Hello everyone, new to the forums here (though I've done my fair share of lurking). Always a pleasure reading the build logs of others and really learned a lot of neat tips and tricks which I've applied to some of my builds.

I've only been at the hobby for just over a year though I suppose because I'm an art student, it wasn't that hard getting the hang of it (yeah tell that to my wallet)

Anyways, enough of all that. For my first build log, I'll be tackling Amusing Hobby's VK 16.02 Leopard.

The Leopard was intended to replace the Pz II. Luchs as a recon tank but the project was ultimately scrapped due to various reasons.

For my build, I'll be going for a what-if Leopard resurrected in late 1945 or 1946. The Amusing Hobby kit is modeled after the Panther D so there will be some work trying to make it look a little more like the G chassis.

The Kit:

Starting on the hull first,I noticed the kit had several extra parts especially for the frontal glacis.

The kit instructions has you use the one with the driver's visor and letterbox style mg port but there are also two extra front plate types - one with visor hole and round hole(Panther A?) and the other with just the round hole (Panther G?)

Unfortunately the kit doesn't supply a kugelblende but I managed to find one (from a Dragon KT methinks) from my spares box. Tested it and it fits like without a hitch.



Also got a raised fan deck from a Panther G. That's going on too!



I was also wondering if I should switch out the hull mg for stg44 since I read that they were planning to do that for late war tanks. Thoughts?

Realistically, if the leopard remained in production at late war, the Germans would likely rationalize its production by adopting the same hull modification as that happened between Panther Ausf A and Ausf G. So the bottom of the panniers would become slanted, and the angle of the side of the hull would reduce.

I see what you mean. I used my Panther G model for comparison and the angle of the side hulls for the panther are much steeper. I'll see what I can do about that.

I don't know what panniers are though. Dictionary search just led me to large basket. Are they the storage compartments at the rear?

Panniers are the portion of the hull that overhangs the tracks.

Those are more commonly known as sponsons. By definition they are the compartments extending from a vehicle's sides whereas panniers are baskets.

Hah yeah, I'm more familiar with sponsons.

Anywho, a few updates.

Taking some of the advice given into consideration, I decided to play plastic surgeon for a bit to make it look more late panther-ish.

After some slicing, copious amounts of putty, and several lacerated fingers later...



A bit rough now but a couple of touch ups should help it along.



Also, I realized just how large the chassis is. Almost the same size as the Panzer IV!

Over at the collecting forum I belong to a member modded a 21st Century Panther into one in 1/18 scale.

I'm thinking of upgrading the weeny 50mm kwk 39 gun to a 75mm kwk 40. It would look so much more badass with a bigger gun plus quite feasible for the time period considering the 50mm became largely obsolete against the swarms of T-34s and Shermans.

I'd have to modify the kit mantlet a bit to accommodate the larger barrel but it should be a fairly simple fix.

PS. Maybe add turret schurzen?? The possibilities! I'm going insane.

Ordered a Hetzer gun barrel as I didn't want to have a muzzle brake on. Will probably take about 2 weeks for that to arrive.

Meanwhile, scrounging around my spares box netted me a couple of Panther G exhausts with shields which I can use to replace the earlier D or A type exhausts provided in the kit.



They fit nicely too

So its been quite a while since the last update. The metal barrel finally arrived and I hopped back on the build

I've made quite a few improvements to make the Leopard look more like a possible 1945/1946 vehicle.

-Sculpted an enlarged mantlet to house the larger 75mm gun.
-A pair of those rangefinders as seen on the Panther F turret.
-Smoke dischargers moved to the turret rear. I'm still debating this though. Might replace with the close proximity - mine launcher (provided I have spare parts for that)
- A makeshift stowage rack from discarded photoetch sprues because why not?






Still got a ways to go. Will need to sand the sculpted parts. Create cast texture with Mr.Surfacer... and work on the wheels and treads.