Hi, old friends!--1/72 Leopard 2A4 in winter camo.

Modeling Subjects Armor
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Hi guys,

To all my old FSM friends–HELLO AGAIN! It’s nice to be back–albeit briefly before another move and another trip overseas in March. I hope I can get this little beauty done before Life takes me on another extended hiatus from the bench…man, it’s been TOO LONG. [:(]

Anyway, I’ve been so busy these last two years that I’ve barely had time to model, and what modeling I have done has been building gifts for people.

I figured a nice little 1/72 tank would be just the thing to get me back into the groove. This is the DML offering in 1/72.

The parts breakdown: one piece tracks don’t thrill me, but these tracks are actually finished–you honestly don’t even have to paint them.

Check out the tracks----cool…

I want to got with a winter scheme here, kinda like this:

Build-up is straightforward, and I’ve already got it primed here with Tamiya Fine White.

I painted it with a base of Tamiya Nato Green, and then added about 30% Buff and re-painted the inner panels for highlights.

I carefully airbrushed a pattern of Nato Brown and Semi-Gloss Black. No reason there, I just had a bottle that was low, and wanted to finish it up.

I then sharpened all the outlines by brush-painting, as Leopards use hard-edged camo…

And here’s where I am so far.

Next step—decals and weathering the wheels and lower hull before adding brush-painted white camo.

Thanks for looking in, everyone!

doog…[&]

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Good to see you here again stranger. That Leopard is looking pretty good so far. I really want to see that winter camo job on it. But I don’t know how you guys work in those small scales!!!

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stickpusher,its easy after you build a few

Leon

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check out my battle of kursk dio in this forum

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Nice to see you back in the saddle Karl! Hope you can get this one done fairly quickly…looks like you’re halfway there! [B]

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Karl - Nice to see you again. Happy Holidays and understand life in the way of modeling…not as bad but I can relate.

Nice looking cat…especially in braille scale. Always great to see a Doog build!!

Rounds Complete!!

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Very nice work as always, Karl! But why are you downsizing to 1:72?

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[:D]Lee, thanks so much! I have to admit that the older I"m getting, it’s getting harder to see these damned small parts! lol! I’ve got reading glasses on UNDER my Optivisor now, lol.

It’s nice to be back here. I miss the interaction and my friends here. Hopefully, this year will bring me a little more time to be active here!

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[;)]Hey Bill! Thanks, man! Yeah, these little ones are a nice quick tonic for what ails ya when you’ve got a “styrene deficiency”, lol. I’ll have some more pics up right soon.

On another matter, nice to see you maintaining a high profile here and in print. I came across your name in another magazine, and also caught you again in a few FSM articles. Keep it up, man–you’re a workhorse in the hobby!

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Hey Mike, thanks friend! Happy Holidays to you as well!

Life sure changes when you move in together, lol. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.[:)]

I sure hope I have more time to interact and contribute here in the coming months and year. [:)]

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Thanks, Phaisal–I appreciate that! I’m only doing a small model right now because of time constraints. I"m going to be moving out of our apartment here by the end of February, and I didn’t want to start a major project. This will be a relatively quick build.

I’ve done 1/72 for years–in fact, I really first got into modeling by doing nearly a dozen of the old “Matchbox” 1/76 kits, which I still have in my basement. I’ve got a decent sized collection of 1/72 kits built up on small bases, some of which have done very well in competition. Here’s a few from the years for your viewing pleasure. [:)]

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Welcome back Karl,still got the touch,nice work on the camo.

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Hi , Karl, great to see you back. Love the work on the Leo, but boy oh boy I love your back catalogue, great stuff. Terry.

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Karl, are you forgetting your WW II roots? Kidding aside, good to see you back.

I like that “All Quiet on the Western Front” dio. Very appropriate.

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Thanks, Tojo; that’s a relief to hear (“Still got the touch”!)! I was afraid I’d forget how to paint, being gone so long, lol And thanks for the nice comment!

Terry, thanks too, man! Glad to be back! And I appreciate the nod to my past work. [;)]

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Welcome back Karl, good to see you’re still around and still building. I love the faded green base coat on this, and remembering your 1/72 2A6, I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with this one. [:)]

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UPDATE!

Ok, so I had to weather the wheels and suspension first, in order to attach the side skirts to prepare for the snow camo. I used a combination of mud colored washes and “Dry Mud” MIG Powder, and also put the track on at this point.

I also have been fashioning a simple base while parts were drying:

I gave the model some careful pin washes with a mixture of MIG’s 502 Abteilung line “Faded Green” and “Wash Brown”. I settled on more of a dark green/brown color because I felt that the normal black wash in this scale would be too harsh. The model is a bit shiny here too because I gave it the hairspray treatment–Aqua Net Extra Hold, natch…

Next, it’s time for the silly putty !

It can be a pain to apply silly putty–put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden it up, and then use toothpicks to manipulate the edges so your cam lines don’t just look like snakes lain across the model.

I sprayd some thinned Tamiya White on it…

Next, remove the silly putty. If it sticks, dab a ball of it against the mask; it should lift of just fine. Oh, and uh—no, those aren’t my hands, but Jenn’s, helping me to illustrate the action…

And here’s what I got after that…

How nice! But I want it to look weathered, so I took a wide brush, and laid a sheen of water all over he tank to start loosening the hair spray. After about 5 minutes, I start using a bunch of different implements to remove paint in varying degrees…here’s my tools first of all–short bristled brushes (old ones, cut down), toothpicks, dental picks, etc…

Working it…

To get fine scratches across the side skirts, I use this dental pick…

And here’s what I have so far…

Well, that’s it for now…I"ll be adding some washes, and then some extra details, parts, and pigmens in th next installment.

Thanks for looking in, guys, and let me know what you’re thinking! [:D]

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Now that’s an impressive winter camo in any scale! Nice job with the masking and wear-and-tear Karl! And Jen’s ‘helping hands’ should get an honorable mention too. [B]

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Thanks, Bill, I do appreciate the thumbs-up!

Jenn picked out her photo–she’ll be happy to hear that her hands got a good review, lol!

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Nice winter camo…I love silly putty…looking great and considering we are looking at 1/72…I am going blind just thinking about it.

Rounds Complete!!