KungFuDrew's 1/35 Meng Leopard 2A7

[KungFuDrew]

Hi all, and to my build for this GB. I'll be building Meng's 1/35 Leopard 2A7, which seems to be a good kit by what everyone is saying about it. This will be the third Meng kit I've built, and so far I've found them to be well engineered kits with crisp and well moulded detail. Anyway, on with the kit!





The box is sturdy and well packed with plastic. I won't show all of the sprues, but here are some highlights:




The parts are moulded in a dark green/grey plastic that I find is very close to tamiya plastic. As you can see there is anti-slip pre-moulded on the appropriate parts and looks good to me. The kit comes with PE for the grills and some miscellaneous parts as well as some adhesive foil for the mirrors which I think is a nice touch:


The instructions are well printed and clear, with the paint schemes printed in colour:

[KungFuDrew]

A bit of history from Military Today:
The Leopard 2A7 main battle tank was developed by German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in cooperation with the German Army. It is a proposed upgrade package for existing MBTs. It was first revealed in 2010. It is a further development of the Leopard 2A6 MBT. It includes some subsystems of the Leopard 2 Peace Support Operation variant. The Leopard 2A7 is intended for urban warfare, low intensity conflicts, as well as conventional military operations. Currently it is one of the best main battle tanks in the world. German Army plans to upgrade about 50-150 Leopard 2 tanks to the 2A7 standard. German Army ordered a first batch of 20 MBTs upgraded from existing German Army Leopard 2A6 tanks. First Leopard 2A7 tanks were delivered to the German Army in 2014. This tank also received orders from export customers. In 2011 Germany agreed to sell more than 200 of these main battle tanks to Saudi Arabia. In 2013, Qatar ordered 62 of these MBTs. These are known as Leopard 2A7Q.
The Leopard 2A7 is a modular upgrade package, so other Leopard 2 tanks can be upgraded to this standard. Combat systems can be optimized depending on customer requirements.
Protection of this main battle tank was further improved. The Leopard 2A7 is fitted with additional composite armor kit. It is the latest generation of passive armor, which provides higher level of protection against wide range of threats. It seems that the armor uses new nano-ceramics materials and modern titanium and steel alloys. The new armor offers 360° protection against RPG rounds. New side skirts were fitted. Protection of the hull floor was also increased to withstand blasts for landmines and improvised explosive devices. This MBT has a modular armor, so damaged modules can be easily replaced in field conditions.
This main battle tank is armed with a Rheinmetall 120 mm / L55 smoothbore gun. The same gun is used on the Leopard 2A6. It has better fire accuracy and longer range, comparing with the previous Leopard 2 tanks. The gun is loaded manually and is compatible with all standard NATO ammunition, as well as newly developed DM11 programmable HE rounds. These programmable multi-purpose munitions enable to engage targets behind cover and within buildings. These rounds can be also used against enemy troops, armored vehicles and low-flying helicopters. A total of 42 rounds are carried inside the tank. 15 rounds are stored in the turret bustle and are ready to use. Remaining rounds are stored inside the hull.
Secondary armament consists of a 12.7 mm machine gun. It is mounted in remotely controlled weapon station on top of the roof. There is also a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun.
This main battle tank has a front and rear thermal image system for the driver. Commander and gunner have additional cameras for long-range surveillance. Vehicle also carries advanced command and control equipment and is fitted with battlefield management system.
The Leopard 2A7 is operated by a crew of four, including commander, gunner, loader and driver.
The Leopard 2A7 retains the engine of its predecessor. It is powered by an MTU MB-837 Ka501 turbocharged diesel, developing 1 500 hp. This dated engine proved to be reliable and fuel efficient, but is bulky by modern standards. This MBT is also fitted with Steyr auxiliary power unit, which powers all systems, when the main engine is turned off. Despite increase in weight vehicle has increased mobility due to improved suspension components. Cross-country performance is similar to that of the 2A5 and 2A6 tanks. This main battle tank can be fitted with a front-mounted dozer blade for self-entrenching and clearing obstacles. Mine ploughs or mine rollers can also be attached.

And some pics of the tank:

[MarkVerploeg]

That is a nice kit indeed
I have one in the stash and was thinking about building it for this GB but i have something else in mind at the moment
The only thing about the kit that worries me are the tracks
They are very similar to the ones i had in my PHZ2000 kit by Meng and i had so many problems with those i ended up replacing them
It could have been a bad batch but just be carefull with those parts
I snapped a lot of them while i was cleaning them up before assembly
Good luck with the build

[KungFuDrew]

Thanks Mark! I've also built the PZH2000, and had a similar experience to you. The tracks in this kit seem to have better sprue attachment points and don't feel as fragile, I'll post some pics when I get a chance. I've made some progress on the kit and have the lower hull pretty much completely assembled. On with the pics!

This is the lower hull without any parts attached, as you can see it's already a well detailed part.



And here it is with all the suspension components added, the road wheel arms can all be moved.



The road wheels have all been assembled but I'll be leaving them off for ease of painting. The rear of the tank has also been assembled and glued onto the tank.



The underside of the tank has stiffening bars at the rear, and Meng have an interesting way of mounting them. Instead of the usual locating pins and holes they have you use a positioner. It works fine, but I don't see why they couldn't have done it normally.





That's where I am now, comments and criticism welcome!

[KungFuDrew]

Time for more pics. Here's how you get the tracks, as I said the sprue attachment points are better placed than on the PZH2000 kit, these also feel slightly sturdier.


The kit comes with a jig to help make the tracks, it's simple but it works.


And here is a couple of runs assembled, they're detailed enough that I don't feel any need to replace them.


I've also made progress on the hull of the tank, with most of it being assembled. The only major parts that need added are the side skirts, and I'll be leaving the off for painting.



That's where I am now, thanks for looking in!

[Tomcat64]

The details in that look really sharp - I must try one of these Meng kits some time when there's space in the stash!

Interesting approach on the stiffeners - I wonder if they've got additional variants in the future plan which would require different parts? Or they forgot to put the locating holes in the hull and came up with a neat solution to back fix it?

And nice that they included the jig for track assembly too.

[KungFuDrew]

The details in that look really sharp - I must try one of these Meng kits some time when there's space in the stash!

Interesting approach on the stiffeners - I wonder if they've got additional variants in the future plan which would require different parts? Or they forgot to put the locating holes in the hull and came up with a neat solution to back fix it?

And nice that they included the jig for track assembly too.

I've found that Meng like to include jigs to help with assembly, it's one of the reasons they're quickly becoming one of my favourite manufacturers. As I said I've built 2 of their kits so far and can only recommend them, the detail is crisp and fit is generally excellent.

I've made some progress with the turret, I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

[gaz45]

Nice work so far mate

[KungFuDrew]

Time for a well overdue build update! Work and home life have been pretty crappy lately, so I haven't had time to post an update, however I've made some good progress with the tank. Here's the turret half-built, it has went together pretty smoothly so far:


And with some more bits and bobs added:



It didn't take long and I had the turret fully assembled and ready for some primer:



The only real trouble I had was with the left rear storage bin, the PE really fought me, I managed to get it looking vaguely correct but it's not perfect.

I primed the model with Ultimate Black Primer, here it is looking like a stealth-tank:



I'll be painting the model with the new Mission Models paints:


I've had a chance to give them a test spray and so far I'm really liking them, they lay down really well, much nicer than the Ammo paints I've been using recently.

[pourquoi61]

Looking great so far.
Keep up the good work.