Leopard A4 - Restoration

[Wreelybro]

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and haven't been involved with any R/C since I was a Kid back in the 70's/80's But I did have quite a few 10th scale RC cars: Grasshopper, Hornet, Wild One Bigwig, Frog etc...

I still have a Blackfoot a XR311 (which is actually a Cheetah with a body swap back on the 80's) and as the title says Leopard A4 which was given to me by my older brother all built, which I loved, however over time and growing up and moving home serval times it got neglected and shoved in cupboards and on top of them and also in the loft.

Anyway my Bro passed away recently and while remembering him I also remembered about the Leopard so dug it out and well it was in bad way so I decided to look at restoring it.

 

Here is how it looked when I dug it out.

Edited May 20, 2024 by Wreelybro
Typo's

[toyolien]

Welcome, and sorry to hear about your brother passing away. That looks like a great project. I'm definitely going to follow along with your progress. 

Did you ever have the tank running as a kid? If so, that must have been ace!

[Wreelybro]

Thank you, I have some more pics to upload but I need to sort through them.

One thing I have found is the plastics are very brittle to the point some of the parts crumble when you tough them. Here's a one of the main issues the smoke canisters and the railings. These will be 3d Printed and the railings I will remake out of Brass Rod.

[Wreelybro]

One from the front

[Wreelybro]

27 minutes ago, toyolien said:

Welcome, and sorry to hear about your brother passing away. That looks like a great project. I'm definitely going to follow along with your progress. 

Did you ever have the tank running as a kid? If so, that must have been ace!

Yes I did have it running when I was a kid and was running when I last used it.

It has a weird micro switch system and only has forwa rd ad left and right no reverse. My Bro has but on a variable Tamiya Switch so was smoother. I also have the original NP4 6v Tamiya Sealed Battery but there's no way that is any good, plus has signs of cracking. I will look at 3d printing a replica one and maybe house some newer battery inside it.

Would be nice to have modern RC gear insot but I think it would spoil the originality of it. What do you think?

[Wreelybro]

[Wreelybro]

First bit of repair was to the searchlight that had lost is delicate support rods.Gone a long time ago and I had glued onto the body of the turret in my younger years. Well time to fix that. As you can see it's in a sorry state

[gogsyfinnie]

That looks like a great project!  I have a Tamiya Leopard 1A4 (1/35 Static Model though!) 

[Wreelybro]

1 hour ago, gogsyfinnie said:

That looks like a great project!  I have a Tamiya Leopard 1A4 (1/35 Static Model though!) 

Been on the lookout for one of these but can't find one.

[Wreelybro]

Done a bit of work thion the spotlight lot of sanding and making good plus some plastic card to build up the gap. Then some brass rods and some plastic sheathing to my the supports

[Wreelybro]

[Wreelybro]

[gogsyfinnie]

2 hours ago, Wreelybro said:

Been on the lookout for one of these but can't find one.

This is my one, still not got around to weathering it a bit, was my son’s first static model we did together a few years ago!

[Wreelybro]

16 minutes ago, gogsyfinnie said:

This is my one, still not got around to weathering it a bit, was my son’s first static model we did together a few years ago!

Looks amazing almost though it was 1/16 scale

[gogsyfinnie]

32 minutes ago, Wreelybro said:

Looks amazing almost though it was 1/16 scale

Thank you!  Can’t wait to see yours back up and running, enjoy

[Wreelybro]

Bit more progress between myself and my best mate we've reproduced the smoke cannisters and I've started fab work on the bars 

[Wreelybro]

Bit more progress between myself and my best mate we've reproduced the smoke cannisters and I've started fab work on the bars 

[Wreelybro]

That was very tricky but my first time soldering brass rod, think it looks OK 

[GTodd]

Ive ALWAYS wanted a tank, cool to watch this!

[No Slack]

These tanks are nice projects. My brother is very skilled in bringing these old tanks back to life. Succes with your project.

[Wreelybro]

On 5/24/2024 at 8:33 PM, No Slack said:

These tanks are nice projects. My brother is very skilled in bringing these old tanks back to life. Succes with your project.

These look amazing some skilled and detailed work there. I love the camouflage. 

[Wreelybro]

More progress made cleaning off 40+ year old paint of 40+ year old rubber tyres! Surprisingly they where in amazing condition and not perished at all. Cleaned up with IPA and look as good as new, sorry pics not great.

Before on left and after right.

[Wreelybro]

Also did the same for the tracks as they have been weathered but now just look old

[Wreelybro]

Replaced the old Tamyia slot screws with some button hex as they blend in better and less chance of scratches when removing shell. Also brass wire on the back of the headlights as they fell off when I looked at them. Thought the brass wire would look like they are wired in and gives it's some strength so shouldn't come off now.

[Wreelybro]

Gone for these as the genuine ones are near impossible to find and the one I have seen is stupid money