Olivier: Very well then, I will the Blast update set to my Leclerc wishlist based on your recommendation

Walter: I'll let you know as soon as I can start the build.
I can't view your pictures, they say the bandwidth has been exceeded. I will try to check them out tomorrow night so I can catch up with your build.

Sorry guys, the images are not visible at the moment. The free bandwidth exceeded. According to Photobucket in the last few days more than 10 GB of traffic were on the picturs - crazy!

I try to find another picture account. Do you have any suggestions?

cheers
Walter

I joined the pro photobucket account to prevent bandwith problems in the future. I didn't want to swithch all the pics to another provider. Hope this will work now.

cheers
Walter

J.C. thx for your kind words. I hope you ejoy the following as I enjoy the building

ell, oilcolours are drying and I was busy with the stowage-basket. However, it was a little bit frustrating and I suffer constantly modelling-setbacks because of my current very shaky hands. I always must look for alternative working methods that might work.

SNORKEL
E.g. the metal ring on the snorkel has almost driven me crazy it. I did not manag painting a clean ring with the paintbrush. Finally I applied the silver paint roughly, masked the ring with masking tape and with the help of the Royal-Model-Wheel-Masking I the sprayed Snorkel. Very tedious but acceptable.


Previously ... very shaky result:


After ... looks better:



BELTS
For the mounting-straps on the rear I originally wanted to use the excellent etched parts from the Voyager-Set. I managed to put the Tape into the turn, bend the pieces, glue to the 0.3 mm wire into the holes ... but finally, I failed. It was impossible for me to glue the parts together (see instructions) ...... AAAAAARGH!



As these belts to the Leclercs stowage basket are quite prominent, I wanted to to have this! So I have taken the buckles from the Eduard-Set and simplified them to my needs. 4 of which I have in turn destroyed, but there were enough my 8! pieces.
For the straps I used this time Micron Masking Tape instead of metal foil. Last time the colour chipped away from the foil when bending into shape.
The straps were fixed in a cardboard frame for easier handling.



For the belts XF-67 was used. The closures I painted with the brush - first XF-16 and then X-26 Clear Orange.



The fixing of snorkel and belts in the stowage-basket were not without problems. I always had to fix various parts with Blue-Tac. So I had some three or four hands available. For this job I used a very thin superglue and pointed it on with a needle. Also a chipping was done with the basket ;-)



Here is the result of several hours. I hope the effort has paid off.





Before anyone complains ... I noticed that one wrong turned buckle too late (as usual). But say what ... cest la vie!

CHIPPING
Currently I'm dealing with paintchipping. With the usual brushwork I failed. Again I was looking for an alternative an remembered the sponge-method. I clamped the jig and tank into a vise and with both hands (in a rather uncomfortable position) I try to dip on the paintchips with the use of a sponge. So I got a little bit more control about my shaky hands.



The result so far in some parts is acceptable ... let's see how far I can go with it. I would be easier to replicate a fresh painted vehicle ... but I want to make a dirty, used vehicle.



And if the model does not fly out of the skylight ... is perhaps even a sequel.

cheers
Walter

Your build is excellent Walter. It's a real pleasrue to follow it.
I have the Voyager set myself for my second Leclerc and the ratchet straps are a bit annoying when I see you didn't manage to assemble them.

Olivier

Ryan, here are 2 pics of the jig.




cheers
Walter

Olivier, don't worry about the Voyager straps, with a lot of patience you will handle it - I'm for sure.

Cheers
Walter

Walter: Worked I great, I can see all of the pictures now and your build is looking awesome! I think I'm going to follow a lot of your build techniques when I get a chance to build a Leclerc

JC. thx a lot for your kind words. You are also a CHAMPION. Its good to hear that you recovered from your blood clucose shock.
You say it, at the moment modelling is for me a kind of occupational therapy

cheers
Walter

TRACKS
Originally I wanted to use the excellent detailed Bronco workable link tracks and started cutting and cleaning hundreds of individual parts. But somehow some crazy problems were evident. After finishing one section suddenly the trackpads fell apart! The pins (red arrows) were used as bonding points for the pads. On my track they werde clearly too short! The glue can not connect. Glueing the trackpads edges is not possible because otherwise the capillary action will glue the movable parts and the chain will not be longer movable. I should have fill up the pins height sheet so that a bond can develop.
No thanks - this is to me too much effort for the tracks. So I take the kits vinyl tracks which are really not bad. (BTW I have neither - at an exhibition or on the Web - ever seen pictures of a model with Leclerc Bronco chains mounted - did the other modellers also face similar problems?)



Here are the kits vinyl tracks. Primed with Tamyia Surfacer, then painted with black matte. End parts were painted silver and then with Tamiya Hull Red "made rusty". Finally the tracks were weathered with reddish and brownish pigments from different manufacturers. The pigments were fixed with white spirit.
Even the roadwheels were handled in accordance with pigments ... and you see already, there will be a little dirt ;-)



The tracks are mounted on the model. The vinyltracks were glued with thamiya cement which works surprisingly fine.



Footprints? Yep, these funny footprint-stamps are made by Calibre. Just dip it into some paint, dab and start tramping. There's even left and right footprint available ... it was fun to walk around.



Here, the footprints of the crew. My model will become pretty dirty, did I already mention it ;-)



FIGURE
Although I am not a great figure painter, I just like when characters animate the model. It just looks more authentic and credible and I like the nice size comparison.
Here's the commander - a French tank crew man resin made from BLAST MODEL. the figure was painted with various colors of acrylic Vallejo and Andrea range.
On the photo you can also tiny little decals - french flags made by myself and un-badges made by Echelon Decals. This UN badges from Echelon is created by the presentation of one of my badges from my UN mission in Lebanon, which I had provided to them. They contacted me in my build-blog for my UN Leopard 1A5DK a while ago.

http://p47.kitmaker.net/forums/140219#1172127

Now "my" decals are used for the first time, previously I had always painted the flags manually, but now my hands tremble too much so the decals become a really great help.



By the way, did I mention that my tank will become pretty dirty ;-)



The model is straight in the middle of the weathering process (mainly oil paints and experiments with different pigments). The final details such as machinegun, flag, additional lights to flag, antennas, etc. must be completed and the final assembly is to do.

The next update will be done with pictures from the finished model.

Stay tuned
cheers
Walter

Hi Walter,

Keep up the excellent work!

For a bit more inspiration.....not that you need it at all....check out my recently finished UNIFIL Leclerc diorama.....

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/thread/1285550182/A+Little+Bit+Of+Colour...%26quot%3BCrossing+The+Line%26quot%3B

Walter,

This looks absolutely amazing. I have never been a fan of UN vehicles but this def takes the cake, Also, stay strong in your fight, my prayers are with you that you make a full recovery!

Please keep up the good work and I hope to see more builds from you.

YOupie
the Leclerc is really amazing and the weathering is top notch.
I should buy a pair of foot stamps
Cheers
Seb

Walter: This build keeps looking better and better with every update. I swear your build is taunting me until I get one of my own

Bravo, Sir, Bravo!

You need to turn this into a build article for a magazine or even a book, since your work is so excellent.

Jeff does have a point there, just a thought

Hi friends, thanks a lot for your kind words. Always great to have feedback.



@Jason:
... WOW! thx for sharing the pictures. Your colourful diorama looks phantastic and the Leclerc is excellent built and weathered. Is there an article for AFV or any other magazine planned? - I really would like to read more about your build.



@Jeff:
Thanks for your kind words, you embarrass me .. I think my building and writing skills are not so good to do so. But I'm happy you enjoyed reading my build here on the forum.

cheers
Walter

FINISHED
In the meantime I finished the little details. The the flag was weathered. A light underneath the flag was mounted. The machinegun was painted and glued into place. Antennas were mounted and finally the tank-commander took place.

Weathering was not so easy. I wanted to achieve a heavy weathered model. I used different pigments and had problems fixing right amounts and colours of pigments in place. On time the pigments dissapeared too much, the other time they concentraded too much on some points. Especially on the anti-skis-surface it was not so easy.

As I took the final pictures in the fotobooth it turned out that the turrent might be too less weathered. But in real, the difference between turret and bootom of the tank is not so evident as on the photos. Maybe I will do some rework on this later. For now I'm happy with the result.

I'm glad you spent your time with this online-build and thanks a lot for all your kind words and good feedback I received. Even if some things went wrong during the build and some turned not out as I had imagined, the Leclerc is given a special place of honor in my display case. He (or rather modelbuilding itself) has guided me through the hardest time of my life and helped me to overcome myself. I am a little proud that I've finally done it despite all the limitations.

.. So enough babble, here are pictures of the final result.

















And finally a picture from the Leclerc on its base with his "brother" a Leopard 1A5DK.




cheers
Walter

What a great pair! I'm loving the UNPROFOR Leopard too

I see what you mean about the turret standing out on the Leclerc, but as you have stated it will be easy to adjust the weathering.

I'm thinking I need to start building a collection of UN vehicles for myself, I didn't realize how much I liked the white armor

Thanks Walter, I love the simple design....think I'll make one this weekend!

Nice finish on the tank btw.

Ryan