Leopard 2A6 Portugal (WIP)

1
May 1, 2023
2
May 4, 2023
Glueing
3
May 6, 2023
Glueing the tracks; you have to be really careful and glue the upper and lower part, leaving the axis unglued in the middle to make them movable; the jig helps but sometimes a little Tamiya glue sips between the two halves and glues the track to the jig
4
May 12, 2023
Tracks ready
5
May 12, 2023
Painted the bottom black (with diluted Mr Surfacer 1500) to prepare for the green (Tamiya X-67); I expect this to make this area of the tank darker and with some artificial shadows
6
May 15, 2023
Painting Vallejo Air Tire Black (71.315) over NATO Green (Tamiya X-67) - tedious job... actually, more tedious than assembling the tracks!
7
May 16, 2023
The Perfect Scale Modellbau set arrived in the mail today! 🙂
8
May 20, 2023
Painting the tracks, red brown (Gunze H47) and the central part where the wheels run Gun Metal (AK Xtreme AK 483)
9
May 20, 2023
Rubber pads painted rubber black with Vallejo Air 71.315
10
May 20, 2023
Tracks ready
11
May 20, 2023
Wheels and bottom part ready for the mud 🙂
12
May 28, 2023
Markings for the resin bolts
13
May 28, 2023
Holes drilled for the resin bolts
14
May 28, 2023
Resin bolts going in (with a bit of CA glue to make sure they stay in)
15
May 28, 2023
Resin bolts applied
16
June 6, 2023
Some more build time - kit is very good, so I'm not using much of the extras; also, the Voyager set assumes impossible manouvers over the PE, so not using the locks for the tools for that reason
17
June 10, 2023
Replaced the wire cutter with a tool used to open the engine compartment, which comes with the Voyager set
18
June 11, 2023
Putty time
19
June 15, 2023
Acrylic putty cleaned up; it's far from perfect, the resin parts have less resolution than Borders' plastic, but now it's much more similar to the portuguese tank
20
June 16, 2023
The maps box does not fit. I removed to much material (stupid) now a serious intervention is needed
21
June 16, 2023
Milliput to the rescue
22
June 16, 2023
The smoke cans will come from the resin set, so these wonderfully molded plastic will have to come out 🙁
23
June 16, 2023
Plastic removed and some Mr Surfacer 500 dabbed on top, to allow for a smoother surface; resin will go on top of this
24
July 4, 2023
Preparing the anti slip surface in the map case with stippled thick Mr Surfacer 500
25
July 7, 2023
Inching forward
26
July 7, 2023
Glueing the smoke dischargers from the Perfect Scale Modellbau resin kit
27
July 10, 2023
Smoke dischargers assembled, and rear plugs (?) scratch built on both sides
28
July 10, 2023
Cleaning rod supports in place - the portuguese tanks never show the part assembled
29
July 10, 2023
PE applied on this "periscope"
30
July 10, 2023
Map case integrated and textured, as per reference photos
31
July 10, 2023
Rear metal cases scratch built - they are not very straight, but I confess I used all my patiente and have none left 🙁
32
July 10, 2023
Work so far - I have started to weather the bottom part with Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG - 1400) so that I can then place the wheels, tracks and outer skirts
33
July 21, 2023
Working on the machine gun and on the rear baskets
34
July 22, 2023
Some black primer applied (Mr Surfacer 1500 diluted with Mr Levelling Thinner)
35
September 3, 2023
Some dust airbrushed over the tracks
36
September 3, 2023
Tracks dusted and assembled
37
September 3, 2023
Tracks dusted and assembled
38
September 7, 2023
Rear round photoetch parts glue in place with super glue and primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 diluted with MLT
39
September 21, 2023
First color applied, using Tamiya XF-67
40
September 22, 2023
Now, in color!
41
September 22, 2023
Now in color!
42
October 1, 2023
Scratches applied and tools painted
43
October 1, 2023
Scratches painted, and some chipping applied
44
October 14, 2023
Decals glued, unfortunately they are low quality
45
October 14, 2023
Decals glued, unfortunately they are low quality
46
October 14, 2023
Decals glued, unfortunately they are low quality
47
October 14, 2023
Ready for the pin wash
48
October 21, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
49
October 21, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
50
October 21, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
51
October 21, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
52
October 21, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
53
October 22, 2023
Some mud effects applied using airbrushed Ammo Nature Effects Kursk Soil (A.MIG-1400, darker) and North Africa Dust (A.MIG-1404, lighter).
54
October 22, 2023
Varnished and finished! Final photos here --> Leopard 2A6 Portugal | Album by RReis (1:35)

Comments

58 1 May 2023, 21:58

Erik Torp
Watching

4 May 2023, 21:59

Ricardo Reis
Welcome Erik

5 May 2023, 11:20

Jorge Ferreira
Pena. Não dá para por não gosto. 😁😁😁😁 E também não vou seguir 😁😁😁

7 May 2023, 21:28

Ricardo Reis
Cá calharás! 🙂

8 May 2023, 00:06

Villiers de Vos
Very nice progress.

12 May 2023, 21:25

Ricardo Reis
Thank you Villier; still waiting for the resin kit to arrive, so I'm spending some necessary time with the running gear

12 May 2023, 22:06

Jennifer Franklin
Nicely drilled, and looking good.

28 May 2023, 20:05

Ricardo Reis
Thank you Jennifer, I guess the old saying "measure twice, cut once" applied here; all went well, bolts are in! 🙂

28 May 2023, 20:31

Mr James
Noticed the fantastic details of that kit. They're going to come really nice. Looking good

28 May 2023, 20:56

Michael Kohl
Nice progress. I suppose the Perfect Scale parts shouldn't pose any problems.

28 May 2023, 21:26

Ricardo Reis
Thank you mates; @Michael, so far the set is not posing any problem; truth be said, I'm only starting to apply a few part and many of them I will not use, because the set is intented for the Revell and Tamiya kits and it seems to me the Border Model one is more detailed for my purposes

28 May 2023, 22:44

Villiers de Vos
Very nice progress.

11 June 2023, 02:11

Ricardo Reis
Thank you; doing some cutting and fitting these days 🙂

11 June 2023, 22:27

Guy Rump
Looking good. 👍

16 June 2023, 15:49

Ricardo Reis
Thank you Guy; it's slow progress as the changes between armies are several and not very well documented..

16 June 2023, 17:32

Rui
😎

11 July 2023, 03:56

Patrick Hagelstein
Hi Ricardo, just some extra information: The brackets in picture 28 are for camouflage net poles. Depending on the exercise the Portuguese Army might not used them or are having a different set of camouflage material all together. Your scratch built metal cases in picture 31 are Dutch holders for wheel chocks for railroad transportation. Those are different than the German ones in the kit. Hope this helps! 😊

21 July 2023, 10:52

Ricardo Reis
Thank you Patrick; yes, in all photos and I have on my PC and on a book, the brackets do not hold anything; nice to learn about metal cases, it seems the portuguese kept them, they appear also in all photos almost always empty 👍

22 July 2023, 00:18