Fun builds here boys!
Leo Madness!
Dan

she is getting there.

Gaz, John, Kelly, some great work going on here! Keep it up, guys!
I'm doing some convicts work right now, painting the track pads and rubbers on the road wheels by hand. Hope to show you some progress in the next days.

Dan, it sure is! Home of the Leopard is not KMW now, for the next few months it's here ....

Stay safe and keep building models!
Torsten

Everybody's builds are looking great so far !
While I haven't enlisted I did start Border Model's A5/A6 yesterday and it's a real nice kit ! I've built Tamiya's & Hobby Boss & Mengs Leo2 versions and, IMHO, this is the best of the bunch ! Fit so far is great ! Instructions could be better BUT for your first release well done Border ! Only complaint is that I wish that Border would of made 2 piece tow shackles. I've cleaned up about 1/2 a run of 3 piece tracks but not glued any. Smartly molded with a minimum clean up.
Anyway modelers, keep building & posting and thanks !

Great to hear from you, ivanhoe6. Good to hear that the Borders Leo builds up so nicely. It's already on my wish list. But why don't you enlist in the campaign? Only then you can get a ribbon in the end.

As said earlier, here comes a little update from my Revell Leo. I have painted the carriage with Revell 67 Green Grey RAL 7009, which is not the standard NATO Green ....


.... the difference to NATO Green RAL 6031 (Bronce Green) is clearly visible ....

.... wheels, wheels, wheels ....

.... and some monkeys work. The inner side is painted with Revell 91 Steel and the outer side with a mix of Revell 83 Red Brown, Steel and Black to gave it a light rusty look. The pads are all handpainted with Anthrazit (Revell 9). Have to hide the joints somewhere later ....

.... and todays work so far. Fortunatly I have some rubber bands ....


Have fun!
Torsten

Torsten,
I like your choice of colors. Back in my says in the Marines, very often, the green on our M109's would often have a slight milkiness to it.

For color, my base color is just a soft green. Once the other colors are on, I'll work on subtle ways to give it a slight fade. I've noticed on some Leopard pics that there are often white marks, presumably from rain and scuffing. I have the tracks and pads painted. I went with steel and gray-black for the rubber pads.


I will weather them later I haven't totally decided on a scene.


I'm at the point where all that remains to add are the exterior details to both turret and hull.



These two little pieces of PE have given me fits. Must have reglued them at least 4 times.

Happy modelling!

My Leopard journey continues! There are a few parts waiting to being either brush painted or added after the base color is applied. Love the shape of this tank!







Happy modelling!

Gaz

Good progress, Gary! I'm not that far yet, but the hull is built up now. Next steps are getting the wheels and tracks on ....

Thank you, Torsten! I'm sure you'll catch up to me soon with your own exceptional effort.

Have done a bit of work on my 2A4GR in the past few days. Here's my progress until now.

Wheels are on ....

.... tracks are on. The joints (no no, not that ones .... ) are marked with yellow arrows. They are more or less invisible ....


.... Revell has the option to glue the heavy skirts upright (which is used for work on the tracks or for railway transport) ....


.... but because of the difficult greek 4-tone camo I decided for the alternative position. I glued the skirts only at the marked points with ethylacetate ....

.... now I'm half way though the assembly, 24 of 48 steps are done ....

Next steps are some masking on the underside and cover the the tracks against overspray. And of course assembling the turrett ....

Have a nice week!
Torsten

Looks great, Torsten!

Thanks Gaz! Have done a bit of work on my Leo in the past days.
Foil for the tracks ....


.... after white primer I sprayed Revell No. 85 Brown all over the hull. This looks so strange on a Leo ....


.... but it's really close to the real tone, compared with my references. The tone is RAL 8023 Orange Brown but under my bench lamp it looks more like Signal Orange. I'll see when the other colours are on ....

The turret is coming together nicely but I have not taken any photos of it yet.

Torsten

Torsten,
Though it seems odd, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. A brown wash should set you straight once the other colours are added.

Gary, if I had started with green it would not look so strange now. The Leo will get a slight dusty look later with brown, grey and green pastel chalk. It will look fine in the end ....

Calling my build done! Still got some crew members to build up and paint, but the kit is done. I wanted to represent a Canadian Leopard 2a4M Can in Canadian configuration with the LDSH.

Hull finished


Sorry I didn't take photos during the painting process but her she is. I used all Mission Models paints Black primer, White primer (for pre shading), and Nato green. Weathering was done with Mig washes and Tamiya panel liner. When weathering was done an overall coat of Mission Models Transparent Dust was applied with more over the lower hull and running gear. The Velcro patches are from Leopard workshop and a fantastic giving a better look than flat decals.

Very nice, John!

Really nice work, John!

Well done, John! Congrats to be the first to finish this campaign! Your Leo looks terrific! I put the kit on my wish list .... Are those patches you used self-adhesive?

Please don't forget to post at least 2 photos of your build in the campaign gallery to qualify for the ribbon. And thanks for taking part in this campaign!

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Thank you everyone. Torsten the patches from Leopard Workshop are self adhesive and are so much better to work with then the decals provided in the kit. I highly recommend them.

2 photos Added!

My Leopard ready for decals:









Covered up the flash for two of them.

Happy modelling!

Gaz

Good work, Gary ! So, you're the next finisher then! I'm still far away from that point with my build.

As I said before, I was not really satisfied how "orange" this Brown came out. Yesterday evening I looked in my paint box again (should have done that earlier ....) and found a brown tone which should fit better. This morning I did some test spraying and compared it with my references again. Yep! That's it!

.... and away with this! At least I can still use RAL 8023 as a primer on the turret....

.... this is how my 2A4GR looks under cloudy day light fresh from the paint shop ....

.... even under my workbench lamp it looks brown now. I'm really pleased how it came out ....

Will leave it to dry thoroughly and in the next days I will mark the borders of the other 3 camo tones roughly with a pencil and hopefully start painting green at the weekend.

You're ahead of me in one respect, Torsten. My tools and mirrors are still unattached.

A question for you and any other tankers from any nation: "In simulated combat conditions, does the modern tank commander keep his eyes and head outside of the tank for better situational awareness as was done in the past, or is modern combat now fought totally closed-up?"

Please specify your nation.

Thanks for the thought!

Gaz

2nd main camo colour is on. 2 more to go .... I noticed from looking at my refernce photos (International Leopard 2 - Tankograd Publishing), that every 2A4GR had a different camo. It looks as if it is not standardized as in Germany. So I can almost do what I want ....



.... and some orange primer on the turret .... The Coca Cola can holders and the clothes lines are still left aside. That makes painting on the turret easier. They will be attached later in the build.


Have a nice Sunday, guys!
Torsten

The camo looks good, Torsten!

Some pin wash close ups:








Happy hunting!