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| Canadian Leopard 2A6M Completed 1/7/2011; Tamiya Leopard 2A6 with Storm Minatures resin and Eduard Slat Armour | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 21 2011, 05:54 PM (7,780 Views) | |
| Nemesis | May 21 2011, 05:54 PM Post #1 |
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The German Leopard, 1&2, has always been a favourite tank and one i have built on several occasions, either as a Danish Leo, West German Leo1, or German Leo2. With the recent war in Iraq and the ongoing war in Afghanistan we have witnessed the addition of extra armour to the Abram’s, Challenger 2 and Ariete main battle tanks. Because of the restriction on serving outside of German, it fell to the Canadians to show what the Leopard 2 could do and like the other MBT’s; their Canadian Leopards have also under gone a transformation. The Canadians changed their Centurions for Leopard 1's and as this design was super ceded by the newer Leopard 2, so the Canadian Army changed to the Leopard 2. Like most nations who have bought the Leopard 2, Canada has stipulated its own specification. Up until recently, it was not easy to produce a replica model of a Canadian 2A6M with Slat Armour. However we now have three options that I know of, to reproduce the Leopard 2A6M in service with the Canadians. The HB kit, the Tamiya Leopard 2, with the edition of the Storm Miniatures resin upgrade set and Eduard's photo etch slat armour or, and by far the more expensive, the Cromwell Models version(which i believe requires the HB kit making it easily the most expensive of the three options. I have looked at the HB 2A6M kit and while it is a good representation of the Leopard in Canadian service the details, certainly for the slat armour, are a bit on the basic side. However it does have two advantages over the other two choices: 1. It is the cheapest of the three 2. All you need is in one box. However i have decided to build the superior Tamiya Leopard and use the upgrades from Storm Miniatures and Eduard. One of the most eye catching parts of the Canadian Leopards is the slat armour and Eduard reproduces this in far greater detail than in the HB kit. So lets have a look at a couple of photos of the Leo in Afghanistan   So that is what i am aiming for with this, my first build on L&C. TBC |
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| Nemesis | May 21 2011, 06:16 PM Post #2 |
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I started this build by cleaning up some of the larger resin pieces from Storm Minatures. This is my first time using their products and i have to say the quality is impressive and easily up there with the major resin companies. Cleanup of the belly armour was easy and i used a scapel blade to do this thus avoiding any problems with resin dust. Once i had cleaned up the belly armour i attached it to the hull of the Tamiya Leopard.  Allowing the glue to harden i then decided to add the extra galcis plat armour.  Again there were no problems with the clean up and before long i had installed the resin piece in place  With the two largest resin pieces in place it was time to turn to that most boring of tasks that armour modellers face, the wheels and suspension  And the wheels assembled  The suspension arms and bump stops   While the glue on the wheels set i attached the suspension arms to the hull   Next up was the rear of the hull and i added the details before i added the rear plate to the rest of the hull   Reverting back to the hull i added the add on armour to the inspection cover on the bottom of the hull along with the three hull strengthening ribs. Not all Canadian Leo's in Afghanistan have the strengthening ribs but i wanted to use as much of the resin as possible so decided to include them.  And what they look like once installed   At first i though the inspection cover plate was the wrong size but after checking my references it does look like that. Well that is it for now, hopefully there will be some more progress tomorrow. All constructive comments are more than welcome Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| seanrgb | May 21 2011, 06:57 PM Post #3 |
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Going to be watching this one with Interest |
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| peebeep | May 21 2011, 08:51 PM Post #4 |
Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious
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That image of the tanks trundling along the road with turrets traversed is straight out of the chiller cabinet!  peebeep |
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| Nemesis | May 22 2011, 05:48 PM Post #5 |
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So inbetween watching the F1 and the final klicks of the Giro i pushed on with the Leopard. First task today was to work on the photo etch screens for the engine deck. Tamiya do not supply these in the kit so i used the LionRoar set for the Leopard 2A5. This is not an issue as the parts for the 2A5 and 2A6 are the same.   As you can see the screens from LionRoar are very good indeed, almost seems a shame to have to paint them. Setting them aside to dry i added some smaller details to the upper hull, namely the armoured cover infront of the Driver's hatch, the two front tow hooks and a cover on the left hand side.    No major issues with any of these parts, all very much run of the mill. Next step is the finishing off of the parts on the glacis plate.There is quite a bit of detail to add here, head lights, track links, ice cleats, mirrors, all that good stuff!     I also installed the driver's sliding hatch and it is possible to make this work although i decided to glue it in place instead. Knowing my luck if i had not i would have lost it to the carpet monster or our cats.   If you look closely at the last picture, you can see that one of the mirrors is missing, the left hand one as you look at the photo. I have no idea where this went and spent ages looking for it, all to no avail, oh well one of the cats must have taken a fancy to it  Next up i moved onto the rear deck and started to add the tools and the pe screens, again using the pe from the LionRoar set  There are two very delicate screens provided in the LionRoar PE set and i found it prudent to anneal them before putting them in place. What i did was to glue one end of the screen to the Tamiya part. When the glue was dry i gently bent the screen around until the two ends met up and then i applied another drop of glue to finish off.  Nice bit of addtional detail that is definately better than the moulded on detail. Carrying on with the rear deck, i continued to add the tools and rear facing camera.      And that is that for today, i hope you all like it. Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| Nemesis | May 22 2011, 05:50 PM Post #6 |
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Hi Sean, i hope you find this of interest, do you build modern armour as well? Hi Peebeep, i think that is what they call the "money shot". Really is a very atmospheric photo indeed  Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| seanrgb | May 22 2011, 07:37 PM Post #7 |
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Yep Mainly modern stuff ..can't be doing with the WW2 poo and the Endless Tiger tanks ..like the new version of Uncle Gunters one that was just the same as Uncle Adolfs one but on Gunters the shovel was in a different position Love the Modern stuff no end ...Got another Chieftain to do In the old Berlin Markings ..plus fancy having a crack at a Leopard PSO
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| snipersmudge | May 23 2011, 06:20 AM Post #8 |
Release the hounds!
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excellent work on the PE watching with interest
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| Mike W | May 23 2011, 03:44 PM Post #9 |
Hook down, wheels down... call the ball
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Really interesting work Eth , despite me having no clue what the hell you are on about for the most part regarding the details and differences between types  lol
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| Nemesis | May 24 2011, 07:30 AM Post #10 |
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Nothing like a bit of confusion to keep things interesting Mike, just wait until we get to the slat armour, i think that will really make your eyes boggle...i know it did mine when i looked at all the photo etch in theEduard set. Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| f4sooty | May 24 2011, 01:12 PM Post #11 |
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Great work so far !!!! This is going to be a very interesting build and I am looking forward to seeing it built. I am currently building the Hobbyboss Canadian Leopard with the Black box Barracuda conversion kit. I tottally forgot to do a build thread on it!!!! |
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| Nemesis | May 26 2011, 05:47 PM Post #12 |
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Hi Steve, my Leo is going to be an early one without the Barracuda covering, would be good to see yours. How are you finding the Black Box set, is it a good fit and value for money? Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| Nemesis | May 26 2011, 05:56 PM Post #13 |
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With the engine deck finished i moved onto the turret. It is here that the majority of the resin parts are used. The first task is to remove the moulded on detail for the smoke launchers, the areas circled.  I left the putty to dry for a while and started work on the replacement parts. Again there was no air bubbles and the parts were easy to remove and clean up.  The red line is an indication of where to score the line to remove the casting block, this is easier than you might think.  The finished part after removal and clean up and in place on the turret  I wanted to assemble the gun so that i could let the glue set before adding some MR Surfacer 500 over the seam. I find that when sanded back the MR Surfacer has penetrated enough of the gap to leave a virtually smooth finish.    While that was drying i added the frontal turret armour and then glued the gun assembly into the turret. Sorry about the photos for some reason they came out a bit blurred.  The last thing i had time for today was the rear turret basket. A one piece moulding that fits easily to the turret.  You can see the smoke grenade rails on each side of the turret in the pic as well. Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| f4sooty | May 27 2011, 11:35 AM Post #14 |
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Lovely progress Eth. As for my Leo, the black dog set on the whole the fit is good however there are no insructions with the set so you have to work out where things go. If I get the chance I will start a thread and show you where I am up to and how I tackle the painting and weathering. So far the hull is complete and the bar armour is on. As for the turret i still need to ad the bar armour. I have another Hobbyboss Canadian leo and will be building that straight after my Tiger. It will be OOB build and will go on a base alongside the Barracuda one. Finally I bought the Blackdog Canadian tank crew figures, they are very nice and would recommend them to you. |
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| seanrgb | May 27 2011, 11:38 AM Post #15 |
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Great stuff on this one
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| Nemesis | May 27 2011, 12:54 PM Post #16 |
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Hi Steve, thanks for that mate, i look forward to seeing your Leo, should be very interesting. Thanks Sean regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| cookie | May 28 2011, 03:26 PM Post #17 |
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This is awesome! the leopard is definatly on my to build list, I remember seeing the Danish Leopards in Afghan and wondering why we hadnt brought our Challys to the party! I can imagine the bar armour must be quite a challenge! I was just looking at building a Mastiff until I remembered it looks like its crashed into a shopping trolley! I'm looking forward to seeing more of this! |
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| Nemesis | May 28 2011, 05:24 PM Post #18 |
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Thanks Cookie i hope you find the rest of the build interesting. I would love to build a Mastiff at some point, just have to save the pennies for it. Ok, so today i continued working on the turret adding the various smaller parts.  In the photo above we have the commanders turret hatch ring, the lifting lugs and the mount for the gunners sight.  Nothing diffucult in placing these parts, usual Tamiya accuracy and fit. The poly cap allow the sight to revolve fully. A bit "toy like" and maybe should have been left out as it is easy for the sight to appear slanted. That seems to be the only issue with these poly caps. The next item to be built is the cable reel that sits inside the rear stowage bin. the Tamiya poart is ok.,although a little out of scale. So i decided to use the LionRoar PE parts.  However i came across a small "issue" when i could not find the part to make up the roller. So employing all my skills of observation i passed the frets to my girlfriend and asked her to find them. After much muttering she agreed with me that part 55 is nowhere to be found*sighs* So i trimmed down the Tamiya part and used that instead.  Moving on from that i next added the extrendable turret side armour, truly a unique feature on any of the 2A6 Leopards. Not sure i fully understand the principle behind this feature. My understanding is that they were extended to protect the smoke launchers.     Perhaps they were used to signal what direction the tank was going to turn........would make for a fun question in the German Tank Driving test*lol*After the Leopard wings i wanted to complete the turret stowage bin and so turned to the LionRoar PE set for the parts. There is a small "hinge" to remove from the top of the turret to allow the PE hinge to sit flat. This was easily removed with a chiesel blade and the lid and hinge fitted.  The hinge is a huge improvement over the Tamiya "attempt" which is very poor it has to be said.  It may not seem like it, but the PE parts are 100% better than the moulded parts. Next up was the main gunners sight.  Again no issues here, but be careful when removing these parts not to break the small parts on the front. These are really brittle and will break if you breath too heavily on them  Next up is the armoured covers for the periscope and Commanders armoured vison port. Only the small cover is from the LionRoar set as i fould the larger cover is way too big, so instead i used the kit supplied part. Although i love using photo etch i will only do so when there is a marked improvement in the parts i am adding. If the plastic part is better then i use that   I also added the doors for the sight in front of the Commanders hatch. Why Tamiya persist in supplying this part as a single piece you have to cut yourself is beyond me. I suppose it is cheaper to mould one piece and not two, but in this case i see that as penny pinching.  cont |
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| Nemesis | May 28 2011, 05:36 PM Post #19 |
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Next up i started work on the turret baskets. There are two, one on the left rear and one on the right rear. I used the LionRoar PE screens and found them to be an excellent fit and have good detail      All looks straight forward but there is one thing you must do to get the top rails to fit correctly that is not mentioned in the instructions. When fitting the encircled parts they need to be at a slight angle to line up with the top rail  Next task was to anneal the photo etch mess to go around the sides of the stowage baskets .jpg) Because of the two bends that have to be formed the annealing really does make it less of a chore. The following photos show how i did this and i am quite pleased with how it worked. What i did was glue the short piece and left it for a few minutes.  Then i placed my finger over the part that was glued and made the first bend.  When the glue was set i made the second bend, keeping one finger close to the bend to hold the part that was already glued on.  Next step was to add the final piece of mesh to the back of the basket.  The fit of the PE is not bad and certainly a lot better than the supplied mesh screens....that horrible nylon type stuff that Tamiya seem to delight in and which is very difficult to cut and glue. Leaving the baskets to one side to set, i removed the moulded on locating plate for the handles on the turret side armour and replaced them with the appropriate PE parts.   Way better looking than the moulded parts. And with the handles attached  By the time i had finished these handles the stowage baskets were dry and so could be attached.   And that is about it for today. The next stage will include a lot more of the Storm Minatures resin parts, hopefully i will have time tomorrow to do that. Regards from the Swamp Eth |
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| f4sooty | May 29 2011, 12:47 PM Post #20 |
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Lovely progress Eth
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