This is my Takom Leopard 2A7 in 1/72! This is the kit I'm most proud of so far, I think it turned out very nice and I really like the weathering. Also, my first 1/72 tank! I really enjoyed building in 1/72, and I've already got another 1/72 tank in my to build list.
The kit itself is very nice, sans the tracks. Fit is pretty good maybe I'm just inexperienced working with tracks in 1/72, but for the life of me I couldn't get a good bond on them (you can see where I just gave up on the drive sprocket on the tanks left side, theres a missing link there). The tracks on the left side are also crooked.
The paint scheme is mostly freehanded; the kit did come with masks, but I didn't realize that it wanted you to do the black, then brown, then green; I had done the green first, so apart from some specific spots on the turret, the masks wouldn't help. I used AK real colors, with the green being lightened with Tamiya buff. I'm not liking AKRC as much as Tamiya, as even when thinned with leveling thinner, it seems like at lower pressures it has splattering and clogging issues that I don't get with Tamiya paints. For the most part though, I think the camo is good.
I really liked the effect of using some holographic film for the anti laser coating (thanks PLASMO for the tip), its a really nice effect in real life.
I'm particularly proud of the weathering work I did, especially on the main hull. I finally felt like I was able to get that transition from wet mud to dry mud to dust. The upper deck and the turret may be a little too clean, but oh well.
The antenna I'm also not as proud of, the paint seemed to pool and make those weird beads as you can see. I think I should have thinned the paint more, but I was too excited with the rest of the tank and decided to call it done.
The photos were taken outside, which is why theres that one really long shadow (the sun was my only light source!). The photos were taken on a DSLR, with a shutter speed of 1/60, Aperture f.22, and an ISO of either 200 or 400. I think going forward I should've used my tripod for all my photos (half of the photos I took were too blurry, the only one I used a tripod for was the focus stacked photo(s)), and maybe some stronger outdoor lights to soften the shadows.
This is also the first vignette I ever made (I think, not sure on the definitions). Nothing too fancy, I wanted to start simple. I used EPS foam as the base (a mistake, I didn't like it, I have XPS now. Although, I do like the rocky look it has when I painted it black).
The surface was molded with straight VMS smart mud, and I dabbled some wet mud splatter effect from AK around. I tried to do some track imprints, but it didn't look like it showed very well. I didn't think it needed to be colored at the time, but looking back on it it looks kind of like a brownie. Definitely will want to paint the ground myself next time, and also have some sort of wood siding for the kit.