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

QUOTE: Originally posted by inpw1 I have the trumpiter leo, and am currently working on it (well i have some of the rail trucks done on one of the carriges) and it is a complicated kit also. looking at your log and compairing the two it seems the trumpiter kit is a little more detailed, but doesnt come with men (have to buy them seperately), has only one shell, and costs more. trumpiter has some cheesey turntable thing that doesnt look like the one on the box, and doesnt look like it would work, so i opted for the straight track( I used all the pieces and came up with about 5 feet of rail bed so i can put a flat car on behind it) both kits seem to have the same railbed problems though. if this one turns out good, i think i might opt for the karl mortar from trumpiter next. its nice beeing able to read your log and see what you have to say about that kit, i think some of the things will help on mine. I dont usually build armour so i think im going to try to "borrow" you weathering technique thanks for all the info in the log jim

Jim,

I'm glad it helps even with the Trumpeter kit! The Trumpeter kit is more complicated, 1100+ parts vs. 758 for the Dragon kit and is more expensive. I had thought about getting it but the turntable wouldn't have been practical and Dragon's figure set is specifically made for use on their kit and has multiple posing options to boot without having to resort to surgery. Trackbed is straight rail and came out to 43" in length and 6" wide. Height depends on the elevation of the gun of course.

I have the trumpiter leo, and am currently working on it (well i have some of the rail trucks done on one of the carriges) and it is a complicated kit also. looking at your log and compairing the two it seems the trumpiter kit is a little more detailed, but doesnt come with men (have to buy them seperately), has only one shell, and costs more. trumpiter has some cheesey turntable thing that doesnt look like the one on the box, and doesnt look like it would work, so i opted for the straight track( I used all the pieces and came up with about 5 feet of rail bed so i can put a flat car on behind it) both kits seem to have the same railbed problems though. if this one turns out good, i think i might opt for the karl mortar from trumpiter next.

its nice beeing able to read your log and see what you have to say about that kit, i think some of the things will help on mine. I dont usually build armour so i think im going to try to "borrow" you weathering technique

thanks for all the info in the log
jim

Day 18 Log: September 22, 2004

Errors/Issues: None

Steps Completed:

--Attached the ladders to the front end of the cradle as well as the sides near the loading deck.

--Weathered the lower cradle surfaces on both sides.

--Attached the handrails to the upper cradle deck perimeter.

--Added safety chains to the ladder entrances on the loading deck. One chain positioned in the closed position, the other left hanging in the open position.

Total Time Today: 2.5 hours

Total Time to Date: 77.5 hours

Progress Pics:







Additional comments: Will seal up the gun cradle surfaces with dull coat and apply a gloss coat to the lower sides only since all the decals will go there. If all goes well, the only thing left will be the figures for this weekend. The finish line is in sight!

Bill,thats a great looking kit,me i would not have the cash to get the kit never mind the paint.but it looks great,keep up the log on this one.

gdarwin[roy]

Dang! your building this thing super fast! Looks incredible. Nice wear ant tear too. The painting is superb! Cant wait for more pics.

Ibeam,

A great resource for information on the K5(E) series can be found here:

http://www.aopt91.dsl.pipex.com/railgun/Content/Railwayguns/German/k5.html

They say between 25 and 28 were produced with the first ones entering service in 1940.

Very nice work on that scratchbuild!

Thanks for the compliment on the log, it started out as a whim and has slowly taken over virtually my entire existence...

Speaking of which, here's the latest installment!

Day 17 Log: September 21, 2004:

Errors/Issues: 1

I placed the retaining clamps for the gun elevation axle and they were an extremely tight fit. I cleaned them of paint, made sure there weren't any seams interfering, and they still went on incredibly tight. End result is that the gun is virtually in a fixed position, every attempt to elevate it produces enormous strain on the clamps and actually popped one clean off before it would elevate up. It doesn't bother me as I've planned to have the gun in the loading position all along, but for those who build this wanting to have a fully workable elevation mechanism, you'll have to watch out for this and possibly shave down the axle pins to get the desired result.

Steps Completed:

Every get really in a grove so that time just disappears on you? That happened to me today with the weathering process. I intended to work on this for just a couple of hours but I got rolling and couldn't stop. I blame the MegaJug Diet Pepsi from KFC, but that's another story.

--Painted the assembled parts yesterday to match up to the cradle.

--Weathered the front end ladders as well as the side ladders off the cradle as it was much easier to do this than if they had been mounted and then weathered.

--Prepped and weathered the upper deck rails. They have a lot of sprue attachment points but came off easily enough with minimal cleanup.

--Weathered the upper cradle deck area in preparation for placing the rails.

Total Time Today: 4 hours

Total time to date: 75 hours

Progress Pics:










Additional comments:

Tomorrow will be the final assembly. The ladders will go on and I'll have to be very careful with the handling from that point onward. Still need to get the decals on and complete the weathering on the lower cradle. Figures haven't been touched either. This one could go over the 100 hour mark at the current rate... [:0]

Great work on your K5 wbill76,
Your progress pics have provided some of the best looks at the K5 that can be found anywhere on the net. This is particularly helpful to me for my recently completed scratchbuilt K5 (1/160 scale) Thanks for describing your MMsteel weathering technique.

I've read what I could find on the K5's but Does anyone know how many K5's there were? and where they were predominitely used and targeted at? I've seen pictures where there were 4-5 of them lined up and firing (I guess on those turntable things) but I have no idea when/where and at what these were pointed - what a diorama that would be in 1/35 scale

Day 16 Log: September 20, 2004

Errors/Issues: 1

The USPS was kind enough to deliver my replacement parts today. Dragon customer service can't be beat...they clipped off the parts I needed and sent them to be in a bubble-pack envelope...4 E5 and 1 G9, 1 G44 just as I needed, nothing else, and no charge. I have this vision of their warehouse stocked with canibalized kits waiting for someone to say they need part X...pretty cool when you think about it.

The issue I encountered had to do with the extendable ladders. Turns out I built the first one way back when to be too long! The instructions are again misleading on this and the second time around set me straight. Fortunately, I was able to correct it without too much trouble. There should only be one rung on the top section before the next one nests, not two as I originally interpreted the diagram.

I again had to fight with shallow pin holes and the tendency of the ladder halves to roll or twist off center, lessons learned from the first ladder assembly helped and this ladder took 1 hour less due to already knowing the rung configuration, just as I predicted it would.

Steps Completed:

Used the replacement parts supplied by Dragon to build the second ladder arrangement. Also rebuilt the gun elevation axle clamp half that my cat spirited away. Both are now ready for painting, which will be done tomorrow weather permitting.

Total Time today: 1.5 hours

Total time to date: 71 hours

Progress Pic:

QUOTE: Originally posted by Moses Wbill, do you work? I wish I had your time becuase you are banging these projects out like tomorrow is the Apocolypse!!

I have a simple answer...No Children.

It's also been extremely quiet in the work arena for a long time now...it's starting to get scary, I keep waiting for the big disaster/storm to break...our company is adopting Six Sigma as a methodology and I'm slated to be the regional Black Belt, so my modeling time will be curtailed somewhat over the course of the next few months, but not too severe I hope.

Wbill, I agree with Mo, you are a modeling machine. I dno't think I could afford to keep up with you pace, even if I had the time. Unless I decided to spend my boys college fund Seriously, you are making amazing progress. I suppose I am just jealous

Wbill, do you work? I wish I had your time becuase you are banging these projects out like tomorrow is the Apocolypse!!

Well Bill, I've got pastels up the "WAZOO" so I guess I better start showing some results I'm sure that given some patience and experience I'll start to reap the rewards of working in the pastel medium. I apprieciate the pointers you've shared with me. Sorry to be taking everyone off this great project of yours. Semper fi, mike

Mike,

The type I use is from Hobby Lobby, Mungyo Earth Tones, and I apply it without using a liquid medium of any kind. Just rub the brush over the block to pick up the fine pigment and brush it on the area it needs to go. The regular chalk works for weathering if you grind it up or use sandpaper to get a fine grade powder but that's a lot of work IMHO.

Thanks for getting me straight on the pastels Bill. You're not going to believe this but I have been using the wrong pastels? I've been trying to get a weathered look with pastels using regular chaulk pastels not much luck using them. I just picked up some soft pastels by Loew Cornell from "Michaels". I'm anxious to try them out. I also purchased some "Artists oil pastels". I've had some minor success with them using a mineral spirit mix for doing some weathering. Hell! if I don't have any success with these pastels I might go back to my old interest. Starving artist. semper fi, mike

Mike,

I drybrush the MM Steel and it dries pretty quick. I then follow along with black artist pastel (the stuff in the harder square blocks) in powder form rubbed with a small fine brush over the MM Steel. This is not chalk but real artist pigment and it binds with the base paint and MM Steel pretty readily even when dry. If too much gets applied, I use a stiff bristled brush to work it in more or go over it with lighter pigment to achieve the same thing.

It's true if you seal pastels, they lose their dusty look. In this particular case, I'm sealing it because I want the sooty look to "sink in" to the crevices/shadow areas and will come back along it and apply lighter levels if needed/desired. It's a technique that has taken some practice to develop, but I like the results. I had to seal it because some of the pastel was getting on my fingers from handling and I was starting to see sooty fingerprints show up in very unusual places. [:0] Ordinarily I do weathering as a last step but this monster is requiring a little different handling due to its size and numerous sections.

As a side note, I did not work on the Leopold today but focused on the T34. Hopefully my parts will arrive tomorrow and I can keep on trucking with her and take care of the remaining bits.

Looks like you've been working on the railroad this weekend Bill! The weathering looks like it is coming along nicely. Just one question on the weathering process you use, When you use the MM steel and pastel black, are the two being mixed together or are you applying the paint then brushing the pastel over the still wet paint? I'm very very new to using pastels and don't think I've quite got the jest of appying them yet. Seems I've read that sealing the pastels takes away from the weathered look? I don't really want to get away from your building of this huge gun but the question ia one I'm trying to better understand. Better let you get back to your railroad it's fantastic so far. semper fi, mike

Mike,

That's kind of why I'm doing the weathering in sections. I keep referring back to the ones already completed as I do a new one in order to try and keep some consistency going while still having enough realistic variation over the whole thing. It's tough...I take a lot of breaks in this process which makes it slow going but insures I don't get in a big hurry and make a costly mistake, or at least I hope it does.

Day 15 Log: September 18, 2004:

Errors/Issues: None

Steps Completed:

--Continued the weathering process on the railroad carriages. Completed both front and rear using the MM Steel and black pastel combination. Sealed both up with Testors Dullcote as I'm now having to move them around quite a bit and keep finding traces of black pastel show up on my fingers at the worst moments... [:0]

---Added the kit-included copper safety chain to the shell loading deck. It was somewhat of a pain, not enough to qualify as an issue, but still a pain, because the chain links do not slip over the attachment points as indicated in the instructions. The links are too small to do this easily, but nothing a little CA and accelerator couldn't handle.

---Began the weathering on the gun barrel and mount/elevation mechanisms. These are now completely weathered but still unsecured due to waiting on replacement parts from Dragon. This makes it particularly difficult to work on but I think it's better to take care of it now while I still have some flexibility to it than trying to work with it locked down.

--Re-puttied and sanded the breech block joint area after examining it and discovering gap/seam still visible (sometimes it pays to let things sit for a while and come back to them with a critical eye!).

---Used the airbrush to repaint the breech and touch up some areas that had scuffed since the last paint application. Used up the remaining 1/2 bottle from the previous painting so that makes 4 bottles of Schwarzgray that have gone into this beast.

---Constructed the kit-included shells and canvas powder bags. Painted and weathered them. One shell and the bags will go on the shell cart with a figure pushing them, not sure what I will do with the other 3 shells provided, but will no doubt put them to good use.

Total Time today: 8 hours

Total time to date: 69.5

Progress Pics:













Additional Comments:

Weathering is taking longer than anticipated. I still have the gun cradle itself to weather and it has a lot of surface area to deal with. My intention is to finish the base weathering, apply a gloss coat to the cradle, add the decals, then gloss coat to seal and dull coat over that and then add weathering as needed. The figures on the shelf are starting to mock me, they know all too well why I've saved them for last...

As another note, the MM Steel is showing up in the pics as more pronounced than it actually is under normal lighting conditions. I use two 60W lamps for taking the pics and this lighting is somewhat harsher and the digital enhances the brighter look as a result.

The weathering process on so large a piece of work has got to be pretty tedious. I think that one would have trouble just maintaining a consistency with so much area to weather. looking forward to seeing more. Keep up the tremendous job you're doing Bill. semper fi, mike

You are psychic eric! The last pic from yesterday showed only the weathering being done to the railroad ties. The first thing I tackled today was weathering the rails themselves. No one else entered the pool, so I guess I'll keep the virtual dollar.

Day 14 Log: September 17, 2004:

Errors Issues: None

Steps Completed:

---Continued/Finished the weathering to the railroad bed by drybrushing MM Steel lightly on the rail tops and edges as well as the rail joints. Followed behind with black pastel to slightly dull the silver so that it retained the exposed metal look without being too shiny. Going off the local railroad references I pass by, it seems that the rails themselves don't stay as shiny as opposed to the railcar wheels.

---Weathered the upperstructures on the SP engine housing and shell loading decks. Drybrushed with MM steel and again followed along behind with black pastels to create shadows on the deck grids as well as slightly dull the scratched/exposed steel.

Time today: 4 hours

Time to date: 61.5 hours

Progress Pics:







Additional comments:

Weathering this beast is an unusual proposition but so far progressing well. The kit included a figure set so they will be added as well to further bring it to life. Extra parts have not arrived yet and I'm holding off mounting the ladders and railings until I have them all and can take care of them in one go. Tomorrow's efforts will focus on continuing the weathering process and getting ready for the huge number of decals. [:0]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JWest21 Can we make sure it is a nice tropical deserted island?? Ahh...sun, tropical drinks and model glue. Now THAT'S av Vacation. The build is looking great, by the wya

Don't forget the bikini clad native assistants serving us coconut milk with little umbrellas. Just a nice thought.

Bill, I lost the pool. I thought 50 might not be enough. The picture might not be accurate, but it looks like the top of the rails needs some shiney steel. Sorry if you did this already, just the pic looks as though it needs it, at least on my computer.

bill i agree this has to make a contest appearance. it is an awesome site.


joe

Well Bill! sometimes my ideas just don't quite meet the sensitivities of the surroundings. In this case the hearse idea might not be the way to go. You folks would probably be looking for a new place to exhibit your work in the future. semper fi, mike

Hmmm not a bad idea there mike...although it might look very strange if I roll up to the contest site in a hearse! (It's being held in a methodist church event hall). The good news on transporting it is that even when completed, it can still be broken down into the track bed, the gun cradle, and the railroad carriages without too much difficulty.

This work really needs too make it to the Oct DesertCon Bill. I wonder if maybe you get a sponsor from a local business too assist you with logistical transportation of this traffic jam in the making? It's just a thought! Take a couple of photographs and show it around. You might be surprised how some folks might want to help.(note). I can just see your local funeral home hauling it in one of their hearses. On the other hand it probably would be the safest way to move it. Think about it. semper fi, mike

Thanks ted! I am thoroughly enjoying this build and it's likely to be finished much sooner than I had originally thought it would be. I'm seriously considering entering it in the October DesertCon being held here locally but I'm not sure how I'd work out the transportation logistics for this monster...

Wbill, you are a modeling machine. I have been watching your progress and am amazed at the speed and accuracy in which you taclkle all of your projects. These forums surely give me alot to aspire to .

Hat's off to you.

Thanks Jwest! It's been a great ride so far...the end is starting to come into view now...unless that's just a locomotive coming down the opposite track!

Day 13 Log: September 16, 2004

Errors/Issues: None

Steps Completed:

---Completed weathering on the railroad ties. Am debating whether or not to go ahead and weather the rails themselves or leave as is. I'll try out a little bit of drybrushing tomorrow and if it looks good, will do the rest. If not, will repaint the test section and leave as is.

Time today: 2 hours

Time to Date: 57.5 hours

Progress Pic:



Additional comments: I'm having real problems getting good pics now due to sheer size. My normal portrait area is designed for the usual 1/35 tanks and vehicles, but can't accomodate this monster. Had to use the flash so everything looks lighter/shinier than it really is. Oh well...the limitations of indoor digital photography at work I guess.

The rails also appear in the photo to not be perfectly straight...I'm not sure if that's a combination of the lighting/flash, the alignment of the track vs. the photo, or slight variation in the ties, or all three...When I look down the track length from one end, they look straight so I'm not going to worry about it that much...

QUOTE: Originally posted by wbill76 QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerman Just an impressive build so bar Bill. It's like watching a reality tv show. Just way cooler. Maybe one of the cable channels should pick up on this idea...it could work on a Survivor/Apprentice type model I think. Take a group of modelers, lock them in a house or on a deserted island for 6 weeks and tell them to build like maniacs...hey if Gilligan and the professor could turn coconuts into phones, it could work.

Can we make sure it is a nice tropical deserted island?? Ahh...sun, tropical drinks and model glue. Now THAT'S av Vacation. The build is looking great, by the wya

Mike and Joe,

Glad you are enjoying the ride along with me! I'm enjoying this build immensely, so many different things to work on to bring it all together. It comes with a set of figures specifically designed for this kit as well and they are highly detailed, so more hours will go into them as well before she's all wrapped up.

Day 12 Log: September 15, 2004

Errors/Issues Found: 1

---I figured out by accident why they have the ties go into their respective slots in that zany pattern outlined earlier. I accidentally put a g2 in a g7 slot due to poor attention and mistaking the upside down writing of a 2 for a 7...pushed it in all the way (once in they don't come out) before I realized the mistake. The impact hit home when I threaded the rails through. The misplaced tie had it's rail holder out of line by about .5 mm...just enough to make the rail bow slightly as it passed through. Fortunately this happend right at a rail junction so I was able to correct it using the other rail and the rail joint halves.

Steps Completed:

---Completed Step 19 in terms of the construction of the railroad bed. Ended up with 7 extra ties and 1 set of extra rail joints, but that was to be expected since they give you 7 sprues with 6 ties and 1 set of joints but you only need 57 ties and 6 sets of joints.

---Weathering of the rails and remaining ties still needs to be completed.

---Discovered a neat way to cut the rails cleanly. I used a pin vise and drilled a hole in the center of the rail where the plastic was thin and then used the sprue cutters top and bottom. Only a small amount of sanding required to smooth it out and didn't have to worry about stress cracking or a ragged end to begin with. The measurements they give for the final rails at 154mm seems a bit off...unless you want the rails extending off the end of the embankment (this looked strange to me and I ended up removing about 10mm off the ends so they looked clean on the ties).

Total time today: 3 hours

Total time to date: 55.5 hours

Progress Pics:





Additional comments:

Hopefully my replacement parts from Dragon will arrive this weekend so I can build the remaining ladder I need, secure down the gun mounts, and begin weathering the on the gray structures. Cross those fingers!

Bill. It's just absolutely poetry in motion, watching you put this all together. What a treat. semper fi, mike