Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL

[Mike]

Just started this build today and this will be my first modern AFV in a loooooonnnng time. 

Like the Revel Leopard A1 there is a lot of small flash on almost every part. I hate how this slows things down so much during the build. I've got some minor warping on the upper hull plate but that won't be an issue once I get the lower hull cleaned up. I watched several videos on this build and every one of them just kinda threw these things together. I thought that would mean this would be a quicker build than my 1A1, but that simply not the case.

Even after carefully reading the instructions and even numbering the part off the sprue I ended up firmly gluing the two inner hull supports in reverse where the front bulkhead is in the back and vise versa. That's already set the stage as I had to trim one of the bulkheads down and I'll have to add a support to the other. D'oh!

I've also noted that the same is true for this build as it was for the 1A1 and I used some styrene srips to build up the front lip of the lower hull so I won't have to use a lot of putty later. I love Revell kits for their attention to detail, but their engineering needs some help. I'm not expecting Tamiya levels of easy assembly, but I don't think the parts should need to be shimmed so often to get them properly aligned. The end product is excellent though, so I'm not going to give it any less effort.

Revel 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revel 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

The warpage is minimal and easily corrected. 

I also didn't realize how much longer this vehicle is then the 1A1.

Revel 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revel 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

While I wait for some of the work on my little M-41 to settle this is what I'll be working on for the foreseeable future.

[stikpusher]

Well you can never go wrong with any member of the Leopard family Mike This looks a bit different from the Leo 2 kits that Revell reboxed from Italeri.

[406 Silverado]

Yikes!! Sorry to hear the misfortune on the bulkheads Mike and you're right about some of Revell's engineering needing some help. Been there and done that. Looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for us on this build bud.

[Mike]

I do love me some Leopards! But this kit is going to be a challenge. It's going to take a lot of work just to get a good looking shelf queen out of this one, Carlos.

I've got the hull together but there are two pieces of the side armor that are not supposed to be attached until after the entire suspension, wheels, and tracks are complete. This means I can't align those pieces or complete the hull until much later in the build.

I can add those hull pieces now and just not add the front return rollers until after I complete the rest of the suspension and tracks. Or maybe just leave the front return rollers out altogether.

It's just a weird engineering decision considering how much putty and fillers I've got on the hull already just to make sure it's all even and square.

I'm not sure what to make of this kit. My initial impressions are not favorable. I've seen some amateurs make some decent models out of this kit so I know it's not a bad kit. I assume it's got to be me making mistakes such as getting those bulkheads backwards.

I know I'm going to end up losing some of the small details on the upper hull, but it will be square and level by the time I'm finished with just the first step in this kit.

It's a good thing I like a challenging kit!

[Mike]

Jan 12, 2024 8:00:09 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Yikes!! Sorry to hear the misfortune on the bulkheads Mike and you're right about some of Revell's engineering needing some help. Been there and done that. Looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for us on this build bud.

I'm going to just build and paint this one. Some mild effects will probably be used, but I doubt this will be anything amazing. Closed hatches and mild dirt. Nothing fancy. I'll be happy if I end up with a presentable finish like my M-48A2GA2.

[406 Silverado]

Jan 12, 2024 9:12:40 GMT -5 Mike said:

Jan 12, 2024 8:00:09 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Yikes!! Sorry to hear the misfortune on the bulkheads Mike and you're right about some of Revell's engineering needing some help. Been there and done that. Looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for us on this build bud.

I'm going to just build and paint this one. Some mild effects will probably be used, but I doubt this will be anything amazing. Closed hatches and mild dirt. Nothing fancy. I'll be happy if I end up with a presentable finish like my M-48A2GA2.

   I'm having trouble fitting your builds with the word....presentable. Everything I've ever seen you build has been top notch stuff Mike.

[stikpusher]

Mike, I have no doubt that you will turn out another mighty fine looking build... you'll figure out an approach regarding those late attachment side armor plates, probably at 3am in a deep sleep, and then apply that fix.
It's funny how the trying kits really can give more self satisfaction once completed, but the rockier trail getting there can be a real bear.

[Mike]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I appreciate that.

As of today I just seem to going round after round of fill and sand, fill and sand. I'm gaining ground though.

The M-48A2GA2 and the Leopard A1 were nowhere near this frustrating. I didn't use much filler on either of those builds and they turned out great. This one is trying to fight back lol.

Oh, and I'm going to not install the first return rollers so I can add these hull pieces now. The skirts will hide it anyways.since this is just for my collection and not a competition build it really won't matter.

[Mike]

I finally got somewhat satisfied with my filling efforts and decided to spray some Rustoleum Oxide Red Primer over my work and found that the stupid valve plugged up on me.

Here are some pictures of the areas I've been having trouble with;

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

The front glacis came out fine though.

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

But then the plugged valve did me no favors. I really wish I knew what happened to Krylon's Camo series. I never had this problem with that paint. Clogged valves were rare. I'm finding it a common occurrence with Rustoleum though. (frustrated incomprehensible grumbling)

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Aside from the crappy Rustoleum valve issue I think I'm getting along fairly well.

I did find out while dry fitting the other hull pieces that Revell, for some unfathomable reason, molded a tab to the side of each the parts thats keeps you from aligning them correctly. Another weird engineering decision I can't comprehend. Once you cut them off these parts line up like they should. (intense head scratching)

[Tobi]

When I built my Leopard 2A4 from the new Revell molds I found the lower glacis the only point where puttying and sanding was needed. They really did a strange design there.
You were a tad too fast in smoothing the lower edge of the upper glacis. Take close look on the real thing. The mating of the plates is the same:




For the primer accident, a little mudification on the lower hull will remedy this.

[Mike]

Thanks, Tobi. I knew I should've left that glacis alone and "mudification" might be the answer. But a bit of light sanding might clean it up as well. I'm just glad I didn't try spraying the top areas first.

I'm still pretty positive most of these errors are my fault.

[Mike]

Okay, so not all of the problems I'm having are entirely my fault, but since I wasn't careful to begin with I am having to sort out the issues I've already caused before I compound them lol.

After test fitting the bottom turret halve I noticed that it, too is warped. So not only did I make a few mistakes, I have a bad sample of the kit to work with anyways.

This will be interesting.

[406 Silverado]

Looking forward to the recovery efforts Mike.

[Leon]

Know the feeling working with warped parts Mike!

[Mike]

I think I've wrestled this build into submission (fingers crossed). The suspension arms are all keyed and I had a devil of a time getting things level. I still ended up with it rocking corner to corner a bit. Super annoying, right? Well because those things are keyed the front to suspension arms did not go all of the way down with the rest of the arms. After a little research they are supposed to be level with the rest of the arms. I was giving the kit the benefit of the doubt and letting that slide, at first, but then I came to the conclusion that it would totally bother the crap out of me later in the build when it was most inconvenient. I ended up just fixing it now instead of regretting it later. I had to break one almost completely off while bending it into position, the other side resisted less as it wasn't as out of place.

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Its been smooth sailing since and I'm almost caught up in steps. The gun tube was a bit of a bear to get cleaned up because of some fairly heavy seams and I don't think I've got it perfect, but it looks pretty good with some primer on it so I can live with it.

The tracks come in a very soft rubbery plastic of some sort that came in four small sections, two per side. I've never seen this done before and it looks like it will be somewhat noticeable even after I get some paint on them. They're weird, that's for sure. They don't want to fit around the drive sprocket properly either. it took a bit of massaging to get them to even test fit properly.

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

I've got the road wheels and tracks test fitted for the night and it's starting to look like a proper tank now.

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

This kit certainly has it's issues, but that's just fuel for making me a better modeler, right? I think it'll turn out okay when I'm done.

[Leon]

Looks like your finally beating this into submission Mike!

[Mike]

I think so, Leon. Things have continued to go smoothly so far. I'm using quite a bit of PPP to fill gaps all over the turret, but it's not too bad. A little sprue glue and Bondo have helped where needed. LOL it's no Tamiya kit.

[handiabled]

Yikes! In this scale dealing with warped parts is a nightmare. Looks like this is sitting nice and flat considering the hoops you jumped through. Way to persevere!

[lyle]

Bravo. Well done so far.

[Mike]

Thanks guys. Fortunately the parts weren't warped so bad they couldn't be corrected.


Somewhere I still have a very old 1/72 Russian Yak3 kit in a bag that can never be recovered. This wasn't that bad lol.

Edit;

Here's an updated picture I took this morning. I'm happy with the progress so far and I've been mostly concentrating on cleaning up and assembling things I least like having to build on these Revell kits, such as the Smoke launchers. They're the entire reason I'm building the NL version lol. I can never get them completely symmetrical and in round because of the way Revell chooses to mold these stupid things. They're always slightly oval.

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

And this morning I noticed that I didn't clean up the ejector pin marks on the right side pop-out infantry armor shield before I assembled it. Cleaning that part up while it is on the model was quite harrowing lol. But I didn't break anything and its passable.

Just a lot of minor assemblies and parts left now.

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good!

[rbaer]

This reminds me of when I fought a battle with a HobbyBoss Leo 2A4. I ended up using a lot of Tamiya parts...

[stikpusher]

Feb 1, 2024 19:41:30 GMT -5 rbaer said:

This reminds me of when I fought a battle with a HobbyBoss Leo 2A4. I ended up using a lot of Tamiya parts...

That sounds quite familiar... I ended up using many Hobbyboss Leo 2 parts on my Esci Leo 2 to fill in many of the missing details that Esci neglected to include...

[rbaer]

Feb 1, 2024 21:44:06 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Feb 1, 2024 19:41:30 GMT -5 rbaer said:

This reminds me of when I fought a battle with a HobbyBoss Leo 2A4. I ended up using a lot of Tamiya parts...

That sounds quite familiar... I ended up using many Hobbyboss Leo 2 parts on my Esci Leo 2 to fill in many of the missing details that Esci neglected to include...

Funny how that works, isn't it?

[stikpusher]

Good things for those folks on eBay who sell individual parts sprues... especially when those have just what you need for a project.

[Mike]

I've never done that before. I've always just dug out the scrap sheet styrene and stretched Sprue, unless I have some aftermarket goodies to play with, of course. Although I do believe that's partly due to my massive distrust of e-bay. Lol

Anyways, I've not touched this kit in days so there's really not much progress to show for it. I'm still just attaching all of the small parts. I can say I am most disappointed by the commanders individual sight. The two piece engineering makes it difficult to eliminate the seams.

No issues to report. It's all coming together nicely at this point.

My concerns at this time are whether or not to use silly putty worms to mask the camo or just free hand it. I can get some pretty tight lines these days, but the camo on these vehicles is painted by a robot arm in the factory so they all have the exact same pattern.

I guess I'll come to a conclusion later. All depends on how I feel at the time.

[Mike]

Revell 1/35 Leopard 2A6NL by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

[stikpusher]

Looks almost ready for primer & paint

[Tobi]

Feb 3, 2024 19:41:10 GMT -5 Mike said:

My concerns at this time are whether or not to use silly putty worms to mask the camo or just free hand it. I can get some pretty tight lines these days, but the camo on these vehicles is painted by a robot arm in the factory so they all have the exact same pattern.

For KMW, now KNDS, I do not think so. Everytime I have to do something with them in other projects they are telling the camo job is done the traditional way by a painter and with wire masks. The standard for the camo (at least for German Army) also says that a ten centimeter deviation from the spot's shape from the 5 view drawing is admissible.

Had some discussions in the past with my Sales department about camouflage paints and application. Never ending story.

[406 Silverado]

Looks like you're going to some pretty good lengths to get this one right Mike. My hat goes off to you for correcting the issues with the suspension arms. It's all the little things that we sometimes "let slide" that add up and bite us in the tail later on in the build and you just subtracted one more of those from this build. Good work on this one brother.