RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Howdy,

Along with preparing for a bathroom renovation, I have managed to make some progress on my Leopard turret.

I have almost completed detailing the turret bar armour. The assembly just needs a couple of bolt heads added. I will not permanently attach bar armour until the final steps of the build. This will make it easier to paint and fix the Saab Barracuda camouflage panels to the turret. I have also completed the stowage basket mounts. The mounts consist of brackets and retaining pin that support and hold the basket in place as shown in the right of the following reference image. I have also started to make spare grouser and track connector racks for the turret baskets, as shown in this image: I removed some grousers from the front front of the upper hull and attached the new racks directly to the individual grouser. I started making the holders for the track connectors and needed to make a run to my local hobby shop to stock up on Evergreen rod and sheet. While there I discovered that after a COVID enforced 12 month absence our State plastic model expo was back on!!! This is an event I have enjoyed in the past and after an enforced absence not to be missed. So, I paused this build for a couple of weekends to work on something for the expo.

After checking my stash, I decided to build one of the prototype FV214 Mk1 Conquerors , 40 BA 77. Given the expo was only a few weeks of, I kept the build as close to "out-of-the-box" as possible.

There are several 1:35 Conqueror Mk1 and Mk2 kits on the on the market (There is even a 1:16 3D print model out there!). I had the Amusing Hobby example in my stash. The build was quite quick taking a couple of Sundays. The build was to have been OOB but along the way I discovered that at some point I had bought a Voyager PE set and ended using some detail parts from the set. I will be doing a little more weathering over the coming weekend. Given the model is of a factory fresh Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment test vehicle, the weathering will be quite restrained. If I have the time, I will add some crew and ground work for a "Bovington Camp 1955" vignette.

The finished Conqueror. Unfortunately, the Expo organisers failed to arrange for enough competition judges, so the model wasn't technically assessed! Oh well...

Back to the Leopard build next weekend....

Contest or no, that was a fine bit of work for a modest diversion from your Leopard. I hope you will be able to give us a sound video when you get to it. I am impressed. To use an old-fashioned, but appropriate term, your Leopard's sound--and the whole tank--is strictly Hi Fi !

Herr Dr. Professor wrote:Contest or no, that was a fine bit of work for a modest diversion from your Leopard. I hope you will be able to give us a sound video when you get to it. I am impressed. To use an old-fashioned, but appropriate term, your Leopard's sound--and the whole tank--is strictly Hi Fi !

Thanks for the positive comments. Yes, I will certainly be posting video when I get to an appropriate stage. I really want to get the turret completed before the end of the year. Once I finish with a bit more detail work, I am going set to work on the Saab Barracuda cam. I can already tell this will be a time consuming and "make or break" stage of the build.