RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Kaczor introduced the TongDe LeClerk back in December of 2024 ( viewtopic.php?p=365925&hilit=TongDe+LeClerc#p365925 ), so I scraped up some money as I waited. Since I needed a few figures, too, I ordered from Germany, but I see that the TongDe LeClerc tanks are now hitting the U.S., almost always the last place. Here are some photos of the one I just received Tuesday (5 August 2025).

The box is about the same as other TongDe boxes (and HengLong and Taigen/Torro and Mato):

You get the usual sheets of instructions and parts kit information. I like adding the accessory parts as separate castings, as I allows me to hide seams, check fit, the kinds of thing one does with static kits.
The instructions for running the tank are generic, not actually specific to the LeClerk. The most comic to me was the lack of information on where the on/off switch might be. It didn't take me long to figure it out.

There are four parts trees. A few parts came off the trees before shipping, but no problem because all the trees were packed in plastic bags, just like those of most static kits nowadays:
I quickly noticed that the tow cables were not attached to their ends. But I was a bit disappointed to find that the cables themselves are supplied out of a kind of black thread. I will use copper or metal wire.

The thread was packed in the typical rectangular small parts box along with a charger for use with a USB--the kind that quickly convinces one to get a fast LiLo/LiPo charger
There is a small sheet of a few markings of the controversial transfer type. I wouldn't be surprised if decals (and maybe stencils) will soon become available. I will try to check the accuracy of these markings, for transfer types if accurate can actually work much better than water transfer decals. (Start arguments here. )

I went for the metal gearboxes: The MFU is held in by a plastic bar screwed to posts, loosened here better to show you the wiring.
The same goes for the battery, which has a Tamiya plug to the MFU and a JST plug to the hatch a tad below and forward of the turret, apparently for attaching to the charger. I have not tried that yet, as my LeClerc understandably was shipped overseas with the battery removed. I supplied the requisite battery from my stock of Lithium Ion types. The speaker is round, unlike HengLong's or Taigen/Torro.

Here is the whole tank, fresh from its bubble wrap inside the styrofoam carrier. And here is the turret with two opening hatches that don't lie quit flat when closed, a modeling challenge for me.

The reactive armor (right?) appears a tiny bit separate from the upper hull, although it is affixed to the upper hull: And at the end, there is the immense exhaust--or is it a mortar? And as the instructions indicate in an unusual compound noun, "Adding Oil Inlet" (It would work better in German, maybe as as Öleinlasshineinfügensort ) This is one exhaust pipe I love to see smoking like a volcano.

Best of luck getting this one all sorted mate.
Your the pioneer in this case!
Looks to be quite big? Im not familiar with the LC sorry.

Yes, Herr Bix: I am on the lookout for online information and especially books on the LeClerc. I keep waiting for our French contingent to recommend some. I dabbled in German (as many of you have seen my Schreckdeutsch,) and Latin and Greek of pre-tank times, but do not read French, so lots of photos, please.