HobbyBoss Leopard 2A4 & Trumpeter 570P 'Diehl' tracks 1/35

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 6:58 pm

I'm nearly losing myself in the details there too, as I got a Airbrush on the way, there things I can add now like etch and fine resin parts that a brush painter could only dream about, but we will see, as the Stryker build has gone on a little long, and if I order upgrade parts it will only drag it out further which I do and don't want to do lol

decisions decisions lol

Shane

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:48 pm

longlance67 wrote:I'm nearly losing myself in the details there too, as I got a Airbrush on the way, there things I can add now like etch and fine resin parts that a brush painter could only dream about, but we will see, as the Stryker build has gone on a little long, and if I order upgrade parts it will only drag it out further which I do and don't want to do lol

decisions decisions lol

Shane

No worries Shane! It's going to take as long as it takes mate. The way is the goal - so take your time buddy.

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:01 pm

very true my friend, I think I order new radio masters and add the non slip texture to the hull front, I think Norm used a product available from a art shop to recreate it might give it a go for the fun of it

your bad influence on me Markus

thanks mate

Shane

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:14 pm

longlance67 wrote:very true my friend, I think I order new radio masters and add the non slip texture to the hull front, I think Norm used a product available from a art shop to recreate it might give it a go for the fun of it

your bad influence on me Markus

thanks mate

Shane

I've seen Norm's video too and guess that all the masking work he did there was quite difficult to do

! But the result turns out extremly well that I guess it's worth the effort. I'm sure you won't be sorry for that

.

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:25 pm

looks great, and the masking inst too bad, if you can get your hands on some those ultra fine thickness tapes out of there just take your time, ive seen another way too, using a spray u can get in DIY shop, its out an outdoor texture spray paint, with a fine terracotta texture to it, seen a few guys use it to good effect online before, but Norms way has better control and above all its Norm your in the safe hands lol

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:35 pm

longlance67 wrote:looks great, and the masking inst too bad, if you can get your hands on some those ultra fine thickness tapes out of there just take your time, ive seen another way too, using a spray u can get in DIY shop, its out an outdoor texture spray paint, with a fine terracotta texture to it, seen a few guys use it to good effect online before, but Norms way has better control and above all its Norm your in the safe hands lol

All roads lead to Rome but to play it safe I'd prefer Norm's method too.

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:10 pm

very true mate

fly1ngdutchm4n · Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:15 pm

Great job on fitting those tracks!
Loved the way you tackled them

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:18 pm

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Great job on fitting those tracks!
Loved the way you tackled them

Thanks a lot Frans

reelmesh · Post by **reelmesh** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:19 pm

Wow Markus, like everyone else said, excellent work on those tracks, they look really good!

I must say this again, I love the detail you put in showing how you are building the kit, every little detail is illustrated, just awesome!

Thank you!

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:24 pm

reelmesh wrote:Wow Markus, like everyone else said, excellent work on those tracks, they look really good!

I must say this again, I love the detail you put in showing how you are building the kit, every little detail is illustrated, just awesome!

Thank you!

Thanks a lot Carlos.
Glad you like it buddy - much appreciate your kind words my friend

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:39 pm

Update # 3: upper hull and attachment tools

Just a little progress during the last weeks – I’m sorry!
Anyways… let’s start with some penny-ante stuff… ugly pinmarks on the spare track link! Sanding smooth slightly was quite enough as is mostly the case on this kit (no filler needed):

Plan on painting the attachment tools / accessories separately that I have not added them on:

Oh no, not again

! More pinmarks – is that really necessary

? To come along on top those are located between the “ice claws”. Why not at the backside? Why

? Scratch and bite was in order now

… folded sandpaper was the only possibility and it worked so-so. The result looks pretty bad… that’s why I didn’t add all available ice claws as well.
Damn … I should have taken the pics from a greater distance

:

Horrendous gaps between upper hull and fenders (on both sides)! Enough to make you weep! No chance for sanding the angles. How to get there

? I’ve no idea! All you can do is applying some Mr. Surfacer 500 carefully (not too thick) and trust in its ability closing up such huge gaps without forming cracks

.

The result was passable thought:

Another PE work (after the “Leitkreuz”)… the grilles. Not that complicated, no bending work just had to cut them off with my hobby knife and glued them in place with extra thin super glue while using a toothpick as an applicator. How shall I put it? … the PE-grilles are looking really wicked and now I can understand why all y’all are so hot for PE … cos it looks hot indeed

! Am really delighted with those grilles:

Upper hull completed

:

Conclusion up to here:
That recent stage was a little arduously cos plenty of spackle and sanding work on awkward spots had to be done and you get less progress as a reward for that. All in all it was a small bit time-consuming but I had lots of fun during the work nonetheless. Next update will following hopefully soon and will show the assembling completion.

Previously I wish you guys and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hopefully Santa will give you all you wish for or everything you need. Take care guys and enjoy your holidays …

Please feel free to post any comments (also criticism is allowed)!

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:03 pm

nice update Markus,

some very fine work

Merry Christmas buddy

Shane

Dunhill2005 · Post by **Dunhill2005** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:36 pm

Your kit looks great so far!

How exactly do you want your Leo?
Unfortunately I must say that I can see two small errors on MG.However, these have not you done!
At the buttstock the cutout for the thumb is missing and that is a muzzle brake of a MG42.

Sorry

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:25 pm

longlance67 wrote:nice update Markus,

some very fine work

Merry Christmas buddy

Shane

Thanks Shane!
The same to you mate

Dunhill2005 wrote:Your kit looks great so far!

How exactly do you want your Leo?
Unfortunately I must say that I can see two small errors on MG. However, these have not you done!
At the buttstock the cutout for the thumb is missing and that is a muzzle brake of a MG42. Sorry

Thanks Kevin!
And you're right mate

. The MG3 is incorrect indeed but I'm not sure what I should do with it

... I possibly have another one in stock from an older Revell kit which I could use in exchange for it or maybe I'll not add it. Not sure at the moment

(it will be seen).
Anyways ... thanks for your advice buddy

!

P.S.: No need to apologize Kevin! I always appreciate all kind of advice and I'm open to suggestions!

Andyman23 · Post by **Andyman23** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:55 pm

Looks great Markus!

How you deal with all these problems is really inspiring bud - especially to a guy like me that's not so good at the build part, but you are just crushing it.

Tiger131 · Post by **Tiger131** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:31 pm

Im sorry I missed your first build..gone through all this thread and you have done a cracking job of fixing some of the kit problems...look forward to seeing more of this

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:13 am

Andyman23 wrote:Looks great Markus! How you deal with all these problems is really inspiring bud - especially to a guy like me that's not so good at the build part, but you are just crushing it.

Many thanks Andy

!
I've seen your work on the Merkava (especially on those tiny tiny PE-parts you're going to use there) thus I believe that you're far away from being bad at the build part mate

!
Much appreciate your kindness mate

.

Tiger131 wrote:Im sorry I missed your first build..gone through all this thread and you have done a cracking job of fixing some of the kit problems...look forward to seeing more of this

No need to apologize Tiger!
Glad you like it mate and many thanks that you've stopped by

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:09 pm

I had all of the same issues with my Leo2A6 CAN Markus. The ice cleats where the worse. What a pain to get those pin marks out. The gap along the hull sides was tricky to deal with too.
Have you made plans for the Non-Slip surface yet?
I don't know how necessary it is, it looks to be rather low profile Non-Slip when compared to other AFVs. You may not even see it at 1/35 to be honest.

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:53 pm

Coen wrote:I had all of the same issues with my Leo2A6 CAN Markus. The ice cleats where the worse. What a pain to get those pin marks out. The gap along the hull sides was tricky to deal with too.
Have you made plans for the Non-Slip surface yet?
I don't know how necessary it is, it looks to be rather low profile Non-Slip when compared to other AFVs. You may not even see it at 1/35 to be honest.

I've to second this. The ice cleats are anything but well-engineered and it was a pain to clean them all up

!

Regarding the anti-slip surface: I'm not exactly sure at the moment

but I guess that it's not necessary to apply any additional texture cos on the upper hull the relevant anti-slip areas are already roughened up slightly that you can save yourself that trouble and I guess that I can live with it as it is

!

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 5:26 pm

hey Markus,

hope your keeping well buddy,

just a questin for ya, think your gonna give doing the anti-slip a go ?

Shane

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:00 pm

longlance67 wrote:hey Markus,

hope your keeping well buddy,

just a questin for ya, think your gonna give doing the anti-slip a go ?

Shane

I'm very well Shane ... many thanks! I hope you are doing well, too buddy

.
Initially I had in mind to give the anti-slip a go indeed but I've decided to turn it down meanwhile cos I discovered that some kind of anti-slip surface already exist at the relevant areas - a fact I've realized only just

. Hope you can see it on the following pic:

In that case I would imagine that it's needless doing the extra work, but I'm sure that it would be necessary to give it a go on one of my next projects (damn! I cannot scrimshank in the long run

)!

mate!

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:28 pm

I'm doing very well too and thank you for asking my friend, have a very merry and pleasant Christmas to you and yours from all of us here in Ireland

Is that ant-slip cast ? oh my that is very fine indeed, its amazing what they can mold these days, especially when you compare it to any older kits you get. Looking forward to seeing your next project I'm sure you nail it when you try it buddy

keep up the smashing work mate

keep well

Shane

gosselin2112 · Post by **gosselin2112** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:33 pm

Fine work, Markus. Glad you took the plunge to show your model building craft to the community. See, it wasn't so bad, was it? I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build and future models to come.

Russell.

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:40 pm

longlance67 wrote:I'm doing very well too and thank you for asking my friend, have a very merry and pleasant Christmas to you and yours from all of us here in Ireland

Is that ant-slip cast ? oh my that is very fine indeed, its amazing what they can mold these days, especially when you compare it to any older kits you get. Looking forward to seeing your next project I'm sure you nail it when you try it buddy

keep up the smashing work mate

keep well

Shane

It looks like it, yes! And that's right indeed - the rough surface on the anti-slip coating is very fine moulded (in my opinion) that you don't realize it at a first glance! On the older kits it's just smooth without any texture.

Wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, too buddy

!
See you around Shane ...

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:46 pm

gosselin2112 wrote:Fine work, Markus. Glad you took the plunge to show your model building craft to the community. See, it wasn't so bad, was it? I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build and future models to come.

Russell.

Hey Russell!
Thanks mate, glad that you've stopped by my friend - much appreciate it

!

reelmesh · Post by **reelmesh** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 2:53 pm

Wow Markus, those issues were a real nightmare, specially those ice cleats... geeezzz I would be tempted to scratch build the parts....

Great work dealing with those troubles my friend, I looks very, very good!

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 3:41 pm

reelmesh wrote:Wow Markus, those issues were a real nightmare, specially those ice cleats... geeezzz I would be tempted to scratch build the parts....

Great work dealing with those troubles my friend, I looks very, very good!

Hey Carlos ... hope you're doing well and that you had a good start in 2014 buddy!
Ok ... some issues are infuriating indeed

but the kit is not too bad regardless and all issues are manageable (annoying but still manageable

).
Scratch building the ice cleats was also an option I considered first

but the test pieces I had done had looked that bad that I preferred to use the available cleats

.
Anyways ... thanks for looking in my friend

alextheblue · Post by **alextheblue** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:13 pm

Some really great work there Markus, this is looking great!!

Love your build log as well - great photos and the way you cover everything step-by-step is quite inspiring.

Looking forward to your next update!

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:19 pm

alextheblue wrote:Some really great work there Markus, this is looking great!!

Love your build log as well - great photos and the way you cover everything step-by-step is quite inspiring.

Looking forward to your next update!

Many thanks Alex ... glad you like it mate.

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:57 pm

Update # 4: turret and complete assembling

Oh I’m so dawdling

... sorry

… I know of it! But better late than never I guess … so here comes the final update about the assembling process …

Visible pinmarks on the stowage box had to be filled and subsequently sanded …

The stowage box didn’t figure exactly

that more filler was needed:

Smoke launcher on the left-hand site of the turret …

… and on the right-hand side:

Stowage box, smoke launcher and antennas completed

:

Commander’s hatch with pinmark - of course

… still more Plasto needed …

And now a construction fault of the kit to my mind

: much overhanging hatch on the commander’s side! In order to remediate the problem I had to sand down plenty of material from the bulge which is located around the manway that the hatch could be flush-mounted:

Diametrically opposite on the loader’s hatch: Much too low-lying hatch here! Resolving the problem was much easier here as on the commander’s hatch. The only thing I had to do was glueing two pieces of styrene from below that the hatch could be placed on flush...

Rubber part on the gun mantlet is super-glued in place

:

The gap between the two sections of the gun barrel could be closed with some Mr. Surfacer

:

The result after sanding looks not too bad and I’m happy with it

:

Finally some pics from completed assembling

:

Next update will deal with the paintwork (hopefully soon

)…
Thanks for looking in guys

!

Please feel free to post any comments (also criticism is allowed)!

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:40 pm

That's looking really nice now Markus. There's some cool differences between your kit and the one I'm working on.
That rubber guard on the mantlet being one. That looks pretty sharp.
Does it flex when you move the gun or is the gun now fixed in position?

Dunhill2005 · Post by **Dunhill2005** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:46 pm

WOW!!!!
Super work so far...

From which battalion will your tank come?

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:38 pm

Coen wrote:That's looking really nice now Markus. There's some cool differences between your kit and the one I'm working on.
That rubber guard on the mantlet being one. That looks pretty sharp.
Does it flex when you move the gun or is the gun now fixed in position?

Many thanks Coen!
It flex indeed and the gun is still workable!

I guess that the differences between our two Leo's are that enormous that your canadien version and my german A4 version have less in common anymore (in terms of their appearance at least) after all those modifications I've seen on your variant ... it's considerable actually!
In my opinion it's also a very fascinating aspect cos of the large number of different Leo-varieties you're able to keep its history of development under review!
Thanks for looking in mate and also thanks for your support

Dunhill2005 wrote:WOW!!!!
Super work so far...
From which battalion will your tank come?

Hey Kevin! Many thanks for this compliment my friend

!
Ok ... here are my favorites:
1. One of the battalions from the Panzerbrigade 8 "Lüneburg", that is ... PzBtl 83 or PzBtl 84 (I guess there was also one with the number 81 - but I'm not sure), or
2. One of the battalions from the Panzerbrigade 14 "Hessische Löwen", that is ... PzBtl 143 or PzBtl 144 (I guess that there was also one with the number 141 - but I'm not exactly sure again)!
The problem is that there are no pertinent decals included

! But we will see ...
Thanks again for your support my friend

Dunhill2005 · Post by **Dunhill2005** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:52 pm

By the way!
There are 37 versions of the leopard 2...

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:34 pm

Dunhill2005 wrote:By the way!
There are 37 versions of the leopard 2...

Oh ... that's an enormous number of variants indeed! I guess it's hard to keep track of all differences between the several versions

!

fly1ngdutchm4n · Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:04 am

Awesome build Markus!

Love the way you explain your progress with the arrows in your pics and all

Hope to see the paintwork soon!
Good luck my friend

JayCub · Post by **JayCub** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:17 am

Looking good Markus, the PE looks top notch, and im surprised with the amount of fit issues and injector pin marks, but you have done an amazing job as it has really come together.

Tom

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:32 am

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Awesome build Markus!
Love the way you explain your progress with the arrows in your pics and all

Hope to see the paintwork soon!
Good luck my friend

Many thanks Frans

!
Hope to get the paintwork done very soon just this once

.

JayCub wrote:Looking good Markus, the PE looks top notch, and im surprised with the amount of fit issues and injector pin marks, but you have done an amazing job as it has really come together.

Tom

Glad you like it Tom and many thanks for your compliment my friend

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:53 pm

Great work mate looks really cool buddy.

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:21 pm

Markus, that's amazing you've done to your leo mate, a real labor of love and it shows

great work

Shane

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:37 pm

Nige201980 wrote:Great work mate looks really cool buddy.

Thank you very much Nigel! Glad you like it mate

longlance67 wrote:Markus, that's amazing you've done to your leo mate, a real labor of love and it shows

great work

Shane

Many thanks my friend ... I had a lot of fun with the kit!
But at the next step I will demonstrate how HWGuderian23 will wreck his kit while trying to use an airbrush

!

longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:45 pm

I'm sure you'll nail it, my tiger for the D-day GB will be first attempt at airbrushing too so we are both in the same boat hahahahah

can't wait to see what you with her next

keep up the great work

Shane

HamilkarBarkas · Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:00 pm

This is looking superb already, great job

reelmesh · Post by **reelmesh** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:51 am

Great work Markus, I really like how this build is coming together, very clean and solid!

I can't wait to see some paint on it my friend, seems to be almost there.

Keep up the great work mate!

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:05 pm

longlance67 wrote:I'm sure you'll nail it, my tiger for the D-day GB will be first attempt at airbrushing too so we are both in the same boat hahahahah

can't wait to see what you with her next

keep up the great work

Shane

Oh ... if this will be the very first time you're going to use an airbrush Shane you will never ever use a "hairy stick" again in your whole scale modeller life (believe me my friend) ... cos the result you're able to reach with this technique will beat each result you ever can bring off with a brush. And don't worry ... it's not that difficult and you will nail it too my friend

! Be brave

!

Myself, I'm not a "real" newbie with the airbrush cos I already bought my equipment one year ago (more or less). Since then I've used the airbrush on several "test objects" and had never ever any kind of major problems with its use. Even so the Leo will be mere the 4th kit altogether I'm going to use an airbrush for (as you know ... I'm a really slow modeller) ... so I'm still far far away from being a pro but it's also not my very first try.
Nonetheless I'm always a little bit nervous

when the paintwork begins cos from then on it's not as easy to correct one's mistakes anymore

... so for me the whole paintjob is always a little bit "tricky" or "awkward", respectively

!
Anyways ... thanks again for your encouragement Shane ... much appreciate it

HamilkarBarkas wrote:This is looking superb already, great job

Vielen Dank Michael!
Ich weiß das sehr zu schätzen ...

reelmesh wrote:

Great work Markus, I really like how this build is coming together, very clean and solid!

I can't wait to see some paint on it my friend, seems to be almost there.

Keep up the great work mate!

Thank you so much for your compliment Carlos - really appreciate that my friend

pedrofernandes · Post by **pedrofernandes** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:07 pm

Congrats on the work !!! Looks amazing !!!

Nice clean build with loads of scratchbuild eye candy goodies !!!
Can't wait to see the cammo on it!!

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:02 pm

I've just read this through from page one - an excellent build log and a wonderful looking model. Can't wait to see the painting stages

Tiger131 · Post by **Tiger131** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:06 pm

real nice clean build and nice job on covering up the little problems

HWGuderian23 · Post by **HWGuderian23** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:26 pm

pedrofernandes wrote:Congrats on the work !!! Looks amazing !!!

Nice clean build with loads of scratchbuild eye candy goodies !!!
Can't wait to see the cammo on it!!

Many thanks Pedro! Glad you like it mate

!

Rob wrote:I've just read this through from page one - an excellent build log and a wonderful looking model. Can't wait to see the painting stages

Thank you very much for your compliment Rob

!

Tiger131 wrote:real nice clean build and nice job on covering up the little problems

Thanks a lot mate

!