Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Forum rules
This section is for posting a build log of your Tamiya tank.
Questions relating to issues you are having with your tank(s) should be posted in the General Questions forum here: viewforum.php?f=14
This section is for posting a build log of your Tamiya tank.
Questions relating to issues you are having with your tank(s) should be posted in the General Questions forum here: viewforum.php?f=14
Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Hey folks,
I hear a lot how expensive Tamiya tanks are etc etc. This build will be example of what can be done with some eBay scouring, patience and a tendency to horde left overs from other builds!
This came up as a £1 start auction which I kept an eye on, it stayed low right will the end where there was a bit of a bidding frenzy, however despite there being 10 bidders I snaffled her for just over £200.
I wasn’t sure which way to go when I bought her, a like for like (with some extras) or something a bit more wild like the okmo leopard 2a7+ or an A4 back date.
In the end the more straight forward build won out.
I won’t lie, she looked pretty rough, lots of parts were missing, she was sold as untested, all in all good project.
When I got her I found that she was mechanically and electrically fairly sound, the flash had broken wires but worked, she drove ok and the other functions worked.
The suspension had some issues, the tank seemed to sit down on one side, the sprockets were quite loose and could be slid out slightly from the housings.
First thing to do was disconnect the wiring, remove the top and strip down the lower. I found the screw downs which hold one end of the torsion bars were loose on some of the bars. Also some of the bars were bent. Tightening the mounts and bending back the offending bars seemed to have done the trick. Stripping the lower also reminded me of the inadequacy of the Tamiya tensioning system. I think I’ll add a henntec which stiffens the front end and really allows the right tension to be dialled in.
With that sorted, next task was to sort the missing parts. Massive thanks here to heavyaslead who helped me out with the missing bits I couldn’t source from my stash.
Some of the bigger missing bits were the engine vent covers, broken tow cables, missing commanders hatch ring, broken night sight, missing detail off the rear of the hull, many missing or damaged smoke launchers, damaged turret baskets and missing photo etch, there were plenty of other small bits missing.
p
Most of this was fairly straight forward, although the smoke launchers were quite laborious! Next up is tidying it up and prep for paint.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hear a lot how expensive Tamiya tanks are etc etc. This build will be example of what can be done with some eBay scouring, patience and a tendency to horde left overs from other builds!
This came up as a £1 start auction which I kept an eye on, it stayed low right will the end where there was a bit of a bidding frenzy, however despite there being 10 bidders I snaffled her for just over £200.
I wasn’t sure which way to go when I bought her, a like for like (with some extras) or something a bit more wild like the okmo leopard 2a7+ or an A4 back date.
In the end the more straight forward build won out.
I won’t lie, she looked pretty rough, lots of parts were missing, she was sold as untested, all in all good project.
When I got her I found that she was mechanically and electrically fairly sound, the flash had broken wires but worked, she drove ok and the other functions worked.
The suspension had some issues, the tank seemed to sit down on one side, the sprockets were quite loose and could be slid out slightly from the housings.
First thing to do was disconnect the wiring, remove the top and strip down the lower. I found the screw downs which hold one end of the torsion bars were loose on some of the bars. Also some of the bars were bent. Tightening the mounts and bending back the offending bars seemed to have done the trick. Stripping the lower also reminded me of the inadequacy of the Tamiya tensioning system. I think I’ll add a henntec which stiffens the front end and really allows the right tension to be dialled in.
With that sorted, next task was to sort the missing parts. Massive thanks here to heavyaslead who helped me out with the missing bits I couldn’t source from my stash.
Some of the bigger missing bits were the engine vent covers, broken tow cables, missing commanders hatch ring, broken night sight, missing detail off the rear of the hull, many missing or damaged smoke launchers, damaged turret baskets and missing photo etch, there were plenty of other small bits missing.
p
Most of this was fairly straight forward, although the smoke launchers were quite laborious! Next up is tidying it up and prep for paint.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- 43rdRecceReg
- Major
- Posts: 6294
- Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:38 am
- Location: North West Highlands, Scotland
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
A quick Q. if I may, Tom. The turret baskets on Heng Long's Leopard, are actually solid, but with a wire-mesh pattern embossed on them. Does the Tamiya come with a metal wiremesh (or simulated wiremesh), as per your new acquisition, or was that a PE fitment on the part of the previous owner?
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
The Tamiya comes with photo etch baskets, and a fair bit of other photo etch to boot43rdRecceReg wrote:A quick Q. if I may, Tom. The turret baskets on Heng Long's Leopard, are actually solid, but with a wire-mesh pattern embossed on them. Does the Tamiya come with a metal wiremesh (or simulated wiremesh), as per your new acquisition, or was that a PE fitment on the part of the previous owner?
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
This will be awesome. Following along with great interest.
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Nice one. Were you lucky being local , lots of Ebay Tamiyas are pickup only . Will be watching , starting to think about modern armour.
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
I was lucky that this one was down for postronnie42 wrote:Nice one. Were you lucky being local , lots of Ebay Tamiyas are pickup only . Will be watching , starting to think about modern armour.
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Thanks Jim!Jimster wrote:This will be awesome. Following along with great interest.
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
The first leo is ready for paint, I've ordered some mission models nato tri colour paint, I've never used them before but people seem to rave about them. Two new sets of decals have been ordered off ebay.
The first leo has been joined by a friend. Bought this off Facebook and expected the worst, pictures weren't great but price was reasonable.
When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. It was mostly intact, despite some awful packaging it has survived the trip remarkably well. The two resin crew were a nice bonus. I plan to repaint the faces but leave the rest and its nicely done.
I've also scored some.impact metal suspesnion arms, idler adjusters and turret basket frames. Not sure weather to install them as they both work perfectly as is.
An okmo mg42 should round off the first leo, I may get another for the second one.
Finally thanks to Rad I have a set of 3 crew figures for the first leo.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
The first leo has been joined by a friend. Bought this off Facebook and expected the worst, pictures weren't great but price was reasonable.
When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. It was mostly intact, despite some awful packaging it has survived the trip remarkably well. The two resin crew were a nice bonus. I plan to repaint the faces but leave the rest and its nicely done.
I've also scored some.impact metal suspesnion arms, idler adjusters and turret basket frames. Not sure weather to install them as they both work perfectly as is.
An okmo mg42 should round off the first leo, I may get another for the second one.
Finally thanks to Rad I have a set of 3 crew figures for the first leo.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Made a start on the first leo, stripped the hull down, cleaned the grime off and sanded any rough areas in preparation for paint. At this point I also assembled the mg42, removed the pioneer tools and replaced a couple of grab handles that had gone missing. The impactsuspension arms and idler adjusters were also primed at this point.
Next up a base coat of nato green. I'm using mission models paints on this after race reviews online. It went on OK, I did struggle with the right consistency, there seems a fine line between too runny with no coverage and clogging the airbrush.
However the colour looks good and it dried well.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Next up a base coat of nato green. I'm using mission models paints on this after race reviews online. It went on OK, I did struggle with the right consistency, there seems a fine line between too runny with no coverage and clogging the airbrush.
However the colour looks good and it dried well.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Re: Heng long long money Tamiya Leopard 2 restoration.
Some more progress, using panzer putty for the hard edge camo. Happy with the camo pattern but not the colour. I did some minor modulation on the green, but it came out too palid for my taste.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk