1/35 Dragon Leopold--Build Complete: 89 hours over 21 days!

Good luck Bill. You certainally have been a busy beaver these days. Sure I'll put my dollar in for 50 hours. Good luck.

You and Monrad should be grouping this one. I like the outcome so far, will be watching closely. I just received the Dragon 1/144 version on Friday, aluminum barrel and photoetched included. I would love to build this monster though.

Maybe we could do a pool that involves a kit...not this one of course, but perhaps another Dragon offering...would definitely make the predictions interesting...

Ausf,

Monrad's build is a lot further along than mine. He's got all the sub-parts assembled and dry-fitted and I'm nowhere near to that state and likely won't be for some time. I'd thought about trying to organize a GB around the good 'ole Leo but don't think too many people have it or the space for it, so this is a GB of one with everyone else as spectators as they see fit I guess.

Wbill,it sound like you have your hands full.I know that you will make it look good.I to have problems with my bishop as far as warping gos.So keep up the good work would like to see it when it is done.Digger

Will the pool be for time or will it be for times when you say "Why the (insert explicative here) did I ever decide to built this and a 1/16th T-34 at the same time?" Or will it be how long until space restraints require either an addition to your current home or a new home is needed?

QUOTE: Originally posted by JWest21 Will the pool be for time or will it be for times when you say "Why the (insert explicative here) did I ever decide to built this and a 1/16th T-34 at the same time?" Or will it be how long until space restraints require either an addition to your current home or a new home is needed?

I already knew I was insane, this is just proof to the world that it's true! I already have the display spaces marked out for both the T34 and the Leopold, so rest assured no additions to the house will be needed just yet... My wife is starting to mention a larger house with more frequency though, have to watch that.

Pool would be on total time for the build...I'm keeping a log at my workbench and documenting the time spent on the different activities and will post this up as I work on the kit. Do you want in? So far Eric/tigerman has it cornered with his buck entry guess of 50 hours...

Day 2 Log : September 5th, 2004

Made great progress today, lots of time to concentrate on getting the main rail carriages completed and ready for the first round of painting and weathering.

Errors Found: 1
--Step 3 identifies part H42 as the desired piece when in fact you need H43 to complete the assembly as pictured. Caused a bit of head scratching but eventually figured it out. Fortunately the right parts were next door neighbors on the same sprue.

Steps completed:

Steps 2-6 completed. Undercarriage axels and wheels were airbrushed along with the upper carriage frames and platforms. Extensive filling and sanding needed on the carriage frames, especiallly the warped one noted previously. Weathering completed on one undercarriage with the second carriage still waiting for it's weathering job tomorrow. Initial fit of the wheels to the warped carriage show another potential problem when it comes time to fit it on the rails...not all the wheels touch evenly. May have to consider a book stress on the frame to get it to flex out some before the main gun cradle is mounted. This kit is going to be a paint hog for sure...already used up a bottle of MM Burnt Iron Metalizer and 3/4 bottle of MM Panzer Schwarzgrau.

Total time today: 9.5 hours

Total time on build so far: 15 hours

Progress Pics:

First carriage has been weathered on the undercarriage only.

Wow, you're humming along Bill, I'm liking what I see so far. I used to think grey was dull, but over the past few years I really like the look. Keep it up Bill, you're doing well.

normally, I would jump right in, but I haven't seen the kit and have no idea of the breakdown, so I woldn't even begin to know what to guess. i will be following along, though. Good luck and keep a Real Estate Agent's card handy incase your wife starts really mentioning the bigger house

Day 3 Log : September 6th, 2004

Decided to make the most of my time today and focus on large piece construction in anticipation of going to the LHS tomorrow to replenish exhausted paint stocks of Panzer Schwarzgrau. I'm betting this will be a 3-bottle job before it's all said and done. Everything went along very smoothly, took a few breaks in the course of the day, nothing big...until about 3 pm this afternoon when the fiasco hit.

Errors Found: 4 (1 HUGE/CATASTROPHIC)

---Step 7 has you work on the main body tub/cradle...not really sure why as you don't touch it again until much later and everything you add is just surface details...it's an odd change in mid-stream from the previous steps and has nothing really to do with the following steps...I did it anyway and discovered Error #1. I consider this an error because it's a design flaw...when removing the mold frame pieces from the cradle, the tension is incredible. A 1/2" crossbeam snapped like a twig with the first cut and it wasn't even on the same section. Have to be very careful when removing these.

Error #2: This one is more of a complaing/warning. Parts G32 and G68 are tiny and shown as already on the shell. There is zero guidance on which way they should face and they are not much bigger than specks on the diagram. Took a lot of back and forth to figure out how they should go.

Error #4: Step 8 has you assemble part of the gun elevation/support mechanism. The diagrams are incredibly complicated (needlessly IMHO) and seem to indicate that F44 and F43 should go on the outside of the assembled F21 and F22. This is wrong. F44 and F43 have to attach to each other and then fit inside F21 and F22. Once you get them off the sprue and see they have male/female pin connectors, it makes sense. The diagram doesn't show this though.

And now...for the fiasco you've all been waiting for....

Error # 4: I should have known to be wary after the previous error but everything was going smoothly so I didn't think anything about it. Step 11 has you take the gun barrel assembly from Step 10 and match that up with the breech also assembled in Step 10 and mate that up with the gun sleeve in Step 11. There's just one little problem...the instruction diagrams are again extremely misleading. I studied the diagrams very carefully, did all of the sub-assemblies...including the mating collar from Step 10 to the butt of the barrel.

Exhibit 1: The Instruction Sheet



First big problem...the instruction sheet makes it look like the H sub-assembly should attach directly to the mating collar at the end of the gun barrel. I did this...and it didn't fit, the diameter was off by about a mm. This should have set off all kinds of alarm bells for me but I was too deep into the build...and assumed it was a molding/fit problem. Got out the Dremel, fitted it with a circular grinder...and went to work. Spent about an hour getting it sanded down and fitted...then about another hour using putty/filler to get it set up right and the let it all dry/set up.

Well that was happening, I added the little details to the gun sleeve as called for and then tried a test fit of the sleeve to the assembled gun barrel. To my horror, it wouldn't fit...the mating collar was in the way. This led me to seriously re-examine the other diagrams further on in the instruction sheet...and sure enough the collar is supposed to go ABOVE the gun sleeve...not at the base next to the breech. Had to totally dismantle it, undo all the putty/filler...and reassemble to properly take the gunsleeve, reglue barrel to mating collar, match collar to gun sleeve, etc.

Now go back and look at the instruction sheet diagram. Nowhere does it indicate that the breech assembly should attach directly to the sleeve, but that's what has to be done to make this work.


Steps completed:

Steps 7-11 completed. Completed weathering on 2nd undercarriage and attached to carriage frame. This frame is warped and currently resting quietly under two hardback Harry Potter books to try to get remaining flex out.

Gun barrel assembly completed and ready for painting. Ditto for elevation mechanism.

Total time today: 8.5

Total time on build so far: 23.5 hours

Progress Pics:





Additional comments:

Today's experiences have made me leery of what the rest of the instruction sheet might contain in the way of surprises. Will have to triple check everything going forward to prevent any more of these fiascoes from happening.

wow bill you have more patience than i do. gun would have been launched early in the process i am afraid. keep up the good work.


joe

It came very close to that Joe...but I was able to release my frustration a bit in the dismantling process to get it fixed, so it ended well...I still keep looking at that instructioni step diagram and shaking my head though...I wonder how many other people have made a similar mistake with it or at least spent a lot of time trying to figure out just what the heck you are supposed to do at that point.

Wow, You really did a lot of work this weekend! Looks really nice.

Looking great so far Bill. I have some pics that are going to be added to my reference topic.

Nice progress so far. I didn't pick up the Dragon, but rather the Trumpeter offering, then got rid of it. I'm waiting for the Karl Morser on Railway Transport to come out.
Keep us posted on the progress. Can't wait to see you begin painting this beast.

Day 4 Log: September 7th, 2004

Stopped by the LHS on my way home today and picked up another bottle of Panzer Schwarzgrau. Should have got two, maybe three based on today's painting effort.

Errors Found: None.

Steps Completed:
--Step 12 dryfit only. Sanded and filled the barrel and housing, airbrushed it with first coat. Light was fading outside so will have to give it another coat/touchups to get the areas that didn't get enough attention on the first pass. It's difficult to gauge what needs painting and what doesn't since the construction of the cradle itself leaves a lot of open spaces. Only solution is to paint everything.... Painting effort today consumed 2/3 of brand new bottle at 50/50 thinned ratio.

Total time today: 2.5 hours

Total time to date: 26 hours

Progress pic:

Quite impressive so far!

I'm following your progress closely; I have the Trumpeter version of the Leopold. While not the same as the DML, many of the same construction strategies may still apply, however.

Keep posting!

Gip Winecoff

Thanks styrene! The only thing I know about the Trumpeter kit is that it has more parts, something like 400 more. The deeper I get into this Dragon kit, the more I'm convinced that the engineer was a sadist.

And without further ado...

Day 5 Log: September 9th, 2004

As I suspected yesterday, this kit is turning into a paint sponge. 2 bottles of MM Panzer Schwarzgrau have now been sacrificed to feed this monster and I had to stop at my LHS again...this time I bought out their entire remaining stock of 3 bottles, I hope that's enough.

Errors Found: None

Steps completed:

Painted the inner cradle inserts and cross supports as well as refilled/sanded/painted some areas on the gun barrel that needed a little more attention from yesterday's painting. 2nd bottle of panzer gray bit the dust in the process.

Completed Step 12. Was a little tricky since the instructions want you to put the cradle top on the inserts and then place the whole thing inside the cradle. This is virtually impossible as you are working blind so I put the inserts in first, adjust them to fit in the molded slots, then glued the top sheet on last. Step 13 is 50% done. Tomorrow will be more painting on the main cradle...hard to believe it's taking 3 days to paint this thing just in the basecoat, but it's pretty big afterall and starting to get heavy/unwieldy.

Edit: Additional comments:

Not quite an error but something that definitely has to be taken into account. Back in the infamous Step 11, the instructions have you insert the pivot/elevation axle plugs into the gun sleeve collar as well as attach the breech operating lever. Doing this at this time means that when you go to fit the top deck plate on, you will actually have to bend/flex it to get it over these lugs to sit down on the deck (and are also highly likely to snap the breech lever off as I did) . There's no reason to have the plugs in prior to the deck going on, so I advise adding them in as part of Step 13 so that the deck plate will slip smoothly down over the assembled gun.

Total Time Today: 3 hours

Total Time to Date: 29 hours

Progress Pic:

I'm curious: How did you solve (or did you) the problem of the seam on the inside of the muzzle? Is there a way to remove the seam and still keep the rifling intact?

Gip Winecoff

wow. so much paint. my budget would have expired long ago. but excellent progress so far.

joe

Styrene,

Fortunately, the barrel rifling is designed so that the halves come together inside one of the grooves. I actually ended up with a small gap at the front of the barrel top and bottom instead of a seam that had to be filled. I did this very carefully with a very small amount of putty applied with a toothpick under the magnifier. Once painted, it's invisible and the rifling stayed intact.

Joe,

One of the reasons I'm keeping track of the paint consumption is to tally up at the end when it's all said and done the total materials costs required to build this thing OOB.

I'm begginning to feel like I'm in a bad Star Trek episode, trapped in a Robinson Crusoe type scenario or worse...these log entries have me muttering to myself constantly and grabbing the notepad to write something down before I forget it...pretty useful in the long run...

Day 6 Log: September 9th, 2004

If yesterday's efforts could be described as big, today's are the exact opposite. Spent the time today working on some of the surface details, lots of small parts and assembly with the requisite cleanup and time under the magnifier coming into play.

Errors/Issues Found: 2

---Step 13 calls for the loading ramp supports G48 to be glued to the ramp and then the entire ramp assembly fitted into the cradle using two cutout slots on the inner cradle. Only problem with this is the fit is too tight to work this way. It's much easier to glue the supports inside the cradle first and then once dry, glue the ramp onto the supports.

---In another brilliant instruction move, Step 13 also calls for you to assemble the shell holder/cradle that loads the shell into the breech. It's a critical assembly, marked with the infamous (!) icon meaning you have to be careful. Just to make it interesting, they draw the diagram so that the face that takes the two support arms is facing AWAY from you in the picture, so you can't really tell without a lot of trial and error just how the parts go together.

Steps Completed: 13 (Out of 19, for some reason earlier I stated there were only 15 steps...)

---No painting done today since it's Thursday, the usual night my wife and I go out to dinner. We got back after dark, too late to do any painting. It's just as well as the detail work took more time than I anticipated and I wouldn't have been in a position to paint anyway.

---Assembled the gun elevation axle holders, gun travel lock (instructions tell you to leave it workable and then glue a pin in to make it permanently closed...go figure), shell loading crane/holder, two ladders for front end of the cradle.

Time today: 2.5 hours

Time to date: 31.5 hours

Progress Pic:



Additional comments:

If I had any doubts that the engineer responsible for this kit must have never ever in his/her life assembled a model, they were removed today. Instructions keep calling for impossible or nearly impossible things if done the way they are drawn. Parts that have to be assembled first before attachment are shown in near microscopic pictures already assembled and on the kit with no direction, leaving a lot of the neat little details to guesswork, which is a shame since the detail of the kit is very nicely done.

After reading your log for the past 5 days Bill, I'll never complain about individual track links again? It's a good thing you live in El Paso, Tx. cause you're going to need acrege to park this monster. This project is enough to make me consider hiring a project manager if I ever decide to build one of these beasts. It sure looks like you're doing one heck of a job on it inspite of all the engineer screwups. Funny, but engineers are the same all over the world? They never have to build what they design. Great project, I'll really enjoy following you through it, and will probably give you some of my second rate comments as you go. semper fi, mike

Great work ! Keep it up! I have the 1/72 scale Leopold , by Hasegawa . ( And I thought it was impressive.) I can't wait to see your kit when is complete . And BTW thanks for the narrative on the construction ! It will help alot of modellers , in the construction of their Leopold .
Frank.

QUOTE: Originally posted by yw18mc After reading your log for the past 5 days Bill, I'll never complain about individual track links again? It's a good thing you live in El Paso, Tx. cause you're going to need acrege to park this monster. This project is enough to make me consider hiring a project manager if I ever decide to build one of these beasts. It sure looks like you're doing one heck of a job on it inspite of all the engineer screwups. Funny, but engineers are the same all over the world? They never have to build what they design. Great project, I'll really enjoy following you through it, and will probably give you some of my second rate comments as you go. semper fi, mike

The odd thing (to some perhaps?) is that I'm really enjoying this build, quirks and all!

It's funny that you mention hiring a project manager to build this for you since that's what I do for a living...

Engineers are a lot like programmers...they can design the most wonderful things but when placed in the hands of the enduser, they are absolutely awful.

I'd never consider yours or anyone else's comments as second rate mike, everyone has their own perspective and value to add, that's one of the main motivators I have for sharing this log/build with the group here after all.

Day 7 Log: September 10, 2004

The devil was in the details today. Somehow managed to lose one of the elevation collar halves, I suspect the cat has carried it off as it was sitting with its twin in exactly the same spot this morning but vanished when I sat down to work. Will have to see if I can get replacement parts from DragonUSA but their Customer Service doesn't open again until Monday.

Errors found: 1

---Step 14K subassembly calls for making two ladder sets, one for each side. The kit parts supplied however do not give enough pieces to successfully complete both sets of ladders. Only 4 part E5 are supplied...and you need four per ladder set to assemble the top rungs. Will have to get extras/replacements from Dragon along with the collar replacements, so I'm lucky in a sense I guess.

Steps Completed:

Step 14K is 50% done with one ladder assembly completed. Very slow going as the directions are extremely complicated and lots of little parts. The support holes in the frames are very shallow and in close proximity to nearly identically sized sink marks, so the first one was very challenging to assemble.

Total time today: 2.5 hours

Total time to date: 34 hours

Progress Pic:

You're doing such a nice job documenting this build Bill. I wonder what it would be worth to "Dragon" too have you rewrite their assembly instructions? Or at least send you any parts you need for doing such a thorough reverse engineering effort. Keep plugging friend, I'm enjoying the log and the results. My remark about second rate comments didn't come out right Bill, please disregard. semper fi, mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by yw18mc You're doing such a nice job documenting this build Bill. I wonder what it would be worth to "Dragon" too have you rewrite their assembly instructions? Or at least send you any parts you need for doing such a thorough reverse engineering effort. Keep plugging friend, I'm enjoying the log and the results. My remark about second rate comments didn't come out right Bill, please disregard. semper fi, mike

You've got an interesting point there mike, I'd have no clue about how to go about such a thing, this whole idea just got started as a "hey I'm building this massive thing, wonder how long it's going to take me to do it so I'll keep a log of time/effort..." and it's just kind of grown from there.

The really funny thing about Step 14K? It would be soooo much simpler if they just showed that F37/F38 are assembled with 3 E1 rungs, F30/F31 are assembled with 4 E2 rungs, and F40/39 are assembled with 4 E5 rungs on the top (two for the G43/G18/G18 assembly) and 2 E3 rungs on the bottom...and then showed a separate step having the three ladder sections nest on top of each other to build the extendable ladder....but noooo they had to show it all together with multi-colored arrows and a horribly complex arrangement between the three frames.

In the end, I assembled the sections just like that since the pin holes are so shallow, the frames will fold in on each other if you try it the way the instructions show. It was such a mess that one of the G56 hooks ended up on the wrong ladder section and I had to cut it away and leave it off completely.


2.5 hours to build one ladder section...probably 1 hour could have been shaved off that easily if the instructions were clearer.

God, Bill. The progragm manager part of you is really standing out buddy! Whether I ever get around to actually buying and building this Tech writers nightmare is a question mark? But the info you have shared with us is pricless for someone who wants to attack this monster. I have had some difficulty with Dragon instructions in the past myself. You'd think there would be an outcry of hobbiests on their illustrations and steps! Of course maybe there is? At any rate, it's good that even with the tech interpetations being questionable that you are finding enjoyment in the challenge. Thats one of the things in my eyes that make the true modeller. Keep going buddy I'm right over your shoulder. semper fi, mike