Hello All

I have started building my Leopard 1A5 BE.
The kit is from revell. It's a german leopard 1A5 wich will be converted into a belgian one.

A picture of a german Leopard 1A5 (thanks panzermodell for the pic)


A picture of a Belgian Leopard 1A5 BE


The kit


Work in progress


The conversion consist of adding trunks on the sides, changing the mud gaurds, change the Thermal image system, adding windsensor, extra turret basket, change periscopes, adding stowage bins on turret, callsign, towcables,.....

Greetings Roel

Hi Roel
How is the quality of the kit? I'm planning somewhere in the future to build a Norwegian A5. I have built Revells Leo 2 A4 and the quality of that kit was a bit "questionable".

Cheers
Erik

Very intreasting can't wait to see how it comes out....keep us posted.

what is those white stuff on the side of the tank?

very interesting variation. Are these skirts from the Leo II kit? I'd like to see more of your conversion.

Hi

Having built several myself I may be able to offer up an answer. The base kit is about 30 odd years old. And while arguably the best armour kit ever released by "Italeri" it is beginning to show its age.

One of the biggest problem I find is the plastic used. It is hard and somehat brittle. This makes sanding etc a bit of a chore.

The detail on the parts is a bit soft in someparts and slightly heavy in others.

One problem I have had with every Leo kit I have built (14 LEO 1s alone) is with the skirts. They have a tendency to fall off even if breathed upon :-)

Still, with some TLC and basic modeling skills, they can be made up to look very nice indeed.

HTH

Tom

Hi

WOW, what an interesting version. It has lots of unique features that really sets it apart from other 1A5's. Cannot wait to see your progress!

Tom

Hey

Thanks for the comments!!

@Erik67: the quality of the kit is not very good or bad.it's average The kit is an old one. For example the gun is glued to the turret so can't change elevation. Which many simple tamiya kits can!!!!

@Fuhrer: Those white things on the side is actually yellow That is the beginnig of the stawge bins on the side of tank as you can see on the picture of the real leopard 1A5BE. I make everything on the model with pieces of kits I don't use. So everything is scratchbuild.

@Ahueger: The skirts are from the revell kit. But I cut the wvaved skirts from the revell kit straight to fit the model. Sealed the old wholes with some putty and cutted new ones like on the 1A5BE

I hope these are the answers you needed. Otherwise feel free to ask or PM me!!!

Greetings Roel

Forgot something to ask myself :-)



Somebody knows how to make locks???
And second one someone can help me with making the closing handles as you see on the stowage bins on the side of the tank on the picture??

Greetz Roel

Hi

There are a couple of ways ... when I was younger and my hands steadier :-) I used to cut a small piece of plastic and then drill (yes) a couple of holes in the top. I then added a small folded piece of wire to the holes.

Now what I do, is to fold a piece a piece of wire and sandwich it between two pieces of plastic. I then lightly sand/file the "lock" to scale thickness.

HTH

Tom

Thanks for the tip logan. It seams difficult so small but I will give it a try. Problem is that mu smallest drill is 1mm But I will manage....

Is there somebody who can help me find a way to make the hinges as you see on the side of the tank on the stowage bins????

Greetings Roel

Roel,

Aber, has some PE with those hinges. Set 35A99 (which is actually for tanks from 1943 up).

Take a look at this pdf file : File

In picture B there are hinges like on the storage boxes of Belgian Leopards.

Kris

As you are a Leo tank commander (or am I mistaking?) I'm sure you will be able to go deep in detailling this kit

Good luck!

Martin

Any progress??

Kris

Hello

It has been a while since I posted here. Been on FTX Siberian Winter for a week (an it was cold :-) )
But I finished the engine deck and the rear of the model.

The rear of a real leopard


The rear of the model before building


The rear of the model finished. I had to scratch the to spare tracks from my leopard2. The layout from the german leopard 1 is diffirent from the belgian one so I made everything like it's on the real tank.


The rear glued in place


The real engine deck


The engine deck before assembly. The yellow thing on the right is scratch build. The engine cover from revell is not that good.


The engine deck ready


Let me know what you think
Greetings Roel

Your engine deck is simply stunning. How many hours did you spend cutting and assembling those little bits of tubing ? It's incredible !

Thanks for keeping us posted.

olivier

I've been beaten. I thought my drilling out spare Zelda plate for the engine cover decking was crazy but great job on glueing together all the little tube bits. Your pattern looks closer to the real thing.





Paul

Eduard now produces an updated excellent set of PE designed for the Tamiya Leopard 1A4 that includes the proper back deck grill pieces with the top grill and the lower multi hole grill.

I am currently using it on my Canadian Leopard C1A1 build.

Great work on scratchbuilding your own, excellent results.

hello

This will normaly be my last post for a while. I ordered a PE set (my first one ever ) And that will be in the store after 3 weeks. It's a set from eduard nr35338.

The lattest progress is the complete stowage boxes on the right side.


Greetings Roel