diff --git a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubeapiserver.go b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubeapiserver.go
index 3b97630c52..3b11c2ef8d 100644
--- a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubeapiserver.go
+++ b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubeapiserver.go
@@ -61,6 +61,18 @@ func (b *KubeAPIServerBuilder) Build(c *fi.ModelBuilderContext) error {
 		c.AddTask(t)
 	}
 
+	// Touch log file, so that docker doesn't create a directory instead
+	{
+		t := &nodetasks.File{
+			Path:        "/var/log/kube-apiserver.log",
+			Contents:    fi.NewStringResource(""),
+			Type:        nodetasks.FileType_File,
+			Mode:        s("0400"),
+			IfNotExists: true,
+		}
+		c.AddTask(t)
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/_kubernetes_master/kube-apiserver/files/var/log/kube-apiserver.log b/upup/models/nodeup/_kubernetes_master/kube-apiserver/files/var/log/kube-apiserver.log
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/_kubernetes_master/kube-apiserver/files/var/log/kube-apiserver.log.meta b/upup/models/nodeup/_kubernetes_master/kube-apiserver/files/var/log/kube-apiserver.log.meta
deleted file mode 100644
index 56d0e34103..0000000000
--- a/upup/models/nodeup/_kubernetes_master/kube-apiserver/files/var/log/kube-apiserver.log.meta
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "ifNotExists": true
-}
\ No newline at end of file