it seems that the wood slats get greasy or is that a tar?

Pnz cmdr,
I believe that "tarry looking" substance is creosote. It is used to treat telephone poles, railroad ties, and other exposed lumber. Protects them from rot, insects and what-have-you.
As for everyone who has started their Leopold models, I am learning much from all of you. The box is on a shelf in my garage. The moment I have time, I am gonna get that sucker started. What a project...it should at least get me through to spring thaw!!!

Hi. Jet, thanks for those very fine photos of the tracks. Very nice. One of the reasons that I want to use the model R.R. tracks for this particular model is that I have some old, really nasty-looking wood stain out in the garage called Black Walnut and it's about half dried up. Really not any good for anything appropriate as far as good wood goes. So I thought this would make some real good stuff to stain R.R. ties with. Also I want ot try my hand at 'damaging' some of the ties with splits, cracks and such to make them look more real.

Are my eyes deceiving me, or are those cement ties in the foreground on those tracks in the Berlin picture? I've heard of these before. Maybe it's just the weather conditions and the light that make them look different from the ones on the right side track up about a fourth of the way up on the photo.

Thanks again, sgirty

Hi sgirty
Yes they are cement ties that you see there,they are used quite a lot in the uk as well as on the continent.Just as a suggestion have you considered using real wood for the ties to go with your black walnut woodstain? That is if you have the patience etc.
Happy modelling
Pete

Hi. Yes 26WC666, if I decide to build the model R.R. tracks for this kit I will used either balsa or basswood for the ties. Used this stain method on a log doll house I build a few years back, (which is still not finished as of yet), and it worked out great. The local hobby shop said that they carry the rail clamps and spikes for model railroad stuff so I can use these to hold down the track, just like the real ones. Rail connectors, like the ones in the kit are my only concern in that department at the moment, but I'm fairly sure that there is something in the model R.R. section that can be used, as I've heard of model R.R. builders who 'lay' their own track for their model R.R. systems. (If there's a hobby out there that is more detailed than plastic and resin model-building, it's modeling railroading!)

Am also going to use some model R.R. ballast to enhance the kit's road bed as well, like the guy on Hyper Scale did, with some grasses here and there. Have an old Dragon R.R. car model I build here a few years ago, and am going to practice building a track and road bed for this model before trying it on the K5, as it will be a lot shorter and simpler to do for starters. But that's going to be down the road aways.

We've just had our first cold snap here in the southwestern Ohio country, and are into what we Euro-Americans here call 'Indian' summer, so it won't be much longer before I'm going to have to start boxing stuff up and moving it inside so things won't freeze out in the garage. So things like track building, and model building, to some extent, is going to start slowly winding down as the season progresses I'm afraid.

Take care, sgirty

Here 's a link
to some shots of my Leo along the way - Click on the thumbs to get the bigger image. unfortunately the pics are smaller than I'd like to have had them- maybe I change them sometime.

Jet,
That's about how far I am.I am doing the hoist house now.I need more panzergrau paint,this puppy will use 2-3 bottles minimum by the time I am done.
I see you painted the recoil cylinder an oxide color .I think large components might have been finish painted in the factory,then assembled.I dunno,I am going with grey everywhere.

Hi. Thanks for those very nice photos Jet. Very nice work. Very nice, indeed. I like that difference in color of the cylinder under the breech area. A nice color contrast.

Continued good luck to you, Take care, sgirty

for those who may find these of interest ; more reference photos.

Jet:
I've been doing the contact points with the wheel and track a chrome silver as that's what I've seen on passing trains, that photo looks considerable less than chrome. What have you found?

Also, on the second pic: What's the tracked vehicle in the backgound?

Hi Porkchop I think that these tracks in the last three photos sent in by Jet are of side railings, as opposed to main-line trackage. Main lines do not have that grass growing around and in them like this. The main lines are usually sprayed with weed killer on a pretty regular basis, at least from what I've read from some articles in the model railroad magazines. And, like you, from what I've seen of the rails that are used quite a bit and the cars that are rolling quite a bit as well, they are pretty bright where contact is made. So from a layman's point of view, the chrome silver wouldn't be too far off I should think. I was planning on chrome silver or aluminum for the contact areas too. I think it just depends on how much useage both the track and wheels are getting.

Would a silver pencil rubbed along the rails give the same effect here? Sort of a burnished coloring? Just curious.

By the time some of us are finished with this thing we may just decide to go into model railroading and hang the plastic models. Ha!

Take care, sgirty

It's a vehicle used in logging that is built on a Sherman chassis

I think highly polished metal is apprapoe for the wheels as well.

Jet,

Question....

How did you get rid of the seem along the barrel?
I am starting on this this weekend.

I think, I used a med., thick cyanoacrylate glue-(Zap a Gap) and made sure that there was a bead along the length of the barrel, on one half. Be very careful when you put the two halfs together, maybe try a dry run. The glue may set quickly but the thick stuff has a bit of time to reposition if things are a bit askew. The CA will act as a filler and will sand to a solid surface as compared to the rest of the plastic. If you have an accelorator use that when things are lined up. Sand with the cylinder shape in mind- the sand paper should mirror the cylindrical shape of the barrel.Just don't sand along the seam-this will result in flat spots.flat spots.

Hi Guys
I've found another site with pics of the K5 on for you,The captions are in french but hopefully the pics will be of use.

http://modelbox.free.fr/photoscopes/K5/index.html


Also it's worth bearing in mind that with railroad track in a damp atmosphere rust will form very quickly so any track that is unused will rust over night.
Hope this helps
Pete

Hi guys, we are making three Leopolds here in Brazil.
One picture with two together
This picture is my Diorama.

We be glad to hear from you.
Best Regards
Ricardo

great work ricardo, but are you insane? 3 k5's what a set of balls you must have!
really would like to see more pics though, as would the other members and on behalf of us all WELCOME TO THE SITE!

Hi RicardoGM, Very nice. Like the first photo. What's better than one? Two, in battery! Very nice set up on the second set up as well. What with the vehicles on the lower road to give the gun some dimensional status. Man, three guns, you are definitely hooked on this hobby I think.

Welcome to the site.

Take care, sgirty

Thanks for your welcome, but I'm not building alone the three K-5, what I meant was that me an other two friends are making this three K-5 at same time. Each one of us are making one model only.
The funny thing of this is that we excange a lot of ideas and sugestion.
Cheers!

Hi Guys, and Ricardo

i am from Brasil to this is my Leopold in construction

Yeah...
They will be real great displayed together. Each one on different camouflage , it will be really beautiful to see that
Are you guys wondering what will be you next super project? What about the GunTruck convoy we have spoken so many times???
Cheers
Aldo

Looks like we now have a Brizilian group build within the informal group build. Welcome aboard guys!!!

Ricardo and rzerbini


Welcome aboard. glad to have you with us. You have some very nice leos.


This is for the guys that has the trumpeter leopolds. I was wondering if anyone could scan the painting and marking page of your instruction and e-mail them to me. I have the archer set for the leo, but Not real sure where they all go. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Yep, but that group is actually lacking some real beginners.
So, here I am to fill that gap!

Greetings from Brazil,

Vicente

Just a written update.
I am in the process of assembling the hoisting crane and the engine room beneath it.On the Dragon kit,the handwheel for traversing the crane is a tight fit to the safety railing behind it.Also,the "driveshaft " from the traversing gear box,down to the platform is a bit short,I made a new one from plastic rod.
It seems like the muffler halves are incorrectly numbered in the instructions.I just put the pairs together that the pins alined up on,and determined which muffler oges on which side.
Many of the builders of the Dragon kit by now have noticed the seam on the ammo crane's boom.Its gonna take a lot of putty to repair that!