Italeri Leopard 1A5 NO2 (New update 11-03-12)

[Roel Geutjens]

Somehow I managed to delete my previous post   :doh: Dumb ass But anyway I remade the post.

My new current project a Norwegian Leopard 1A5NO2 from italeri on scale 1/35. For this build I'm using the excellent walk around from Erik which I found on prime portal and off course the links he provided me from KCAMPS. This is very helpfull in building everything right the way it is.

So no more bla bla some pictures  

 

 

Workable suspension:

 

The hull front:

 

Again sorry for my obvious dumb action!

 

Grtz Roel

[Edward H. Valholm]

Can happend to everyone   Good luck onward on your building..

[Roel Geutjens]

So here we are again with a new update. We managed to paint the interior hull black this way we can let some hatches open without having a nasty reflection of unpainted interior. Next up was the finishing of the front stowage box and mounting of the little piece to the front hull. After this was set I started filling the hull sides, Italeri made some nice engravings of where to put the shovels etc   > Some cyanoacrylate glue and lots of sanding does the trick.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for having a look any comments are welcome!

I would like to ask 2 questions: The pictures from KCAMPS and a book from tankograd I bought show 1A5NO2 all with extended turret baskets. Was this standard issue or just a modification used at the end off there tour in the Norwegian army before being replaced by Leo 2's??

If there is still someone who has some good quality pictures of Leopard 1A5NO2 in splinter camo and is willing to share to aid my build I would be very greatfull!!!!

 

Further I want to wish everyone up in the high North a Merry X-mas and a happy new year!

Cheers Roel

 

 

[Erik Torp]

Extended turret basket was only used by one of the last Leopard 1 tank squadrons. This squadron was binned around 2005 and served with 2bn/Brig N at the end. You can find the paint manual for the Leopard 1 if You go to the front page of IPMS Norway

 

http://www.ipmsnorge.org/documents/articles/panser/camo_nor_vehicles.pdf

[Håvard S. Nisja]

 

Workable suspension:

 

Hi!

 

What is the point with the new parts in this pictures? Just for rearranging the wheel/suspension position? Is it really "workable", or is it just in a different position?

 

This model really shows the difference between a heap of glued and painted plastic, and a model. If judging by your M109A3GNO, this will be a great model.

 

 

[Håvard S. Nisja]

..., yeah, and another question: what are the dimensions for the snowshoe-box on the glacis plate?

[Roel Geutjens]

@ Erik: Tank you very much for pointing that out. I think I will not do the extended basket!

 

@Havard S.: the white parts make the suspension arms workable! I can put them in any random position as shown on the pictures. The purpose is to be able to put them in a correct position for a future diorama. I hope this is an awnser to your question.

I will make some measures tomorrow and hopefully post them during the week! I'm glad you loved the M-109!

 

Some new update today:using super glue and sanding a lit made it possible to get rid of the ugly engravings! The left side is almost finished let's say about 85%. We also started doing the right side of the vehicle.

 

Thanks for looking! All comments is welcome

 

Greetings Roel

[Roel Geutjens]

Hello everyone

 

Since the last update we have been working hard to get the hull finished. Still not reached the end of it but we are making good progress. I have finished the right side of the tank with all of it's equipment.

 

Next I focused on the engine deck. Here we did some minor adjustments and added also some PE:

 

And finally the rear of the tank. First off all we noticed that the rear did not fit that great so we started to adjust everything there before adding details.

 

That was all for today folks.

I just have an urgent question about the tanks rear central towing hook. I noticed that it is of different shape with some Leopard 1A5 NO2 . Was that an upgrade together with the extended turret basket or introduced from the beginning?

Is there any Norwegian decal manufacturer who makes decals for military vehicles?

 

Thanks for the help

 

Cheers Roel

[Roel Geutjens]

Happy for me I had lots of time this week to do some modelling and the effort payed off. We constructed and painted the turret interior black. The hull was finished also except for the rear towing hook (STILL DON4T KNOW WHICH MODEL TO USE  ) and the gun travelling lock. The travelling lock might not be installed don't know yet.

I'll get straight down to bussiness with some pictures!

The turret:

 

The rear hull:

 

The front mudguards:

 

And the hull finished pictures:

 

Thanks for looking any comments are welcome!

 

Greetings Roel

[Edward H. Valholm]

Love what you are doning here.  Ordering popcorn and candy now

[Roel Geutjens]

Hey Edward

 

I'm glad somebody likes the show here

 

Thanks for looking and commenting more will follow soon

 

Grtz Roel

[Kyrre Ingebrethsen]

There are more of us watching, but we may not have all that much to say.

 

One thing: The skirt is a rather flimsy kind of fibreglass - or something - and I seem to remember they were prone to breakage, especially around the insert steps. (Others may correct me, this is just a recollection). In any case, I would suggest you thin the bits that show towards the rear.

Here are some pics from my days in the army, back in '93. Guess these weren't of the NO2-kind, though. I was a BV206 driver and didn't know anything about the tanks. As an NBC-soldier we would just clean them.

 

 

 

 

[Jens Håkon Brandal]

Oh, I'm watching and really enjoying the show Roel...  There are no decals of Norwegian military licence plates currently available, although there have been some talk of it. Luckily, the numbers are black on a reflective yellow background, so you can print the numbers on clear decal film using a laser printer if you can find the right font style.

 

Jens

[Roel Geutjens]

Thanks for the comments and having a look my friends!

 

Started working on the turret and for some reason not everything fitted that well! With some small plastic pieces glued in place we solved the problem. The turret frontal armor is about finished now. After that we created some cast texture using Humbrol glue and a stiff brush.

 

 

To bad there are now decals for the turret numbers and the drawings some tanks have on there old fish eyes.

Is there somebody who manufactures norwegian tankers? What helmets do they use?

 

Thanks Roel

[Knut-H Nordskog]

Impressive work Roel.

 

Keep it up.

 

Knut-H

[Roel Geutjens]

Hey Knut-H thank you very much for the comments.

 

Finished the build a couple of days ago. We still did some extra detailling on the sides off the turret but that was lucky for me not to much work. Now we can start the painting.

 

Is there someone on this forum that can help me search some figures for this tank? Maybe some information about crew clothing and helmets?

 

Thanks guys!!

 

Cheers 

[Anton Chumak]

Truly a joy to follow this build. You are clearly laying down some work into it, and it all looks so accurate and precise.

[Tommy Myrland]

Very nice work on this one Roel. Norwegian tankscrew never used helmets. They are so proud of their professions so they always use their black berets, even in wintertime. I was in the service early 90's, then the outfit was a ordinary overalls with or without a hood. Standard norwegian army camuflage scheme. With your skills you will easily modify a figure, all you needs is a decent modern figure, some green stuff, british beret head from Hornet would look nice. And he should have a headset .

 

Check out this picture

 

http://www.webstaff.no/141000%20Army%20Other%20Dresses/images%20ha%20other/hax_201%20Stridsvogn%201%20KAV.jpg

 

 

Erik Torp or some of the other may have some picture of tankcrew uniforms.

 

keep on the good work 

 

[Erik Torp]

Well done, Roel!

I can only see one important piece missing, and that is the PLGR antenna. All Leopard 1 tanks had them since about 1995. You can see it on my picture.

 

Maybe some information about crew clothing and helmets?

Sure, no problem. Most Tankers on the Leopard 1 used a tankers dress in Norwegian woodland camo. From around 1999 you could see the same dress in grey nomex. The helmet is a standard American CVC helmet

 

Link to tankers dress http://www.webstaff.no/141000%20Army%20Other%20Dresses/041124.htm

 

 

For figures, modern American tankers are usually easy to convert to Norwegian tankers.

[Erik Torp]

They are so proud of their professions so they always use their black berets, even in wintertime.

No, they don't. They used to do it, but even tankers have enough sence to understand that a helmet protect your head better than a beret... I have not seen it done since the late 90es.

[Roar Stensrud]

They are so proud of their professions so they always use their black berets, even in wintertime.

No, they don't. They used to do it, but even tankers have enough sence to understand that a helmet protect your head better than a beret... I have not seen it done since the late 90es.

 

And that's a fitting time-period for this build, isn't it? It's good to know that our tankers are smart enough to wear helmets when they risk being fired at, but if this build is going to show, let's say, a tank on excercise in Norway some time in the late 90's, I think a black beret will look more suitable.

 

Looking forward to seing some paint on this one soon. 

 

R.

[Einar Sandvik]

Good work so far.

 

Einar S

[Jørgen Tangerud]

Looking good and inspiring

 

Btw, this is how a good mate of me looks during this years "Cold Response", hes a tank-commander on the Leo.

 

[Roel Geutjens]

@ Anton: Thank you very much!

 

@ Tommy: I intend to insert 2 figures in the twe turret hatches.... 1 with a helmet and the other with barret or naked head don't know yet... My leopard is actually situated around 2005. Thanks fo the help and the great link.

 

@ Erik: Thanks for pointing that out Erik!! I will add that antenna once the rear turret bustle tarp is in place. Maybe with a little hole in it and just the top of the antenna visible. I noticed that I did not have the enlarged turret rear stowage basket.... But that problem should be fixed now  . The figures should not be a problem now to!! Thank you very much for the help.

 

@ Roar: The time period that I want to show is mid 2000. That paint will be a special thing...... More to follow

 

@ Einar: Thanks for the comments  

 

@ Jorgen: Your friend looks kinda frosty   Thanks for the comments.

Looking good and inspiring

 

Btw, this is how a good mate of me looks during this years "Cold Response", hes a tank-commander on the Leo.

 

 

 

After looking through some pictures from Eric I noticed that I forgot to make the extend turret rear stowage. I intend to situate this tank around 2005 during the FTX battle griffin. A friend of mine was so nice to hand me over his side turret extra armor since he is in no need of them. So I made some changes after the first paint was on  

 

Thanks for looking and have a nice weekend

 

Roel

[Jens Håkon Brandal]

Teriffic work Roel - especially modifying the turret bin after you've declared the model ready for paint must have "hurt"...

 

Jens