Tamiya Leopard 2A6

[Ozzie21]

Don't know where my original post has gone but I'll give it another go.
While waiting for some supplies to finish off the Challenger I decided to start a Tamiya Leo 2A6. This should be easy as it's Tamiya and I had an Eduard PE set for it as well. All was going pretty well as I only lost two bits of PE, found them later. I decided it was time to attach the deck to the hull. Not so easy as it turned out the deck was a bit warped. Time for clamps.


Lucky I have a few.


I needed them as the bow plate wouldn't mate with the lower hull plate and the deck wouldn't sit down in the left had corner. I thought it might have been the wire grabs I added, didn't like the PE ones, but no it wasn't that. The deck was twisted so lots of clamps and some tape.

Some really tiny bits of PE, right down to the padlocks.


I added the etch to the suspension bits but they may not be noticed when the side skirts go on.

On to the turret next as I'm going to let the glue set for good 24hrs before I take the clamps off the hull.

Regards
Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

[gustavlekstal]

Working in the details. Goodstuff

[Ozzie21]

thanks man. That little PE nearly beats my eyesight even with an optivisor.

Regards
Charles Emerson

[Ozzie21]

Found Coen's U tube channel so I've been watching him at night while I potter away at the Leo.
Got a bit more done but my clamping efforts were in vain as the bow plates didn't quite meet so I had to add a filler strip which will now require a bit of work.



Made up the fan grilles. I had to remove the plastic grille with my Dremel leaving only the outer ring. And it shows no matter how careful you are something always moves. I'll see if I can lift the mesh and reposition it.


The turret baskets mesh was a mongrel to get to conform. No amount of anealling seemed to help but copious amounts of CA and some zip kicker did.


One turret. Not much PE yet that's still to come. The lenses for the visors was also a pain. Some sort of vacuum formed plastic that was just crap to cut and fit. It's pretty clear though. Need some clear paint for them to get the tinted look.


Painted the inside of the turret an Ivory colour. Not sure if that is the correct colour but it looked pretty close to what I saw in the pictures.


"Look Ma I have wings I can fly"


The turrets on modern tanks are awesome things. I kept the exercise smoke dischargers after watch an MKW demo vid one the Leo A?

Okay that's it for now. I'll get a bit more done today and some tomorrow, then I have to go off and work. It'll be about two weeks before I can get back to it and the Challie so I'll update things then.
cya
Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

[Nige99]

In my opinion the Leopard is the nicest looking modern tank out there!
Good pics and step by step guide so far! Well done

[Ozzie21]

Nige99, Thanks for the comments. got more done this arvo, one bottle of clear paint turned up so I coloured the vision blocks. Shame I got carried away watching one of Coen's vids and I glued the commanders vision block in place before I added the paint.
Cya
Charles
In Queensland

In my opinion the Leopard is the nicest looking modern tank out there!
Good pics and step by step guide so far! Well done

[Mike00]

Great start, I am looking forward to the next update. The PE is adding some very nice detail.

[Ozzie21]

A quick update. I've been on night shift the last three days so not to much has happened except for adding PE. This probably wouldn't be so bad if Eduard's instructions were a bit more specific. Some of the locations are a bit vague and the pictures I have don't show these locations in detail. So some of it may not be exactly where it should be. Having said that some of the PE is tiny and I can barely find them on the fret. A word of caution, don't attempt to attach PE after a 14hr night shift. You'll see what I mean


Got the bow plate filled. Some of those pieces of PE on the bow have to folded three times and have the bolt heads attached.


Don't attach PE after a 14hr night shift.


More of the bow. I tinted all the vision ports with a clear orange, Got sick of waiting on the clear blue to arrive and I also wanted the join the hull and upper deck.


Back end's nearly done. Needs chains on the tow hooks, indicator lights which I'll add after it paint it.


There are hundreds of these little brackets, that I can't see and Eduard don't tell you where to put them

Well That's about it for the time being. I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks so nothing will get done till I'm back.

Cya
Charles in Queensland