Far from boring, Donald!!
John

Agree, thanks for the effort and time you put here, it is really interesting

Today I joined the Upper & Lower Hulls together.

a little filling and sanding is needed here, as there's no skirting to cover this area.

The Winch door may be positioned in the open or closed position.

I chose the closed position, as this wouldn't be open unless you were using the winch . It wouldn't be open for travel or when using the crane. Besides there's no cable or fittings for it.

Next I think I'll be doing some painting.
That's all for a while.
Donald

Awesome detailed description!

Don't worry about people that could get bent about your technique.

Did the Medecis stand over Michaelangelo's shoulder and complain?

Fantastic. Love the step by step. Gonna make my build a breeze. Thanks.

I hope you like my step by step for painting the Wheels
First while still on the Sprue I painted the outside Nato Green and the inside areas Model Master Steel, this will give the rub area.

Next I painted the Lower Hull Nato Green.


After removing the Wheels from the Sprue and cleaning them up I mounted them on toothpicks then painted the edge with the Tire Color.

Followed by the outside edge.

Then the surface.

All ready for assembly and Installation .

Next to Install the Wheels and then start on the Track.
Done for now.
Donald

This has been posted also as a correction for earlier in the build.
Donald

Here's the Blade I hope this is self explanatory .

If by chance you do get the Mounting Arms installed upside down rather than tearing every thing apart you could Just rotate the mounting plates (maby no one will notice).

I got distracted with the Blade, I just realized that I could have installed the Blade Mounts upside down that would have complicated everything , luckily I had them right.
This was to maby keep any of you from making the mistake

Maby now on to the Wheels and Track
Donald

Nice recovery. Thanks for posting the tips.

Thanks for all the useful tips.
By the way the extra sprocket wheels feature different hubs. They are not the same you used on your model.

Olivier

I used the ones called fore in the instructions, just wanted to point out that there were different ones in the box
Donald

Have the Wheels assembled and installed .

No Poly caps on the Wheels, so they will be glued eventually .


Painting before assembling the Track, that's coming up when they'r done
Regards.
Donald

Phantastic build blog, Donald!
Thanks for adding all the useful information, very appreciated.

Cheers
Walter

The V sprues come from Gepard it and the extra sprocket wheel is the early style with 8 bolts hubs which is correct for Gepard and earlier Leopard. The Bergeleopard kit has the later style with 15 bolts and this is correct for most Bergeleopard (and later Leopard) except for the initial batch. For exaple Italian Army bought 127 Bergeleopards in two batches and the first come from Germany, other beeing built in Italy under license by OTO Melara. All German made Bergeleopards had the 8 bolts hub, the others 15 bolts. During their service some tank from the first batch had the later wheel because they were totally interchangeable.

I ll be waiting for an interior kit to come for sure..

I finally have the Track Links painted.




I sprayed all the parts with Model Master Gun Metal paint, then cut the Sprue into easy handle strips to make it easier to hand paint the rubber pads. This is very tedious painting.
Now it's ready for assembly.
That's all for now.
Donald

Donald, good progress so far. I'll watch your build with big interest as this kit is on my wish list for years and years. So I hope old Santa will listen closely to this posting ....

I have some nice memomries of the "Bergeleo" during my active time, especially that 4. January 1989 still leaves a smile on my face when I needed the help of one of these from our recovery unit to get my truck out of deep mud - after 6 hours waiting for it. It took only 15 minutes then but we were all covered with mud, especially me ....

Enjoy the build!
Torsten

I'm watching with interest, as this berge is on my to-get list! My method of painting leo-style tracks is to spray them with a red-brown base coat, then a thinned earth colour, followed by gentle dry-brushing of the outer rubber pads with a rubbery black. From what I've seen they are always dirty or at least the metal oxidizes to an earth-brown colour, unless of course it's fresh from the wash rack and still dripping. On the inner side the middle strip of the pad is rubber (as Mike says) and the outer ones are metal, but I don't bother trying to paint the rubber strip. Instead I dry-brush alternating layers of earth (for the ground-in dirt) and rubber-black (for all the tire rubber that gets worn off on the track) along the direction of travel to simulate the way the wheels leave their mark on the track. Hope this helps! (And can't wait to hear how you cope with all those guide teeth and end connectors!)

You are Correct, I have corrected it on the Track Links.
Donald
Here are the Pics.




Now unless something else comes up I should be able to start assembling them.
Donald

Finally out:

Perfect Scale's

Interior for TAKOM´s Bergepanzer 2 Standard (2122) with decals.

https://www.perfect-scale.de/de/www-perfect-scale-de-3/Inneneinrichtung-Bergepanzer-2-Standard.html?XTCsid=5vuvi1iit7i7u5h7ac14rae4l5

Some inspiration for painting those tracks
http://data3.primeportal.net/recovery/ulrich_wrede/bergepanzer_2-y_740_172/images/bergepanzer_2-y_740_172_14_of_16.jpg


Image borrowed from
http://www.primeportal.net/recovery/ulrich_wrede/bergepanzer_2-y_740_172/
where there are more images

/ Robin