Revell 1/35 Leopard I finished

I pulled this one from the Shelf-of-Doom (TM) recently and over the weekend I decided to finally finish it;

I hope you like it !

Revell Leopard I

After spraying a coat of Tamiya X-22 Clear a week or so ago I started the weathering process on this today with a pin wash of dark brown. I know it's 'product placement' but I like the Mig stuff although I'm going to start making my own as it's just not dark enough, especially on dark vehicles like this Leopard.
Anyway the wash was run into all the nooks and crannies, gaps, engine deck mesh and wheels with the excess removed with odourless thinners;

I gloss varnish models for this as I get better control of the wash as on a matt surface I find it leaves 'tide-marks' which are very hard to blend in (the SS-23 was REALLY bad for it), also the gloss helps with the decals bedding down without air getting trapped underneath them.
Once the wash has dried I'll add some rain marks and some other washes then the model will be matt varnished.
A word about the markings is needed here as Revell had this one down as a Batch 1 Leopard with the rectangular telephone box on the rear hull plate but after looking in the Tankograd book it was actually a Batch 2 Leopard with the round telephone box so luckily for me I did'nt have to go huntng for another decal sheet.

Revell Leopard base coated

Today I managed to get some paint on the Leopard using my brand spanking Iwata Neo TRN2 that I got for my birthday in January but only now have I had a chance to use it. For a first outing I have to say I'm impressed, usually I spray with an Iwata Revolutin CR but for large areas it takes forever so this new airbrush is perfect.
I primed the Leopard with Games Workshop Chaos Black a few days ago and today it got a coat of Tamiya XF-65 Field Grey with some XF-1 Black thrown in. When the base-coat was done I made another mix of Field Grey but this time I threw some XF-58 Olive Green in to lighten it a bit and sprayed in between panels, sticky out bits etc for a bit of contrast to an otherwise drab scheme. The model will get a coat of X-22 Clear next after which any decals will be applied then I can start the weathering.

The colour may be a bit light for a late 1960's/early 70's Bundeswehr tank but the varnish will darken the paint as will any weathering.

Edit; The model was glossed not long after and looks very shiny now;

Revell Leopard I update

Now that the build review has been sent off to be published I went back to this model as I had a few little bits still to do to improve it. One of the best improvements came from Leopard Club and that's for the four sealing plugs that are always missed on Leopards. To be fair Revell DID mould two of them onto the upper hull (along with moulded on chain) but you still need two for the gun mantlet;

Also there are two bars on the rear turret basket that need to be added and this was done with 0.75mm Evergreen styrene rod;

 The biggest problem is with the tracks due to the mould-pin marks and I WAS going to throw them away and replace them with resin ones, however having had another look I decided to see if I could do anything with the tracks.
One problem is that they are slightly too long so I chopped out two links and rejoined them with staples (just like the old days of modeling) and this improved the track tension no end. The pin marks and staples were then filled in with superglue and when set sanded down and to me they look much better, especially as the weathering will cover a multitude of sins;

I do have another update set from Leopard Club for this kit but I'll use that for a future Leopard build plus the set of mantlet plugs I have here too.

Revell Leopard built

I finally finished the build of the model and I have to say generally it is a good kit. Simplified in places and a bit of a mix and match between early production batches but I enjoyed it. I'm not going to say too much about the build as it will be featured in a future issue of Model Military International but it makes an excellent base for further detailing;

I used the tracks for the article with a view to changing them later but looking at them now they are'nt THAT bad although the pin marks still need filling. One piece of advice is to cut two links off either side as it improves the track tension.
I have some resin goodies on the way from Leopard Workshop that I'll add later now that the pictures are done so until then it's on hold paint-wise and time to start something else.