Hi folks, here´s my recently finished chilean build.....

It´s the Italeri Leopard 1A2 fitted with turret armour and the PZB 200 image intensifier (?) from a Revell kit (the latter was pretty damaged to keep on building it).

Scratch:
- smoke launchers to resemble dutch ones
- base of the never installed thermal camera
- new antenna bases

Aftermarket parts:
- Roadwheels, tow cables, periscope, engine mesh, telephone box & storage bins from Accurate Armour Danish Leo 1A5 conversion

Kitbashed parts:
- Machine gun mounts and MAG
- Jerrycan holders
- storage in turret
- Antennas

Base coat of Humbrol enamel, finished with a combination of Vallejo Acrylics and weathering with Mig Pigments and Tamiya weathering master.

This project took me almost 4 months to complete.

Pics:
















That´s all, comments most welcome

Cheers

Intersting and good looking build, Klaus. I have a couple of Leos waiting to be buit and they will be pretty close to yours, except for being Leopard 1A5NOIIs. I have to say I prefer the light weathering you have done to this Leo. It brings out detail much better,

One question: What did you use for antennas? They look very good.

Erik

Thanks for your comments Erik, the antennas were made from a very thin metallic wire I found in my local hobby shop. I guess are similar to those offered by Accurate Armour

Hope to see some of those Leos soon, are those with up-armored turret?

Best Regards

Yup, and btw I still spell my name with out a c...

Erik

OOPS sorry....now i´ts right

Thanks for the answer buddy

Cheers

Nice looking Leo to go with your M109, Klaus. At this rate, pretty soon you will have built the entire Chilean armored inventory!

Thanks Lucas, in fact that it´s my goal, have in models all the most distinctive vehicles in the Chilean Army

Best Regards

PS: The Leo will be in fact along a new M113 I just started working on

Nice stowage and weathering. The Leopard looks nice with the twin MAGs.

But the TCs hatch on the Leopard goes up and then rotates to the back as seen here:
http://www.tanxheaven.com/leo1V/leo1kws-052.jpg

The tow cable should probably be in the holders too.

Wish I could build at your pace though.

Paul

Thanks for the comments and the tip Paul, I just corrected the hatch issue. The cables were left without their holders on porpouse

Cheers

HI

I have a Chilean LEO on the books so this is a great motivator. One simple Q and one observation for you.

Is the Chilean "shield" handpianted or a decal?

Although my ref material is somewhat limited, I am not sure as to whether or not you would put a spare roadwheel on the mantlet?

Thanks again.

Tom

Very unique Leopard conversion, good for you for doing the conversion.

A few things I noticed were the upside down commander's hatch and opening the wrong way(I know you said you corrected it).

The loader's hatch does not lock open in the position you have it, it should be flat on the turret.

The side skirt foot holes should be cut out.

The PZB 200 should have a power cable to the turret socket.

I don't think the Leopard 1V has the extended commander's TRP2 sight. The extended one is only fitted to the Leopard 1A5 so it has clearance over the larger gunner's sight housing.

It's always nice to see another Leopard 1 project.

HI



Tom

Tom,

If that is a Chilean Leo I, then it looks like there are two studs on the top of the mantlet where Erik has put the spare road wheel. Personally I'm very surprised at this as I would have thought the mass of the road wheel would throw off the stabilisation system, even though it is mounted close to the trunions where the effect would be minimised.

Very interesting.

Paul

I think you mean Klaus...

Erik

Hi all, 1st thanks for taking a look on my little cat...

Some answers....

- All the markings are decals made using the Testors decal paper.
- I know the spare roadwheeel shouldn´t be there, but was a way to hide some big damage in the mantlet armour, that was recycled from a bad built Leo kit, and was damaged far beyond repair. In the moment I started the build, my scratch abilities were very limited, so I didn´t correct that. The base kit was the Italeri Leo 1A2, with some parts recoverred from a bad built Revell leo
- The PZB 200 not always have the power cable installed, that´s why I didn´t use it
- About the TRP2 sight, I didn´t know that one. Since I use some parts of the Accurate Armour Conversion, I thought that the sight included in the kit was undersized. Not going to make the same mistake in the next one....
- The loaders hatch has some stowage beneath, that´s why didn´t close flat
- The commander hatch it´s now corrected

Thanks again for the input guyys, next one will not have the same flaws

Cheers

Indeed I did, sorry 'bout that.

As to the studs on the mantlet. If Klaus did it to hid a flaw, then I wonder if the studs are for a searchlight? Anyone seen a searchlight on these Leos in this location?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Paul

What appear to be two studs in the photo posted are actually just the top two of four mounts for the XSW-30-U IR/white-light searchlight.

The mounting lugs are in this location on the cast mantlets of the Leopard 1 series. They could be found on German Leopard 1A1A1-A1A4, Leopard 1A5, Chilean and Greek Leopard 1-Vs, Greek Leopard GR2, Italian Leopard 1A5IT, Norwegian Leoaprd 1A5NO, Belgium Leopard 1A5BE, and the Canadian Leopard C2.

I think it is just the angle of the photo that makes them look like posts. They are in fact curled at the end to accept the mounting pins of the searchlight.

I think the only actual modifications to the ex-Dutch Leopard 1-V before they went to Chile were the additions of the PZB200 and the spotlight on the Commander's MAG-58.

Which it´s not always carried, at least on training, both the spotlight and the PZB200.

Cheers

More pics of chilean Leos








Enjoy!

Cheers