Howdy,

A while back I started a Tamiya Leo 1 build that sort of stalled because of a rear deck screen issue, so I decided to forge ahead with Italeri's 1A4 instead as my return build. For those who weren't following along, I recently returned to the hobby after a long absence. Far too long. For some reason I got on a Leopard 1 kick.

The Italeri kit is fairly nice, especially considering how old it is. I remember the kit being fairly new. Typical of Italeri kits, fine details are present and general shape is accurate. It does have a few accuracy and minor fit issues, and the tracks are so-so. But, it's still the best game in town for an out of the box Leo 1A4.

I kept the the build reasonably simple, not out of the box, but I also didn't go overboard with details and aftermarket items, just the Eduard set and Elite tracks. Oh and some replacement tow cable. I'm at 95% done as I type. On to some pics.








That's the basic hull and suspension work done. Nothing major, apart from the rear screen and replacing the tow pintle. I figured it was easier to replace than try to clean up. There was a bit of a fit issue with the engine louvers, they seemed to not align to the rear hull correctly. Might have just been me. The hull halves went together well after a little sanding and dry fitting.

Next installment: the turret

Kimmo

On to the turret. Fit is generally good, but watch the rear end. It needs dry fitting and maybe a shim due to the way it is broken down. I ended up adding a strip at the bottom of the forward bin wall and a strip to fill in a gap at the front of the turret as well.




I decided to try something with the mantlet. I shaved off the port plugs and added some brass tube to give the appearance of a recessed fitting. Turned out rather nice if I do say myself. Not sure if it's accurate or not, but it adds some interest.




Italeri apparently got the periscopes wrong on the commander's hatch ring. Off they came and replacements were made out of a cd cover. Some turned out better than others and I decided to just live with the imperfections. I cut strips with a razor saw in a miter to width, then made an angled cut. I hand trimmed the "flat" with a razor blade. After cleaning and dressing the edges, I applied some Future with a bit of green added and let dry overnight. I think it should be left for a couple of days IMHO, some of the Future started to lift in places. Lesson learned. The supports needed replacing too, angle strip glued to a length of strip ended up looking close enough to the real thing.




I replaced the other periscopes on the turret, and ditto for the driver's station.




In true Murphy's Law tradition, I recently managed to get a set of MR periscopes through eBay. They'll be put to good use at a later date.

I also added some weld beads to the turret, the pics don't really show how they turned out, hopefully once its painted and weathered, they'll show up better. Stretched sprue, liquid cement and texturing with a knife and a toothpick cut into a chisel tip.




Next up, more welds and stuff.

Kimmo

Got some more bench time today, those pics will have to wait. On to more welds and tracks. In the first pics upthread, you can make out the weld beads around the splash guard. I added welds according to references. It was less painful than I expected. Even the tight curves of the light guards went fairly easily.



I had assembled the tracks beforehand for the Tamiya build. They went together surprisingly easily. Clean up and assembly was a bit tedious, but not nearly as daunting as I had imagined. This was the first time I had used individual links. The tracks were then installed, and glued in strategic places to set the runs. I used the side skirts as clamping boards(see below). A very clever moment.





In planning the build, I decided I would mount the tracks first, so I needed to weather the lower hull and tracks. I used pastels, again a first. The tracks were painted with light grey primer, followed by a cold grey/silver mix. Rubber painted a mix of black with a touch of brown and grey and some sepia and umber washes, then pastels. The running gear was done on the back faces and insides, the front sides will get done later.




In the lower pic you cans see my clever moment. One gripe with the Italeri kit is the way the skirt mounts to the hull. If you look at it funny, it will drop off. I took some 40 thou sheet, cut to width and glued it to the backside of the skirt, lining up with the top of the return roller mounts on the hull. This would give me some extra mounting surface. It doesn't need to run the full length. We'll glue that in place later.

That's it for now.

Kimmo

Nice work and if you need any more help shoot me a Pm anytime.

Cheers

Anthony

Thanks, and hopefully you're staying dry.

Time for a little etch and mud.

The Eduard set I used is designed for the Tamiya kit, and as a result, some of the items are a little bit over sized. Particularly the tool mounting bracket plates and barrel cleaning rod bin (the Tamiya hull sides are a millimetre or so deeper than the Italeri). Need to rethink those the next time around. The clasps in the set are also very simplified and don't really look anything like what they should, but that's fine for now. Next time I'll use either Aber or Voyager clamps. And of course, the tools themselves are different sizes in both kits...argh.

The mud was made with several applications of pigment using Vallejo matt glaze as the binder. Couldn't be easier. A tip for those of you who haven't used pigments before: if you want a build up, allow the layers to dry before adding another layer. When the base layer is still tacky, you can drop pigments directly on to get a build up happening. If you want a really thick layer, you should probably add some dry plaster, celluclay etc to the mix so you don't waste your pigments. After drying, I added some sepia and umber washes. You can also add the washes while the pigments are still moist, you get some interesting effects.




A small piece of styrene to help the skirts sit flush with the front mud guard. I removed the molded on locking arm halves on the first skirt and mudguard. There was no way those two were going to line up properly and will replace it with a new piece. Earlier, I had removed the anti skid detail on the fenders because it looks nothing like what it should. Scraping with a razor blade did the trick. I ended up using Vallejo textured paste for the new surface. Turned out quite nice I think, and replaced the lost bolts.





And lastly, added new tow cables and spare links to the rear hull. I may have goofed with how the spares went on.



As some of you may have noticed, Vallejo is getting a lot of face time. In order to get back into modelling, I needed to switch over to acrylics because I don't have a dedicated work space at the moment, and I needed something that doesn't stink to high heaven and can be brushed easily. I am more than pleased with how the paints and various glazes and washes have worked so far.

There's a learning curve with the paint and primers, but I haven't run into any major problems with adhesion or coverage so far. Both need thinning, tap water is fine, and using a little retarder helps too. I'm waiting on a shipment of flow aid, this should help as well, but that's for the next project. Patience, thin coats and not overworking the paint are key. So are good brushes.

Some things I have noticed with Vallejo primers:

They do not sand. If you need to check your work, go with either AK primer or just regular Vallejo paint, these will sand with fine wet/dry. Otherwise, you'll have to strip the primer off to do any further corrections. Secondly, super glue and primer don't play together well. There is a reaction that causes the primer to soften and stretch. Use white glue or Gator glue if you need to attach pe after priming. Thirdly, it makes a surprisingly good adhesive for pe. I discovered that accidentally. The primer seeps into the wee cracks very well. The polymer used snuggles down like you wouldn't believe.

That's it for now, next time we'll see something resembling a nearly completed kit.

Kimmo

It was a nice day, so I decided to take her outside to get some decently lighted shots. As you can see, detail painting has started, along with some preliminary washes. The barrel isn't glued on yet, the fit is so nice, I may not even glue it to help with storage and moving it about. As mentioned upthread, I'm brush painting. Base coat is Vallejo Bronze Green, with Model Color Bronze green on top. I'm no expert, but it looks to be a nice match for the German green used after Gelbolive and before NATO 3 tone. I'm preety happy with the canvas cover so far, a filter or pigments and I think that will do nicely.









I also did some modulation, lightened paint on hand rails, protrusions etc. Nice and subtle. And here's the sighting periscope. I drilled out the glass portion while it was still in two halves, smoothed out the opening, burnished some masking tape on the face and applied Vallejo Still Water in thin layers to the inside. Painted the insides dark grey and glued a small piece of foil from a candy bar on for the actual sight. Looks pretty good I gotta say.



While I was mucking about, I figured I might as well get the markings on.




I know this is starting to sound like a paid advert (I wish it was), I used Vallejo Decal medium as prescribed by Vallejo's website. Brush on a layer, decal, press down to make the decal sit and absorb excess moisture (I used a cosmetic sponge applicator, very handy) and then a coat to seal. No apparent silvering. I will need to give a coat of flat clear to take the shine off. I'm impressed that the roughly 20 (or more) year old decals went on without a hitch.

That's it for now, next update should be the last one for this puppy.

Kimmo

Kimmo

Nice job with the build.

Anthony

Thanks dude!

I think its time to stick a fork in this one. Finally got around to finishing the weathering process. I'm happy with the results. You'll notice a few things are missing, chains, antennae and so on. I left them off because I don't really have a place to display this and I figured those little doodads would go flying off at some point. It's not like this was a competition build anyway, just a project to get back in the swing of things.





I forgot to mention earlier that I replaced the barrel tip from the front edge of the thermal covers with 2 pieces of tubing, three if you count the inner mounting pin. I didn't like my chances of getting a nice even opening. The collar is maybe a little oversized, but I can live with it. The mirrors are done using the Eduard supplied etch pieces with the foil from a chocolate bar glued to the faces.





I used Little Cars lenses for the headlights, good stuff, and reasonable priced. The headlights were milled out using my motor tool, freehand while attached to the sprue. That was a fun few minutes.



The tail lights were drilled out with a burr. I had intended to use Little Car amber lenses there, but, the lenses have silver backings on them, which is great for lights that dome outwards. They would have looked a bit funny so I decided to mix up some orange and Still Water after painting the faces silver. I kept layering until it looked about right. Not really happy with the orange, I need a better red and yellow. To bump it up, I took some heavily thinned dark red and gloss coat with silver particles in it and applied that a few times to give it a sort of reflective look. I did the same with the red tail light. Silver particles? If you dip your brush in silver (or any other metallic paint) then swish your brush around in water, you'll see a metallic film form on the surface. In essence, the metallic particles will float on top and gives you an interesting effect that resembles reflective light covers when applied to a translucent or even solid painted surface. It is very subtle, but noticeable when compared to something that doesn't have it.




I am totally impressed with how the decal film disappeared after a flat coat and the subsequent weathering. They are commendably thin. The weathering was basically done with pigments mixed in glaze medium, thinned as needed, and some Vallejo washes.







Thanks for looking. Next up, I think it's time to get a little StuGgy with it.

Kimmo