Soft science builds a Gepard

[SoftScience]

Hey all,

 

I was visiting Fredericksburg, Virginia today and popped into a most excellent hobby shop outside of town, where I picked up a Takom Gepard. I'm not 100% ready to begin the build yet, but I'm fascinated by some of the paint schemes in the kit. Two really stand out.

 

The first is a Romanian vehicle with big colorful roundels. The second is a German army, but not in the standard Nato 3-tone. I would love it if somebody can educate me on this scheme. The third cool scheme is the spotty one from the box top, but I don't like the corporate logo BS on the back panel. Would be interested to know if this scheme exists without the dumb corporate lettering.

 

 

 

 

 

It will be fun to decide which scheme to choose. 

 

The second thing fascinating about this kit, is the track assembly. The Indy links have pads and separate teeth (ugh), but are then held together by these polyvinyl linkages on either end. Very curious to see if this system will work. If not, may rob the vinyl track from a finished, but aging Tamiya leopard Im thinking of retiring out of my display cabinet. 

 

I don't really like gimmicky tracks, so I'm not holding out much hope for these. 

 

That's all for now. We have a holiday here tomorrow, so I might clean off my bench from a project I just finished and get started on this one.

 

[SoftScience]

Ooooh, but I think I just found a scheme I like even more.

 

https://www.alamy.com/german-army-gepard-self-propelled-anti-aircraft-gun-image249271879.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Welcome to the GB and with a very nice choice of subject too, you can't have too many Gepards. 

The kit options look very good but I have to agree that the one in Winter camo really appeals to me. 

 

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[PlaStix]

Hi SoftScience. Welcome to the GB. Great choice of kit and yes, very interesting choice of camo finishes to choose from. I quite like the second one down but can quite understand the appeal of the winter version. Looking forward to following your build whichever version you choose.

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

I also noticed the similarly camouflaged Leopards behind the Gepard, I think they might be 1A5's as I think I can see applique armour on the turret, which might make for another interesting model.

 

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[SoftScience]

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

I also noticed the similarly camouflaged Leopards behind the Gepard, I think they might be 1A5's as I think I can see applique armour on the turret, which might make for another interesting model.

 

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I think you're correct. Studying the photo closer i wonder if the tanks have a field camouflage of white and the light colored mud intentionally applied?

 

As seems to be the case here

 

https://www.alamy.com/antiaircraft-self-propelled-gun-gepard-during-nato-exercises-in-germany-cannone-semovente-contraereo-gepard-durante-esercitazioni-nato-in-germania-image503419999.html

 

 

[modelling minion]

The Buneswehr certainly went in for (possibly still does) applying mud onto the basic camouflage scheme on exercises in the summer months and from your link I found this Leopard;

https://www.alamy.com/german-army-leopard-during-nato-manoeuvres-in-1986-image249271888.html

 

Which seems to be from the same time the picture of the Gepard you're interested in was taken, both have big yellow circular stickers with the number 98 on them which have started to peel off on some vehicles in the column. There are other pictures of German Leopards of various marks in Winter camo on there too.

 

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[Silenoz]

That second camo looks like a Desert camo, as used for instance in Afghanistan.you can also opt for a Jordanian one:

 

[SoftScience]

8 minutes ago, Silenoz said:

That second camo looks like a Desert camo, as used for instance in Afghanistan.you can also opt for a Jordanian one:

 

There is no way I could find the patience to paint that! It looks super cool, though. Thanks for sharing. 

[SoftScience]

23 hours ago, modelling minion said:

The Buneswehr certainly went in for (possibly still does) applying mud onto the basic camouflage scheme on exercises in the summer months and from your link I found this Leopard;

https://www.alamy.com/german-army-leopard-during-nato-manoeuvres-in-1986-image249271888.html

 

Which seems to be from the same time the picture of the Gepard you're interested in was taken, both have big yellow circular stickers with the number 98 on them which have started to peel off on some vehicles in the column. There are other pictures of German Leopards of various marks in Winter camo on there too.

 

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I've been paging through that guy's photos. The Italian leopards on exercise look great too. Lots of great inspiration for finishing and weathering on that page. 

[modelling minion]

4 hours ago, SoftScience said:

I've been paging through that guy's photos. The Italian leopards on exercise look great too. Lots of great inspiration for finishing and weathering on that page. 

Thats the problem when you go looking through pictures, there are too many interesting schemes and not enough time to do them.

 

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[Mippie]

Wow, those are some really interesting colour schemes...there is ALOT of inspiration in those pictures too! I have bookmarked that badboy haha.

Enjoy the build and I am looking forward to seeing where you go with the camo 👍

[SoftScience]

While I continue figuring out exactly which version I'll be building, I decided to break ground on the actual build. This morning before work, I tried assembling a bit of the track run. It is a little tedious, but the result is a fairly robust working trach that doesn't come apart when you move it around (cough cough, Border Models Crusader, cough). The 5 link run took maybe 20 minutes. I expect it'll get faster as I develop a process and some muscle memory for it. Still with 70-some links per side, it will be a long slog. 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Good to see you off and running.

It seems like tracks are the main bugbear for a lot of us but at least at the end you will have a couple of sets of working tracks, and I am sure that as you say you will get into a rhythm and get them done sooner than you think.

 

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[diases]

Out of interest, are the end caps spaced the same as the links.

The picture looks about the same.

you could then build them up with on the sprue and slice them off where required

[PlaStix]

Your track assembly methods looks very similar to those HobbyBoss have used for my kit. I found I got better with the process as it's gone on. Still not finished my two runs yet though. Good luck with yours!

Kind regards,

Stix

 

[SoftScience]

20 hours ago, diases said:

Out of interest, are the end caps spaced the same as the links.

The picture looks about the same.

you could then build them up with on the sprue and slice them off where required

I'll have to give it a try tonight

[SoftScience]

I think I found the basis for my finish.

https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/imgs/lrg/gepard-flakpanzer_2.jpg[/img]

 

 

[SoftScience]

First serious update

 

After a session last night and this evening, I have the suspension parts built, as well as the wheels. Since the track is more or less "workable", i won't go my usual route of gluing it all on before painting, and instead will paint and weather the wheels and track off the tank. 

 

The suspension was far less complex than I thought it would be.

 

Also, I tried Diases' suggestion using the track link pins still on the sprue, and it worked. Took about the same amount of time though.

 

I'm at 20 links now!

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Good progress, getting the lower hull and running gear sorted is a major step and the track is definitely taking shape, and it looks very good too.

 

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[PlaStix]

Fantastic progress SoftScience. It does look to be a really good kit!

Kind regards,

Stix

[SoftScience]

It is a VERY good kit. I think Takom has found a nice balance between nice details and buildability with this model. The hull is going together rapidly. I need to add some PE bits before I can move forward, and I need to run to the store and grab some CA to do that. So here is where we leave off for now. It's a nice warm day in DC today, so time to go do some fun outdoors stuff, now. I'll probably finish out the hull later this evening or tomorrow.

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

This really is going together very quickly and very nicely, certainly looks to be the best Gepard kit in the scale.

 

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[trickyrich]

arrr this one look familiar!  

 

You look to be around the same stage in the build as I am (and yes I really do need to do an update.... 🙄), the tracks were interesting to build up, I noticed your joining rubber link are tan, mine are black.

 

I don't know how you have found the fit so far, mine has been a bit of a pain, especially with some of the smaller parts, lets or work required to get them to fit nicely. Having Vague instruction do help either.....just wait till you start fitting the PE bits to the turret! Plus building up the boxes for the main radar and gun barrels are interesting as well!.

 

That Jordanian scheme is nice but it has completely different ranging and targeting radar....pity as that digital scheme is super cool!

[SoftScience]

On 6/3/2023 at 8:13 PM, trickyrich said:

arrr this one look familiar!  

 

You look to be around the same stage in the build as I am (and yes I really do need to do an update.... 🙄), the tracks were interesting to build up, I noticed your joining rubber link are tan, mine are black.

 

I don't know how you have found the fit so far, mine has been a bit of a pain, especially with some of the smaller parts, lets or work required to get them to fit nicely. Having Vague instruction do help either.....just wait till you start fitting the PE bits to the turret! Plus building up the boxes for the main radar and gun barrels are interesting as well!.

 

That Jordanian scheme is nice but it has completely different ranging and targeting radar....pity as that digital scheme is super cool!

So far, the fit had been okay, but I haven't started any of the turret parts. I'll make sure to be extra careful and dry fit everything. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Besides black tracks, does your version have different markings options, in addition to the Ukrainian ones?