Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Uni150
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Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

Acquired old a tamiya leopard 1 via eBay. Came in bits but included new turret parts and rear panel.
First thing is to check have all the bits and luckily most of it seems ok. . Next convert to twin motors which was pretty easy.
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
Uni150
Recruit
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

Dry run using temporary Heng long plastic gearboxes from my scrap box.
Attachments
Hnet.com-image (1).jpg
Hnet.com-image.jpg
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
john1970
Corporal
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:29 pm

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by john1970 »

Is this the 1 that came with the challenger 2?
Uni150
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Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

yes ended up paying way more than wanted to but hopefully can sell some of the parts back.
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
john1970
Corporal
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:29 pm

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by john1970 »

i thought what you got for the price was reasonable wasnt there a clark board in there as well
Uni150
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Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

yes actually i was very happy when i recevied it as there was 3 clark boards but not sure if they are any good yet. it was a strange lot of items as the challenger had loads of metal parts but plastic gear boxes. but its two tanks i really wanted so i am happy.
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
john1970
Corporal
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:29 pm

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by john1970 »

Leopard is a nice rare tank will be watching on
Uni150
Recruit
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

Progress but realised just how difficult 40 year old plastic can be. Started assembling hull will need painting still as that is how it was.
PXL_20220620_205624443.jpg
only had one headlight so modified some taigen  leopard 2 ones to fit and of course now have LEDs
only had one headlight so modified some taigen leopard 2 ones to fit and of course now have LEDs
of course you need lights
of course you need lights
simple barrel elevation arrangement for now
simple barrel elevation arrangement for now
Attachments
new rear panel with some repairs etc and now thinking why did i leave the switch holes there !!!
new rear panel with some repairs etc and now thinking why did i leave the switch holes there !!!
now added a heng long tiger turret rotation parts lucky i had two turrets but first attempt worked ok
now added a heng long tiger turret rotation parts lucky i had two turrets but first attempt worked ok
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
a65l
Recruit
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:21 pm
Location: Where life is good and the air is sweet...

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by a65l »

I saw that one too, and was tempted to bid. But common sense and too many other projects said no, although it never hurts to have parts lying around.

Have you given any thought to modifying the road wheels at all? I know the plastic retention caps are unobtanium and not a very satisfactory solution if you're going to run it around a lot. I see there are off the shelf solutions out there, expensive, but that's the nature of a small hobby.

But thanks for the pics and will be following with interest.
A little nonsense now and then
Is treasured by the wisest men
Uni150
Recruit
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Tamiya leopard 1 restoration / upgrade.

Post by Uni150 »

Thanks for that I have a full set of everything for the running gear but agree the plastic caps are pretty rubbish solution, i will run with that for now. Also realised that the plastic this old is pretty bad and seems to just crumble so easy. Love this tank so will make the effort.
Current project T-28 super heavy tank
HL King tiger
HL Tiger 1 x 2
HL Sherman
Torro leopard 2
Taigen Tiger 1
HL Abrams
HL Stug 3
Tamiya leopard 1 modified and upgrade
Taigen sturmtiger
Heng long challenger 2
Sure there will be more! :D
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