Pz 87 Leo of the Swiss Army

[Andre Meylan]

Hi there,

Over the last 50 years, I was probably into every corner of RC modelling, including race boats (>100mph), turbine helicopters, turbine jets, cars, bikes, trucks and now, my first tank!

My Leopard kit has been delivered today and I must admit, I never enjoyed such an incredibly professional and smooth transaction from ordering to delivery until now - simply stunning and huge compliments to Monique and Kian and team.

I will be building one of Switzerland's "Panzer 87" and try to arrange a photo shooting with the SDF to get some scale details and to be able to print the various decals.

My first concern is: When will it be time to do the paint job? Paint all parts unassembled as they are now or mount certain groups such as the floor, wheels etc ?? I am looking forward to get some ideas from your experience, thank you very much in advance!

Best regards, Andre

[Brian Ostlind]

Congrats! I like to paint small brackets and steel parts individually. Painting too many sub assemblies is too tedious. Just try to avoid putting together something that will get rusty.

[Jae-seung Roe]

Congrats! I like to paint small brackets and steel parts individually. Painting too many sub assemblies is too tedious. Just try to avoid putting together something that will get rusty.

I agree. While building my Panther without any painting as my original plan was to go 'bare metal' non-painted version for a moment, the steel part getting rusty quite much and should have done some primer work. will go painting soon.

[Stephen White]

Andre, you might find it useful to read the Knowlwdge Base article on Priming and Painting here:

viewtopic.php?t=5802

Best regards.

Stephen

[Andre Meylan]

Thanks guys and this is crazy ... I get answers to my first post from all around the world ... great community !!

I will try to get pictures first from the big one ... till then, I will start with the road wheels as they have the fasteners painted so I will have to paint them assembled. Sorting out the pieces now ... more to come!

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Hi guys,

First assembly of the feet, putting together all wheels prior to paint job. Will sort out more useful groups to assemble, only what makes sense.

Wheels do make sense because the fasteners are also painted (instead of doing all separately !!)

But I need to get pictures of the real one first ...

Good evening, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Going forward to assemble parts that can or must be painted assembled, I took some parts for the turret on the bench.

Wow, this is just crazy - huge and heavy and very precise in the making. Now again, the turret needs to be painted assembled. This because many of the CSK-screws need to be covered with filler and shall not appear on the painted surface. That is valid for all other parts like the floor and its sides.

The temporary built of the turret has shown the way forward. I need to verify with original photos.

[Andre Meylan]

This kit is just insane ... I have provisionally mounted the turret includung barrel ... it's 1.42m long and heavy ...

So the question remains whether to at least prime the steel plates before any assembly because they will get rusty.

Have a nice Sunday, Andre

[Paul Sparkes]

My advise is to paint every part before assemble then paint it again when it together.

[Andre Meylan]

My advise is to paint every part before assemble then paint it again when it together.

Thank you Paul, that's one option that pleases me most looking at the pieces I have brought together so far.

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Some work on the tracks and thanks to the forum, I will try to avoid rookie errors I would have definitely tapped into ...

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

... this went better than I thought ... 45 mins and all tracks are drilled and ready for assembly ...!!

[Andre Meylan]

Thinking about reports from the forum about loosing the pads ... how to attach them? Risking to use hard loctite and glue the pads onto the links using something like Loctite 638? What if I need to change the pads ... rocksolid or changeable ??

Have a nice Sunday, Andre

[Paul Sparkes]

Thinking about reports from the forum about loosing the pads ... how to attach them? Risking to use hard loctite and glue the pads onto the links using something like Loctite 638? What if I need to change the pads ... rocksolid or changeable ??

Have a nice Sunday, Andre

Andre,

We have not lost any of the steel parts but the rubber pads do come off the steel backing. If found lactate 480 seems to hold them back on again well.

[Andre Meylan]

Thanks Paul, understood. I started the assembly and in my opinion, it looks good so far ... following Rolf's advice with drilling out the vulcanized threads helps enormously.