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Best 1/35 Leopard 2 please?


nigelr32

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Depends also if you want a A1-A4 or a A5+ There is no good A1-A4 right now. HB is okay and so is Italeri, but they are a far cry from the Tamiya A5 and A6 offerings.

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If you want one of the early Leopard 1's then Italeri have just re released the the 1A4, it's regarded as the best early Leopard, an old kit

But far better than the Tamiya. As mentioned for a Leopard 2A5 or a 2A6 Geman Army version then it's tamiya all the way. I did look at the 2A4 from HB the other day and quite fancy one myself, the price is also very attractive at around £18 and i don't think any other company kits a 2A4? I've heard that the Revell 2A6 is a bit basic on the details and has a few issues.

HTH

Dan

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Quick run-down of the available kits:

Leopard 2A2

Matchbox - Italeri kit, boxed under the Matchbox label by Revell. Not reckoned to be a terribly accurate depiction of the type but sound in most respects.

Leopard 2A3

Esci - out of production, of course, and very basic, but OK for outlines and one of the few that contains Dutch options (smoke launchers and the FN MAG). Really needs some Eduard-style help.

Leopard 2A4

Revell or Italeri (the same kit) - more accurate than the 2A2 version and still holds up well despite its age. However, the tracks on all Italeri-derived Leopard 2s are horrid and need replacing.

Revell 3193 - completely new kit, unrelated to the Italeri ones. High standard of detail but curious construction. This one introduces Dutch parts.

Hobby Boss - some improvements over the Italeri kit but some problems too, eg the gun. Anti-slip panels are a bit coarse and are tricky to reduce, although these have got better as the range has grown. The turret sits funny (slightly nose-high). Overall, slightly behind Tamiya's in quality, but still nice modern mouldings.

Esci - largely similar to the Leopard 2A3 and at least one boxing came with some figures.

Leopard 2A5 and 2A6

Tamiya - peerless.

Hobby Boss - as above. One version builds as the Dutch variants but probably contains parts for others too as they're scattered about the sprues at random.

Revell / Italeri - nearly as good as the Tamiya versions except for the tracks and the side skirts. One odd variant is the KWS, which is sort of the prototype for the 2A5.

Leopard 2A5DK

Hobby Boss - the only kit that offers this variant's unique turret roof, and like other late export versions has the new bow as well.

Leopard 2A6M

Revell - as 3193 (this one came first) plus some errors such as the proportions of the gun. I've not seen 3193 in the flesh so I can't say if it has the same errors.

Hobby Boss - overall slightly better than Revell's and, uniquely, includes the slat armour.

Leopard 2A6EX

Hobby Boss - the 2A6EX was an export demonstrator (previous exports had been largely surplus German and Dutch stock) but this kit doesn't quite depict it accurately. Still, with a few spare parts from other kits and some scratch-building, it can be a base for (eg) the Greek version, Leopard 2Hel. The same basic kit is also sold as the Spanish Leopard 2E.

Strv 122

Hobby Boss - the only current way to make the Swedish version. The turret is reputedly "derived from" Hong Kong Creation Workshop's conversion, but as you can't buy from HKCW any more, this may not be a problem.

Somewhere on the interweb there's a really useful site that goes into much more detail and also sets out the available conversions and upgrades. But for the life of me I can't find it.

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Thankyou very much guys for the info there. You really are a helpful bunch!!

It looks like I'll be going for the Tamiya A5 then, as my LHS has one on the shelf and you guys all say it's the best manufacturer by far.

Thanks again

Nige

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There's also the 1/35th 'CC LEE' Leopard 2A4 which may be a copy/reboxing of someone else's.

The detail isn't very sharp and has the rubber band tracks but I picked one up for about a fiver a couple of years ago.

Modelzone are selling the Revell 1/35th 2A6/A6M for £15-odd in their sale at the moment if you can find one.

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  • 4 months later...

Just bought Revell 3193 Leopard 2A4 to build for one of my sons. He likes tanks and is half-Austrian; I built him a Challenger 2 (Trumpeter Operation Telic) earlier this year, so will be doing the Austrian (ex-Dutch) option (great ! no complex camouflage scheme!) and will be putting them together in a display case. Got it for 22 Euros (18 quid ?)

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  • 3 years later...
On 1/5/2013 at 0:44 PM, XL929 said:

There's also the 1/35th 'CC LEE' Leopard 2A4 which may be a copy/reboxing of someone else's.

The detail isn't very sharp and has the rubber band tracks but I picked one up for about a fiver a couple of years ago.

 

 

 

the LEE is probably a rebox of the ESCI kit :)(not sure about)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎06‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 22:21, andym said:

Those guys really know their stuff, and produce some nice upgrade sets.

 

Asking for the best Leo 2 is a bit like aircraft guys asking for the best Spitfire? Different kit manufactures make good versions of different versions of the kit. I have the HB Kit for the Canadian Leo and its good, where as other versions of HB kits not so. Meng make some pretty good Leos and the new revell Leo 1 is a good kit as well. Seems strange that people dont list the Meng kits as Dave points out.  I have a faif few and the are all good kits. The new 2A7 is a very nice kit.

 

Just out from Tiger Hobbies is;

tgm4629_0_1490077781.jpg

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