Pz 87 Leo of the Swiss Army

[Andre Meylan]

Almost ready to go for a first test drive !!!

The new parts added need some weathering as well but I will do this after the first runs.

I also do a dry fit of the deck assembly as to where I will continue with the electronics and the whole wiring to come ...

Best regards, Andre

[Oliver Bergmüller]

HI Andre,
why did they paint the outside in gloss although the original paintwork is matt?

greetings Oliver

[Andre Meylan]

HI Andre,
why did they paint the outside in gloss although the original paintwork is matt?

greetings Oliver

Hi Oliver,

it's a semi-gloss and it is easier to clean the inside and sand the outside for weathering purposes (I can see better where I did sand and where not). Furthermore, the original paint is not as flat as we want our models to be, the use makes the paint flat. Even more funny, we (in the army) always cleaned the chassis parts using petrol and this looked very shiny !!

Best regards, Andre

[Oliver Bergmüller]

Good morning Andre,
Thank you for the information. I've learned something again.
One more question. How exactly did you process or further coat the Mr. Surfacer and what grain size did you use?

Greetings Oliver

[Andre Meylan]

Good morning Andre,
Thank you for the information. I've learned something again.
One more question. How exactly did you process or further coat the Mr. Surfacer and what grain size did you use?

Greetings Oliver

Hi Oliver,
there are many ways ... I simply tried Mr. Surfacer 500 and it worked quite okay using granulation technique

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Hi there,

After some holidays and coping with the winter season (difficult to paint outside ... !), I am using the festive season to move on a little ...

The tedious work with priming and painting all the pieces before assemlby takes its tolls ... here are some pictures

cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Hi folks, some more painting going through the first days in 2025 ... I think I am paining all the time and cannot see an end ...

But it's my problem since I stubbornly want to paint the inside in the NATO green in gloss and all the option pack parts and inner support parts in the Armortek red ... here are some layouts of today's job!! I need to buy more 2K clear coat ...

Best regards, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

After alot of painting, I will start with the assembly of turret and deck before I get to the electronics ... one by one ... !!!

Some might get sick thinking about the color in the interior, but I still like the AT red with the pieces inside turret and hull ...

Cheers, Andre

[Damon Resch]

I like the red interior too, looks sharp!

[Andre Meylan]

I like the red interior too, looks sharp!

Thanks matey !!

[Andre Meylan]

Hi there,

With the assembly of the deck and turret and its option packs, I am getting to the point where some of my ideas backfire. My self-made speaker box is 2-3mm too high and does not leave enough room. It is also too wide so I will have little chance to fix the deck onto the rear supports ... some reverse engineering will take place but this is okey since it's my first experience with a tank

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Hi there,

As I am not a mechanical pro, I might be just stupid or don't have the right idea how to dissassemble the gun barrel holder once in place. I changed the M5 from CAP to HEX as proposed but found they cannot be removed once the sides are in ... can I just shorten the large threads going into the holder as it's only a little bit for them not to release the heavy holder?

Thank you for your help, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Doing some electronics at this stage and bench testing (partly and temporarily assembled as I want to keep the cables clean (as long as necessary). I hope I can get some sound out of the amplifier ... haven't seen cables as large as those in a RC model ... much fatter than for the motors ...

Cheers, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Mounting the toothed ring to turn the turret, I figured that I need to use shorter screws not to interfere with the mechanic ... I will test it and believe it also needs some adjustments to turn 100% centrally even when operated?

Best regards, Andre

[Andre Meylan]

Working on "cable salad" and the control panel by integrating the AT switches and battery SOC display.

Best regards, Andre