Greetings!

So let me try to explain....one day I had this weird idea pop into my head "hmmm wouldn't it be fun to paint a modern german Leopard 2 like it's WW2 counterparts", and well like you might imagine it took of from there. Since I knew it was possible to purchase a 1/35 Leopard 2 for basicly free on the interwebs, that's just what I did. I paid the price of simply 12.6€ (16.2$) and in my mind that's quite good value for money.

Overall the set is quite decent and the instructions are also pretty good most of the time, but I did run in to some fitting problems here and there (not a lot though!) but maybe it was just me being impatient (I don't really like the assembling process that much, I just look forward to the painting part :-D ).

So far I haven't that much more than building it, priming it and then laying down a simple sand,brown, green camo on it, but I'm thinking I'll do an ambush pattern on it, so still need a lot of small dots....but that's for future me to deal with.

Let's have some pictures!


Here you can see the finished tank, build straight from the box. I then primed it white and tried my hand with some simple preshading I belive it's called, not something I'd done many times before so was fun, might have gone overboard some places but who the hell cares.







(In hindsight I don't really think this step made thaaaat much of a different considering how it looks now :-p)


Then I did the Dark Yellow layer, followed by Olive Green and Nato Brown (all from Tamiya). I did try to highlight the camo slightly, so I started out with dark colors and then tried to lighten them, could have been better but again who cares, there's a first for everything.






All the above work was done 5 months ago, but recently I was able to get a bit of time to do some more work on this beast

Here's some images of the current progress. Still a looooong way to go, but pretty happy with the outcome so far, even though the ambush dots could have been better someplaces.....I really need a new better airbrush.









I'll try to keep this post up to date as I progress with this build, but if I should forget then check out my blog www.panzermarch.blogspot.dk and perhaps I just updated there :-p

Well anyway hope you like it
as always comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Just remember this isn't that serious of a build :-p more a case of "F*ck it that could be fun to build"

Just wondering; why is the paint job so shinny? Did the troops lightly oil their tanks to clean them like the US troops did during the Cold War? Or am I just jumping the gun and you have not yet shot the model with matte finish?

Just a word about the turret hatches.
The commander hatch is of the lift-and-swing type, it don`t dold backwards. The loaders hatch is folding backwards, so it would be impractical to place the MG3/MG42 over the hatch.

It's not even close to being finished mate, so yeah no matte finish yet.




"Alternate Future" yes I will use this card to get out of any discussion about realism and placement of stuff :-p this build is purely for fun and cba to take it to serious

Great idea...you need to add some barrel kill rings.

Too bad you didn't add Zimmerit to the hull and turret!

Now THAT'S an interesting idea!!

Mike

Sweet jesus great idea

It's probably a bit to late to add Zimmerit now ^^

Greeting everyone!

So I figured I'd better try to get this project finished, so for the past week I've been working on it after work and whenever I had time to paint a bit. I think it turned out fairly ok'ish, but I think it's quite clear from the pictures that I mostly paint 1/100 models and figures :-p

I tried a few new things since the last time I painted a 1/35 vehicles (My Panther) some worked out, others could have been better some [auto-censored]ed up and had to be redone from scratch.

But overall this project have been a blast! was so much fun to paint this modern beast in the same way that its predecessors might have looked. I've ordered a pack of modern german soldiers from Trumpeteer and I'm planning on doing them in the same theme as this, just for [auto-censored]s and giggles.

Well! time for some pictures. Please keep in mind that I don't usually do 1/35 figures or vehicles (or atleast it has been a while) and if you have anything to critisize about placement of stuff or similar, be prepared for the answer "alternate future vehicle" :-p
















So while the tank is basicly done, I might do a few touch ups (like the antennas, chips etc.), the commander isn't quite finished yet. First time painting Pea Dot pattern from references and hopefully it won't turn out to [auto-censored]ty.









Hope you enjoy


Hopefully I will be able to update again soon.



Chris

Feck....just read previous comments...I forgot to add kill rings >.< this is on the touch up list now

Interesting - an Australian science fiction author named John Birmingham wrote a series of books called "Axis of Time" in which a group of American and allied warships from 2021 accidently travels back in time to 1942, right before the Battle of Midway; have you heard of it?
The people from 2021 bring with them all sorts of technology and information, including diagrams of future weapons systems. Predictably, some of this stuff falls into the hands of the enemy, and before the end, Daimler-Benz, MAN, et cetera start rolling Leopard IIs off the production line!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Time

Anyway, you did a great job; I especially like the camo. Have you considered expanding this project into a diorama?

I haven't heard about Axis of Time, it sounds rather interesting though, but it reminded me of the film "The Final Countdown"

Hi Christoffer,
just came across your thread. A Leo 2 in WW2 scheme is really an interesting idea. Never even thought of this as I don't build "What If". Yes, you should add some kill rings on the cannon and some grime around the exhausts, as the Leos often nicely smoke You also forgot the towing cables. All in all a nice build of a great tank. So your next projects are a Challenger, Abrams and T-80 in WW2 colours, right?

Torsten

PS: I just finished my Leo 2A6M (from Revell), just my second 1/35 kit ever. I'll want to show it in this forum, too, next week. Just need to take some pictures. But mine is in NATO standard colours.

I am probably going to add the tow cables aswell, sadly the ones provided in the set are made of thread, but I think I got some metal wire laying around I could use. I'll look into the exhaust grime :-p

And about the next build, it will probably be some 1/100 Flames of War, the pile has gotten to big and I need to get stuff finished ^^

But will probably do another 1/35 build in the near future as I have 2 Pz IV (H and J), a Panther G (early) and a Full Interior Tiger I (early) laying around aswell....:-p

Just a small update. Managed to pretty much finish the commander, just need a proper matt coat.

I also tried my hand with some very simple kill rings on the gun and a few other minor touch ups.









Sorry for the quite [auto-censored]ty pictures (it's pretty late and I should be sleeping...).
But feedback is still welcome

'Allo 'Allo

So I mounted the commander now and well I guess it's basicly done now, might just give it another matt coat to seal everything in nice and tight, but otherwise I don't really have anything planed.

Oh yes! maybe add the tow cables if I can get them painted properly...(Stupid string [auto-censored]).






Hope you've enjoyed it :-)


Chris

I have seriously been thinking about this and I'm kinda hooked on the idea now :-p damn you sir!

But seriously an Abrams in sherman colors/decals and a T80/90 in T34 colors....could be really funny to paint :-D

Just recieved my "Modern German ISAF Soldiers" box from Trumpeteer which I'm thinking I'll paint in the same spirit as this tank was created :-p

The kit figures are decent'ish I guess, won't win any awards for fit or details thats for sure, but I still think I will be able to get a good result (hopefully :-p)

I might make a new thread for these figures, but on the other hand it might be fitting to keep them together with the Leo, just to show there is some meaning to the madness.