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C1 Canadian Leopard Conversion |
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Reviewed By Mark Aldrich, #39295 |
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(TrackJam Models 1/35 Scale Kit Number TJM001 (see review of kit) MSRP: CA$45.00 and Italeri's Leopard 1A4 (kit number 224) which is not currently listed in their catalog but Great Models and TrackJam Models show stock of the kit. - webm.) Before I begin this build review, I want to extend my sincere thanks to Paul Fredenburg of Trackjam models and John Noack. When I started this build, I was removing the turret pour plug and the upper right side of the turret cracked almost all the way down to the ballistic sight shield. John notified Paul and he sent a replacement turret. This replacement was stolen in transit in the Seattle USPS distribution center. Mr. Fredenburg sent a third turret which I ended up using for reference only. Again, my sincere thanks and appreciation to Mr. Fredenburg. As stated I cracked the turret early on. While waiting for the replacement, I super glued the crack in hopes that it was repairable and proceeded with the construction of the Italeri Hull. |
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| Italeri’s Leopard 1A4 has been around for awhile. The hull is covered with the raised locator outlines of where all the mounted accessories are to be placed. Hull construction was straightforward and only three of the resin parts are used on this. Two mine clearing attachment points (one for each of the lower front glacis sides) and a driver’s periscope guard. These parts went on without a hitch. |
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When the USPS informed me of the stolen replacement turret, I decided to attempt the repair of the cracked one. When I snapped off the pour lug, besides the cracked hull, I also sanded off too much of the rear turret attempting clean up. The damage was to the rear right compartment box and the space bar between the rear turret and the turret basket. Since I was not going to need the upper Italeri turret, I cut out the lid for the upper right box and USING CAUTION removed the resin lid from the conversion. I super glued the kit lid to the resin turret and it looked fine. I added a 10mm strip of evergreen styrene to the turret rear to replace the over sanded resin part. Now that I had a nice looking turret again, I started construction of the conversion for the turret. |
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| Following the excellent instructions I began by adding all the modified parts for the turret basket. When it came time to mate the resin upper with the Italeri lower turrets I ran into a problem. The resin upper is not quite as wide as the Italeri lower. The upper turret had a noticeable bow to it. The glue was already drying and it was too late for me to fix this. To anyone building one of these I would advise adding reinforcements to the upper hull before gluing them together. Now that it is all painted, it really isn’t that noticeable, at least not to me. |
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In step four, they give you two options for the gun
mantlet. You can either use the one they provide or use Italeri’s. It is
mostly based on which gun barrel you are using. Their mantlet is for
their gun and Italeri’s is for the Italeri gun. I ended up using the
Trackjam mantlet and modifying the Italeri gun barrel to fit. To do this,
you need to cut and sand the circular mounting ring on the Italeri mantlet
and attaching it to the Trackjam mantlet. The only other problem I ran into was the mounting of the TV gun camera and wire cage. I had to sand the TV camera mount at a steeper angle to get the cage to fit over it and onto the mounting points on the mantlet. |
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| The model was then given a base coat of Model Master medium green (FS34102) to check for flaws and allowed to dry. Again, thanks to Mr. Fredenburg who sent me a copy of the Canadian SCAPPS camouflage pattern. This is the three tone NATO version that the Canadians use. Model Master black and military brown were used as the other two colors. The model was them given a gloss coat to prepare it for decals and washing. |
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The decals were super thin and luckily they include lots of
Call Signs and numbers. I am not sure what I have been doing wrong with
decals lately but I ruined two of them during application. After getting
the replacements off the decal sheet the model was decaled for a Royal
Canadian Dragoons of A Squadron, Second Troop Vehicle number 12. After dull coating the vehicle, all the accessories were added and painted. I used nylon 550 (military parachute) cord for the two tow cables and added the C6 machine gun (which is a finely molded resin piece included with the kit). The antennas are brass control lines with white glue eye protector caps added. The model was a fun build of a unique subject and like most projects I am learning more and more modeling skills. If you are into Canadian armor then this is a kit for you. You can order it directly from Trackjam models at www.trackjam.com and also check out their other Canadian subjects covering WWII to the present. |
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