While researching Leopards for a potential 1/16 scale Tamiya RC project, I came across a few photos of desert schemed Leo 2A4 belonging to the Chilean army. I am now fascinated with all Chilean armor and you may see a few more of these vehicles from me in the near future.

Project was also a "Palette Cleanser" for me as I have been doing a few commission projects that really didn't hold my affection. I also had to work the morning shift at work and it gave me odd hours to work on it. This project began Sunday morning and I showed it for a contest at a local IPMS meeting Tuesday night. Bear with me on a few items as it was an OOB build and I didn't want to get carried away with photo etch or "accurizing" the aged Italeri kit.



From the closet comes a Revell release of the Italeri Leopard 2A4. Detail is good but my example had flash issues and several mold flaws that I quickly fixed with some sheet stock and creative assembly.



Assembly was straight forward and my only real modification was to add metal handles to the crew hatches, modified antennas, and modified tow cables.

Time for suspension! Upper hull was assembled up to the point of attaching the side skirts. Bogies got the usual treatment. I airbrushed everything Polly S Nato Flat Black. This is both for a base coat and preshading layer.




The kit has a stepped installation of the skirts to upper hull to incorporate some hull stowage bins and vents. I decided to paint the running gear and lower hull at this stage so I could close up the side skirts and blend them to the upper hull. My color of choice is good old Tamiya Desert Yellow as it seems to match the photos of the real deal. Once again we head to the old Iwata Eclipse




I made a cheap mask for the rubber portions of the road wheels and didn't worry too much about the over spray. The real vehicle photos I have seen show the rubber portion almost completely tan.

Bogies in place and painted. I added the hubs after my photo of course...



I added the kit tracks which come in 4 pieces total and am pleased to say I managed to use my soldering iron and flat but of my xacto knife to melt the tabs almost perfectly. Only took 25 years to get one right!

Skirts added and faired in. Kit got a wash with dish soap and then a base coat of Polly S NATO black.



Then the Camoflage coat with good old Tamiya Desert Yellow.

Acrylics in Arizona are a great thing. They dry before you can even get up from the bench! Camo coat done and I apply a "Sludge Wash" to the whole vehicle using the crud from my Brush/Airbrush cleaning cup. I apply a liberal coat with my 1" Foam brush and watch the water evaporate. Once done I add my sparse stowage.



I added antennas modeled after the pics I found on the internet.

Nice work ethan is they a way that you could show the pic that you work off of the weathering came out well can't wait to see more.
Dave

I will try to dig up some pics. I don't often take the crucial photos as I am in the moment. Here is another shot on the table.





I forgot to mention I added the lights to the rear with Tamiya clear red.

I'm so glad I found your post I really got a lot of tips from building the Leopard 2A4
I have the Testors/Italeri in 35 scale I think is the same as your kit
Nice job