Second Tamiya Leopard 2A6

[zooma]

A set of ball bearings were ordered from RC Bearings yesterday and they arrived first thing this morning!

I chose the rubber sealed bearings option from RC Bearings as I thought they would be well worth a try on an r/c tank to help keep out the dust/dirt/water etc

The bearings arrived well packed in translucent plastic tubes of 10 bearings in each tube and the tubes were placed inside zip sealed bags with each size having its own bag to keep them separate.

First impressions are very good and I am looking forward to fitting them to see what difference they make . A range of bearings can be found on their site (RCbearings.co.uk)
but they are also happy to supply or make up sets of bearing for any r/c model that is not already listed, so this could be quite a handy supply source.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thanks for the URL, zooma. The UK and Europe have many good sources of hobby goodies. For those in the U.S.: in 2023 via Amazon, I bought three sizes of ball bearing rings packed the same way. Both sellers seem to offer "everything from soup to nuts," but the bearings are fine. I searched using the terms "RC Bearings."

[zooma]

I have a part missing from a small sprue in the new unboxed Tamiya Leopard 2A6 kit that I am making and I cannot find anyone that has a replacement sprue in stock apart from AFV - and it would be very expensive to buy it from them due to the high additional costs that need to be added for them to send it.

The missing part is on the small sprue "V"

The sprue is part number 9225078.

These parts are the small black plastic "axles" that are supported to the chassis by three bearings (one inside and two outside of the chassis moulding) and are what the suspension arms screw onto.

These black plastic 'axle" parts are numbered to show the sequence in which they should be fitted on each side of the hull.

My sprue had two parts broken off from it. I found one of these parts inside the plastic box that the kit came in, but one is missing completely.

I have fitted all of the parts that were still on the sprue in the correct positions as shown in the building instructions, but the "axle" part mouldings themselves are not identified in any way once they are removed from the sprue, so the loose part that I found should be fitted in one of the two vacant positions that I have on the chassis - but I don't know which one.

Since it is not possible to buy any of these parts other than on a complete sprue, I will need to buy a new sprue when I can find one.

Hopefully I can find a kit sprue "V" (part number 9225078) fairly soon as the build is stopped now until I can replace the missing part.

....I wish I knew I needed this sprue when I ordered my metal suspension arms from AFV to fit the Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that I am running at the moment! It would have saved the new order handling charges!

[zooma]

I bit the bullet by paying the overly expensive postage charges and bought a Leopard 2A6 "V" sprue from AFV.

17.89 euros for the sprue was OK, but 34.37 euros to post this very small lightweight part to the UK was definitely not OK.

This is an outrageously over priced postage charge that cannot be justified.

I added another two V sprues to the order as I can see that these parts will wear and they will be needed in the future, so it made me feel slightly better about this heavy duty postage charge (but not much!).

Not exactly good value for money, but I couldn't find one anywhere else that had this sprue in stock and I want to get on and compete this kit build!

I did try another German online supplier modellbau-seidel but they have sent me a reply to my email to advise that they cannot deliver anything directly to the UK.

[zooma]

My "V" sprues have arrived from AFV , so although the postage costs were VERY high, the delivery was quick and I can now finish building the hull and make some more progress..

[zooma]

An advert for a TORRO Leopard 2A6 shows a model painted in a similar NATO scheme to the one shown on the Tamiya paint guide, but it looks a lot more like a desert scheme (basically substituting the NATO Black areas for a sand colour) and it looks good.

I would like to paint my new build 2A6 a little differently to the standard NATO colours, and I really like the idea of painting it in a desert colour but I would like to find a reference to a full sized paint scheme if I can.

Online references are not too abundant for full size desert painted 2A6 Leopards, but the references that I have seen are either like the TORRO model, or sand coloured all over.

Does anyone know what shade of sand paint is used on the full sized German 2A6 Leopards? The nearest Tamiya colour would work best for me as I can source some locally , but I can order other paints online if a better colour match already exists as it will save mixing and that will make future touch-ups a bit easier.

I would also consider painting it in any other NATO nations desert colours if I can find a better alternative .

Any ideas?

[Ad Lav]

Canadian 2A6 with bar armour.

My Tamiya one was painted in desert colours.

[zooma]

Canadian 2A6 with bar armour.

My Tamiya one was painted in desert colours.

That sounds really interesting - is it on here or anywhere else that I can see it?

.....or do you have any links to an original reference?

[Ad Lav]

viewtopic.php?t=17870

[zooma]

viewtopic.php?t=17870

Thanks for the link - I have followed your build notes on here and found them very interesting..

I am still trying to find out if the desert camouflage scheme shown on the Torro Pro Edition tank is an imaginary scheme or if it is based on a real life paint scheme?

https://www.mhm-shop.de/1/16-RC-Leopard ... ro-Edition

Bob.