Another Tamiya Leopard A4

[Meter rat]

Short post. As I am waiting on parts for the chassis of the Tamiya Leopard 1A4, a small amount of work was done on the body. Removal of the plastic mudguards, and the fitment of new rubber ones. Will need to order some 1mm Meng bolt heads to finish this area.

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Dry building the drivetrain, which has highlighted a few issues, and alternative methods of fixing things.

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[MonsieurTox]

Nice project !

I love the rubber mudguards.

Keep up the good work !

[Meter rat]

Spent a happy few hours using the PE parts that came with the mudguards. This involved ripping off the original method of installing them, and studying some close up pictures of the real thing to work it all out. Then spent a couple more hours installing 0.8mm bolts, and 0.5mm plastic hexagonal rod to replicate the ones on the side plates.

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[MonsieurTox]

Spent a happy few hours using the PE parts that came with the mudguards. This involved ripping off the original method of installing them, and studying some close up pictures of the real thing to work it all out. Then spent a couple more hours installing 0.8mm bolts, and 0.5mm plastic hexagonal rod to replicate the ones on the side plates.
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Great! I think I saw your pics on Facebook! Just noticing it was you.

[Meter rat]

Been plodding away at the Leopard while waiting on some parts to come for the lower hull to finish off the running gear. I have decided to go for a Danish 1A5DK, as I want to do a UN tank in white. I made a purchase which is a walk around book, showing lots of detail.

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There are a lot of detailed photos which explain how items work and show a lot of detail which is missing from the model. So using said book details were studied and it seemed to me the best place to start was a t the drivers hatch. The supports were made for the drivers hatch to rest on when open, and unique to the Danish and Canadian Leopards, drivers periscope washers were made.

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A gun recoil was fabricated from plastic card and connected to its servo. Some reinforcements were made from aluminium angle for the turret floor and gun mounts, as the area felt very weak and unsupported.

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A start was made on making up the rear end for the fittings that were missing. I need to find some track links so I can install the brackets for the spare links and centre guide teeth. The second position for the gun lock, the mounts for the spare end fittings for the tracks, and the light for the tank telephone were make out of plastic. This will need a red lens fitting after paint.

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Last job for the evening was to make a couple of armoured shrouds for the bottom of the aerials from some plastic tube.

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

Meter rat: I do hope you will show us the UN build. I have a TongDe Bradley that I would like as a UN AFV (in white, if accurate, I hope), so any information I can get is helpful, even if it's "no go" on the white.

[Meter rat]

Been building the back end up on the Tamiya Leopard 1A4. Definitely not to IMAQ11 or Barry C standard, but good enough for this bodge artist. I know some parts are the wrong shape, and are slightly over scale. Started to fit chains to some of the parts, where required.

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[Meter rat]

Parts have started arriving. Some from as far away as Dumfries and Galloway, and some from Germany. For the first time in many a year, my Leopard 1 has sat on a full set of wheels, and has upper return rollers, instead of the mackeled up method of plastic channels I used for a long time.

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New speaker arrived, so a box had to be made. Parts have also arrived from Ludwig.

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Detailed parts have been made, sometimes incorrectly, and other parts have been repaired.

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Finally, as I am unable to cut anything remotely resembling a circle, even with a compass cutter. I made a lathe. I managed with, gentle sanding and filing to make the base for the commander’s periscope.

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[Meter rat]

I am really enjoying these mini kits from Ludwig. All are inaccurate and have required some reworking, titillating with a file, and additional detail added.

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They do build into a nice little model.

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Finally attached to the model. They do need the catches added.

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Lastly I was unhappy with the with the shape of the armoured protection for the mudguards, so remade them with better shape.

Top one is the original version. With the one below the reshaped replacement.

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[zooma]

Looking really good Meter rat.

I also have an old Tamiya Leo 1 that needs restoring or moving-on.

The original box and building instructions keep getting looked at - but my HAYA Centurion KIT build is taking all my spare time at the moment....but I will be following your build as a Leo 1 would make an ideal Cold War companion to the Centurion.