do it after the elevator is assembled on the main hull.

920 parts taken from the box.

I will try to post some more in few minutes - I have to prepare and upload the pictures and describe what was done.

Andrzej

impresive work!

Thank you Koen! I’m glad you’ve dropped by to see my scribble .

Here is another step:

Step.G.5. Details for main chassis assembly.
In this step instruction tells us to prepare details for main chassis structures – they are main parts of whole gun support structure’s insides. Unfortunately all flat parts have ejector pins marks. It is possible to orient some of the parts in a way to avoid showing sides with marks, but they will be partially visible through upper deck anyway.
DD



EE


FF



Trumpeter proposes very handy solution with parts supporting walls and holding them on right angle and position – they will be used later to hold whole detail with the left and right main inner walls of the chassis.
I decided to paint these details before next step of the assembly as well – it will be much more difficult when the gun's chassis is closed.

17 parts are used for these details – it gives us 937 parts out of the box.

I hope you like it so far - today I plan to install the elevator into the main chassis inside walls. You can expect some more pictures tomorrow.

Andrzej

On the Dragon kit the hardest part was adding the deck with the gun assembly into the center carriage section. Everything slid right into place except the top. I had to clamp it down and let it sit over night to make sure everything held.

Otherwise things were decent. The gun barrel actually turned out better than I had feared.

Good work so far! Looking forward to your more.

Hi again.
Since it is Sunday evening I finally have some time listen to Jimi Hendrix Experience, drink some beer, build some models and post some pictures. I've just done step 6 so here it is:

Step.G.6. Attaching elevator and main chassis details to inner chassis walls. In this step we’re going big. Only three new parts are being used in this step – two inner walls (which are the biggest parts of whole kit) and fork-like support part. Rest are details DD, EE, FF and elevator. They all fit to the side walls through slots in the wall parts. In my kit the two or three slots needed lengthening – otherwise the details could not have been pressed through. Except for this issue no other problems were observed. Structure is not very firm yet but it finally gives us some idea about the final size of whole thing.
These are pictures showing the insides without left inner wall in place.





Here is whole structure with both inner walls on place. I used two parts from next step here already - C19 cyllinders on the sides of walls.


940 parts used.
More coming soon (I hope)

Great progress Andrzej,

See your building progress and it is looking good.
The main reason that I work the other way around is that you can make adjustments in the fittings. And the glue will better hold. Otherwise you have to scrape off the paint for the cement to bond properly.
Have finished my rail trucks and the upperstructure is coming along nicely.
Still have to solve the shaft issue.
Almost ready for ground color, what did you use for it?
And what will be the finished color?
Make some new pics for you to see the result soon...
Keep up the good build,

Marc.

@ Marc
Thanks for following my work here.
I do will have to repaint glued places but after closing the hull some places appear to be unreachable - I wanted them to be painted at least in ground color. The result you can see is a mix of Humbrols: Scarlet (#60 I think), Rust (#113) and Black (#33) in 3:2:1 ratio.
I will paint it in yellow/red brown scheme - base will be #94 dark yellow and for brown I usually use #160, but I have to check if leopold was in typical German red brown or closer to brick red. Decals should be placed on Panzergrau background but i don't know if I find enough patience and time to do that.
I did not observe any problem with shaft that seems to be affecting your build... therefore I cannot give you any hint - I simply have no idea what could go wrong to affect your gun this way.

After posting previous pictures I've managed to build something more. Today I have few minutes to post description of two next steps.

Step.G.7. Further main chassis assembly. In this step side walls of main chassis are added along with two upper deck details. Walls get little bended in the box even with whole cardboard prevention… nothing difficult to fix – they needed just additional care while gluing. Two brackets on the walls' ends were also brocken but I've fixed it without any problem. No fitting issues in this step, just some filling and sanding was necessary on the flat deck part – holes used to place this part on the previously built structure had to be filled.



Step.G.8.1. Step starts with two subassemblies: movable part of deck (it is being raised to allow gun’s elevating) (6 parts)


and two details being left and right gun’s main axle holders (I prepainted them from the inside) (14 parts – 7 for each).


Step.G.8.2. Assembly of previously built details and two hulls upper parts on main gun’s chassis. Parts are very long so gluing them was a new experience for me – probably not for anyone who builds ships, but for tank builder it sure is not typical size of part .





962 parts used so far.

Next stop: bottom of upperstructure details, coming soon.

Andrzej

Hi Andrzej,

Have posted some new pics for you to look at.
Also two pics of the shaft problem, maybe it is clearer for you to see.
The top of gun barrel you have to make this round.
Read my comment by the pics.

See you,

Marc

Hi Marc,
I've just attachet the bottom parts - now I know what you were talking about. I've written that there is no problem with my kit in previous post but during the dry fit gun was in upright position - problem appears when you move it to horizontal position. I think that the root cause ot the problem are too long metal shafts - there is a lot of free space on them and they hardly fit inside the hull.
Another thing is that I found also place where upper deck blocks the guns support.
I've managed to fix these problem using small grinder and modeling knife... method as rude as effective (don't do anything with force.... just use a bigger hammer). I will take some pics tomorrow - now the camera battery is charging.

Now I'm going to read "Daywatch"

Andrzej

Hi Andrzej,

Solved the shaft issue of shorten the with by 4mm. Only the rear. Now it is elevating properly. IMO I think that the barrel cannot raise very high. I saw pictures of the K5 with the barrel raised much higher compared with the model.
Of course it is not the meaning to raise totally vertical but I think the angle is to little.
www.one35th.com/model/k5/k5_frme.htm
www.one35th.com/model/k5/k5_gallery.htm
Two beautiful sites with a lot of info and pictures about the K5.
Hope you like it.

Greetings, Marc

Since I've closed the hull already and I cannot remove the gun anymore I could not do anything with the shaft... that would be best solution for sure...
Anyway, I think I know what causes the problem with little angle of gun's movement - take a look on the cylinder end of servo

In my model rear shaft hits the flat part on cylinder end, pushes it down a bit, jumps over it and moves pushing the servo downwards. The servo seems to be the part that finally blocks the movement of the gun while it's rising.

one35th.com is well know to me - I've been lurking around this site since I've got this model .

I'll post some pictures this evening.

A.

OK, I'm finally able to post some more pics.

Step.G.9. Main chassis assembly continues on the bottom side. It starts with subassembly of four small details, 3 parts each.


Than we place these parts on the bottom of hull along with front and rear pivots and three bottom hull parts. Flat E4 needs some putty and sanding in slots used for positioning.


Unfortunately first big problem appears here: side bottom parts (F14 and F15) block movement of the gun elevator. Most possible root cause is too wide rear shaft. Since I’ve already assembled shafts and whole elevator and I’m not able to take it out and correct the shaft I had to carve F14 and F15 parts a little to allow the movement of elevator.


I’ve also found out that upper hull side parts are blocking the gun’s support as well – I had to carve the support in two places (on both sides) a little.


Further observation of gun’s movement I’ve found another place that makes gun’s movement difficult – rear shaft hits the cylinder end of elevator servo. It blocks the movement a little, but still it is designer’s error.
979 part used.

Step.G.10.1. Main chassis assembly – further upper deck parts assembly. Four small triangular parts that are supposed to firm the rear bottom deck – unfortunately C7 parts (bigger ones) has positioning pin too close to the end of part – I had to cut the pins and glue the parts without them simply covering the positioning slots. Small lid was also placed on rear wall. Big upper deck part was placed on the top closing the hull on the rear side.


Two PE shield parts was placed on axle support parts.


8 parts used in this step

Step.G.10.2. Two small subassemblies: ladders and gun barrel’s support:
Ladders’ parts in my kit were twisted like Miss Piggy’s tail… I corrected them as I could but they are worst looking parts of the gun so far.



8 parts used in this step (4 for two ladders, 4 for barrels support).

Step.G.10.3. In this step ladders, barrel support, front upper deck and six other small parts (some valves on the front and bars on the left side) are assembled. Deck fits very good, only problem was caused by ladders which came in very bad condition as I’ve written before.



7 parts are added in this step – that gives us 1002 used so far. This is the first time when my part count reaches four digits size .

Step.G.11.1. Gun barrel assembly. Barrel is built of 5 parts. A5 part which is the end of a barrel has visible rifling molded inside. I was worrying a little about the barrel’s condition (so long cylindrical parts may cause many troubles as you all know) but it came out very well. With small amount of putty applied and some sanding lines between the parts are hardly visible.




1007 parts used so far.

I hope you like it – comments are welcomed!

Andrzej

Looking good! The Dragon kit had a one piece main platform, that was fun.

Not to make you sswaet, but only 23 days left!

Thanks!
Gluing one piece platform of this size must have been a disaster... Am I right?
Don't you worry - this one will be built during the weekend so I'm going to have next two weeks just for painting.

A.

Looks really good. Can't wait to see you get it done.

Good Luck on the camo, I don't have the cohonies to try it on anything yet...

Rich

A major pain. Clamp and glue. Move clamps. Repeat too many times.