Revell 1/72 Leopard 2A5/A5NL **completed*** (by Murad Özer)

After the roadwheel and tracks incident the real fun part came in where i continued with painting the rest of the camo. First coats of the hull topside:

Decals etc are applied, however at the very last moment i noticed paint chipping off from the barrel of the main gun so i decided to remove the paint altogether via wet fine sandpaper. The grey portion infront of the barrel is primer actually, waiting to be painted at the time of these shots.
Slight Weathering/dirt and highlighting visible on the sideskirts as well as over various other parts of tank are done via very thin VA Neutral Grey mixed with VA Medium Grey applied generously over the surfaces, almost soaking them, then removing the excess water via large brush in concert with tissue paper. Result is whatever paint pigment left in the wash getting sucked into the panel lines during removal process due to capillary action.
I also decided to cover the muzzle itself, used household kitchen aluminium foil for the job. I wanted to depict this tank in parking / transit over a trailer of Faun or a railroad car, hence the muzzle cover and the clamp on the gun barrel with the turret facing backwards in most of the shots:

And the final:

Overall i enjoyed the build itself and had fun painting it tremendously, this kit is most definitely recommended - kudos to Revell!

I will continue building more Bundeswehr equipment Revell is offering in 1/72 to hone my skills with miniafv building as well as painting the 3 tone NATO camo, so c’ya all next time.

Murad ÖZER

click please for the first page : http://miniafv.172-leopard-2a5a5nl-by-murad-ozer.html