Leopard 2A7

[Soeren]

Good morning all. Here is another project to start soon. I got the Tamiya Leopard 2A6 from Tomhugill through his sale topic. Picked it up yesterday.
As an almost unbuilt kit it offers room for modification. Never had one of those infamous Tamiya tanks before , I was really excited of course. Should be a fun build compared to my previous heavy mods on all the other Taigen tanks.
But as you know be by now, I can't leave this a ootb build. That is maybe the only drawback on these complete full option tanks. You build it as is and it is one of many. If Tamiya 1/16 tanks really sell in the many anyways
previously I was looking for a henglong leo2 to 2A4. Then I came across the 2A7 upgrade and asked hpk modellbau foe the manual of that kit. Amazing. So this is on order already. http://www.hpk-modellbau.de/leopard%202 ... %202a7.htm together with a Meng leopard 2a7 kit for reference assist. In the future when parts of the running gear are damaged they are easily replaced with some more sturdy cast pieces. So I will safe on the ball bearings as these would come with possible later upgrades anyways. Stay tuned.

[Soeren]

Parts incoming slowly. Only got a little piece of additional reference until now.

[Soeren]

Got the mod kit for the A7 version today. It contains several styrene sheets. The preassembled mine protection. A set of styrene rods and a 147 page PDF manual. Highly detailed pictures and some drawings. Looks straightforward. It also asks for around 150 hex screws of different sizes. Knupfer was able to send it before their easter holidays.
The hpk conversion kit looks very well made and has some delicate parts. We will see how it turns out.

[c.rainford73]

Soeren looks like a challenging yet rewarding kit you have there. Many small bits and screws. Following along

[Soeren]

Thanks Mr. Rainford. I am excited how this will go as it is something completely new form me. Today I got the 1/35 scale reference kit.

[Soeren]

Hey there I ralize I have to finally start this. Ordered some hobby materials and the hull stiffener kit together with metal idler and track adjuster from tank Modellbau. Oddly though they say you need those metal adjusters to use the stiffener, but, they don't work with it. The nut for the inside doesn't fit as the outside diameternal is larger than the available space. Wrote them an email. Wait what they say.

[Soeren]

Hey there, unfortunately I didn't get a response from Tankmodellbau. So I just let the horizontal front reinforcement off for now. I wonder though, if the reinforcement will cause that tilt that Ian experienced on his hull with the idlers.

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[ronnie42]

Hi Soeren If that adds weight and causes a tilt wondering if someone makes stronger torsion bars to compensate?

[Soeren]

According to Ian the ABS hull is slightly tilted inwards. The metak cast hull is perpendicular. So the idler is not streight but slightly tilted. As the reinforment is just kind of a metal bar I was wondering if this will result in the same problem. We will see.

[c.rainford73]

Soeren who is the manufacturer of the tensioner? Maybe write them and see if they have some advice. If it's a Henntec piece he is very helpful and may offer some options