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Leopard 2 A7+


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Leopard 2 A7+

MENG   1/35

 

Meng's latest release in their Leopard 2 line, the A7+ is based on the previously released A7 with additional parts for the extra armour and the turret mounted weapons station. The kit goes together as well as the earlier version, and has most of the same features, including the slightly annoying working torsion bar suspension. On this one (unlike the A7 I built a while back) I fixed the suspension in place to avoid the tank constantly sitting at funny angles due to the axles pushing out of alignment. Apart from that, it's a very nice kit. The only down side is that the kit represents the original Krauss-Maffei Wegmann tech demontrator and not the production tanks that are currently entering service with Qatar and Hungary.

 

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And finally, a fw shots with Meng's earlier 2A7

 

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                                Thanks for looking

 

                                Andy:cat:

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On 23/10/2019 at 12:32, Silenoz said:

Looking very good. Which kit would be more appropriate for a production version then?

This is the only kit of the 2 A7+ available, so it's the only option really. There aren't many clear images of the Qatari Leopards available yet, but from what you can find online, they've got different stowage bins which would need to be scratch built, and they lack the full turret side armour, which you can replicate from this kit. They've also got the same side skirts and add-on armour as the Leopard 2 A7. Those parts are also included with this kit, left over from the previous boxing. There are probably other detail differences, but I couldn't tell you what they all are. They've also got an awful camo in my opinion.

 

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The only image I've found of a Hungarian A7+ is below, and it looks to be broadly similar to the Qatari version

 

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It's possible that Meng may update the kit to represent the production models, or someone may do a conversion kit. We'll probably need to wait for more info and images to become available.

 

Andy:cat:

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  • 2 weeks later...
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On 10/23/2019 at 1:10 PM, Andy Moore said:

They've also got an awful camo in my opinion.

 

I suppose that depends whether your tanks are for looking good on parades or actually for fighting your enemies!! 

 

With almost no contrast the Qatari scheme is effectively useless at more than a few metres distance.  It neither hides nor disguises the subject and will be obscured by dust in minutes.  DAK made that mistake with their early low-contrast RAL 8000 over RAL 7008 camo scheme and were forced to darken the disruptor colour to RAL8020 in March '42.  British desert camo was notably high-contrast in WW2.  In the desert you need to bring your own contrast as there isn't any naturally.  Having said that, many recent and current national desert/arid schemes have been or are monotone.  Despite experimenting with camo and been involved in more conflicts than most countries since WW2, Israel has stuck with monotone colours - for example.

On 10/23/2019 at 1:10 PM, Andy Moore said:

and they lack the full turret side armour,

As Turkey is discovering with its used 2A4s along the Syrian border, Leopards are not especially survivable without the add-on turret armour.  The design philosphy has always prioritised mobility and lethality ahead of baseline survivability, and the enemy is not aways direcly to your front.  So making a compromise here could prove to be a costly misjudgement should Qatar (and Hungary?) be involved in a shooting war or insurgency.

 

During the development of MBT80 and CR2 the UK experimented with fabricated turret shells in both steel and aluminium but concluded that cast steel shells were ballistically preferable beneath the outer composite and applique layers.  Both CR1 and CR2 have cast steel turret shells, and if you have seen the surviving MBT80 concept turret shell on the ATR2 test rig in Bovington's VCC that is a steel casting too - despite its angular fabricated appearance.  One of the aluminium fabricated test turrets survives on another test rig vehicle there too.  But my geekery is getting the better of me again: must take my meds .........................

 

Back in the room, I can only agree that the model (which this thread was originally about!) is indeed most excellent.

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20 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

 

As Turkey is discovering with its used 2A4s along the Syrian border, Leopards are not especially survivable without the add-on turret armour.  The design philosphy has always prioritised mobility and lethality ahead of baseline survivability, and the enemy is not aways direcly to your front.  So making a compromise here could prove to be a costly misjudgement should Qatar (and Hungary?) be involved in a shooting war or insurgency.

 

Ouch! That's quite a sobering set of pictures that can be found online.

Looking at them not even sure upgraded turret armour would have helped. Reminiscent of wartime photos found in the likes of Panzer wrecks.

 

Did someone suggest we could be replacing Challenger II with Leopard? (Obviously later models).

 

(Apologies for hijacking the thread).

 

Darryl 

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The trouble with the 2A4 is that it's still an all-metal tank: no composites or spaced armour.  Introducing tungsten and titanium to the armour has clearly not helped much.  Disturbingly, the 2A4 is/was the most common Leo species.  I'm no metallurgist but I guess the melting point of both tungsten and titanium is significantly higher than steel, as well as both being much harder.  But when you have Russian 125mm HEAT rounds able to melt through 700+mm of steel RHA and later RPG able to achieve 600+mm, and APDS able to penetrate up to 1000mm RHA then no all-metal tank is safe.

 

The UK rushed to implement the Stillbrew composite applique on Chieftain and accelerated development on "Chobham" armour for CR1 as a result of seeing the effects of Russian 115mm HEAT ammunition from T-62 on Iranian Chieftain turrets (up to 500mm thick in places) in the '80's and concern about what the 125mm would be capable of.  Chieftain was effectively designed to defeat 100mm KE ammunition, the T-62 being first seen the year Chieftain was first fielded.  There is no better development stimulus than seeing your tanks destroyed in combat by the enemy's kit.  Leopard has never actually been combat tested until recently, but it is notable that the 2A5, 6 and 7 all add significantly improved all-round survivability over the 2A4.

 

Ironically, Aselsan in Turkey has developed a composite armour upgrade for the 2A4 that the Turkish Army (or anyone else?) has not adopted (yet!!).  It leveraged work done towards the proposed but cancelled Turkish indigenous tank, the Altay.

 

More apologies for further hijacking a thread about a superb/excellent/wonderful/fantastic/runs out of superlatives model.

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