Leopard new monument for Base Kingston
 

I was through Base Kingston yesterday, our car seems to be unable to go to town on highway 2 without detouring through the base for some reason.

We have watched a new pad being prepared and landscaped opposite the CF5 monument and wondered what was coming.

This Leopard was parked up and I would hazard a guess that it will be lifted on Monday. Curiou that it was towed to this location as the pad marks on the roadway were well visible, wonder how they will stop it rolling away once it is on display?

It will be on the same side as the Centurion.

Robin

Shilo had a monument M109 show up out of the blue about a month or so back. The base's crane was out of commission, so rather than have them spend thousands renting one from town, I took a stab at it. 202 workshop had welded the track to the sprockets to make sure it would not roll. I cut the 5 welds on each side with oxy acetylene, hooked on an A frame, and towed it off the trailer with an APC.

This one was to replace one that had been sitting at the front gate, unmodified, for the last 6 years or so. So a couple weeks ago some of the guys went down with the wrecker and towed the one away from the front gate, and then came down to the museum to pick up the new one.

One thing we didn't count on was that 202 likely drained all the oils from the final drives. About 3/4 the way back to the gate, one track started dragging badly. They managed to get it onto it's pad, and I would suggest there should be no need to re-weld the sprockets. It won't be going anywhere.

The one that was at the gate will have it's pack pulled and appropriate welding done to the hatches and gun. It will now grace 1RCHA, which was the unit it served with.

The new one was a Quebec gun, and comes sanitized in the single green colour. They put a fairly large plaque on the side, not to give any history of the gun, but rather to warn future restorers that it is painted with CARC, and not to do anything with the paint.

And here are the other pictures

Rob you dont half get into some scrapes and japes don't you! I like your style :note:

Robin

Leo Monument
 

They probably had to put some kind of weight in the engine compartment to keep the rear end down or it sits funny. I am not sure what we did in Gagetown or Petawawa when we had the Leo's placed as monuments if they placed them on stands as they were put in place by cranes.

I remember grinding down the 3 colour paint scheme in 1990 when I was a C1 driver. We were getting the mine roller mod work done at that time by Kraus Maufi at out tank hangers in Lahr. I asked about the paint and the metal composition as we wore respirators grinding the paint down for the welders. The German worker would not even acknowledge my question but he understood it.

Please don't take offense, and perhaps my command of the Queen's language is lacking, but I have no idea what you just said. :fry:

Sorry Rob, forgot which side of the pond you were born on!

"you lead a colourful and interesting and adventuresome life", all positive :cheers:

R

I never would have got that meaning from that original sentence. Yes, I was born in the new world, where our colloquialisms are more obvious.

Well the parameters of my life have just been somewhat reduced. From my hiatus of retirement, I have now entered the civil service as the full time mechanic at the RCA museum in Shilo. It will be nice working in a shop this winter where I don't have to put wood in the furnace at the start of the day.

starting fires
 

Rob

You should see if you could light a fire under that guy from Carberry and see if he is interested in helping out once in a while.

Gord

Hows that for a retirement job. Nice Rob. Nice to see an enthusiast doing that rather than some dude punching the clock. Win for both you and the museum.

It was a roller coaster ride, believe me. I can tell you this though, when you have a job you truly love, you don't need an alarm clock to get there on time.

No paycheque yet, but when it does come, I am going to feeel like a thief.

Gordon: have not seen hide nor hair of the invisible man, but it is my understanding they are going for another camping trip (army style) so he will be busy. I cannot say I entirely miss those days.

we have massively managed to get off topic, talk about mission creep, how about topic creep :doh:

It is all good, in the end

R

I was on base again today to see the Leopard, I did take a few pictures, it is interesting what a move a few feet one way or the other does to the image.

We discussed how it was going to be held in place on the slope.

It seems the power of a number of welds is the answer, the drive sprocket has been welded to the end connectors.

I notice the same black paint has been generously applied to any part of the green paintwork that got damaged during the lift, ie towing points etc.

The plaque is yet to be affixed to the mount out front.

R

Because the road that this flanks also has other monuments it makes for interesting photos.

This is likely my favourite picture of 2014 because of the juxtaposition.

I think I will be back here with a better camera and some time to try and get an even better shot.

Out of genuine interest, what exact version of the Leopard is this?

R

Every CF5 I've seen on a post seems to have copied this aggressive upward angle. Maybe this is a compromise between the strength of the post and the strength of the engine mounts (assuming that is how the hidden end of the mount attaches to the plane).

I think Terry you are correct, but also it likely has something to do with drainage of any moisture.

I think it is a striking way of presenting them, but again we are getting off topic.

No one has answered as to what Leopard mark it is

R

Hi Robin

It's a Leo I C2

regards
Darrell