tamiya 1/16 leopard 2 a6 main battle tank kit

The driver's periscopes are moulded solid and the driver's hatch is moulded shut. The moulding detail on the upper hull is comparable to what you would get with a Tamiya Leopard 2, and includes moulded in screens for the two large engine deck fans and anti-skip patches on the hull front. Sprue A holds the upper and lower hull, the hull rear and a few miscellaneous parts: The packing is done to ensure that nothing will break while in transit.

The standard sized box is packed with three full sized sprues, one medium sized sprue, two smaller sprues, some nylon mesh, a small clear plastic piece, two sets of tracks, a decal sheet and instructions, all in two sealed plastic bags. Italeri says in their marketing for this kit that the moulds have been upgraded to provide crisper detail. The subject of this review is a re-release of the 2004 kit, with an additional sprue, new tracks and new decals. Since then, this kit has been upgraded several times, with a Leopard 2A5 coming out in 1998 and a Leopard 2A6 being released in 2004. Italeri was the first manufacturer to release an injected moulded version of the Leopard 2 tank in 1985. The Leopard 2A6, introduced in 1999, is similar to the 2A5, except that it mounts a longer, L/55 version of the 120 mm smoothbore gun. The second series introduced, among other things, sloped, spaced armour on the front of the turret to defeat hollow charge rounds (due to the spacing) and deflect kinetic energy rounds (due to the sloping). This series is currently at the Leopard 2A7 model. The second series originated from a 'Leopard 2 Improved' prototype, and began production with the Leopard 2A5. The first series of Leopard 2s ended with the Leopard 2A4, and were easily distinguished from the second series by the vertical, slab sided turret. Over the past 39 years, the tank has gone through many incarnations, and is still being upgraded, with plans to keep it in production until at least 2030. Since 1980, the main battle tank of the West German (later just German) army, as well as a number of other armies around the world, has been the Leopard 2 tank. It had its origins in the ill fated MBT70 joint venture with the U.S., which also spawned the M1 Abrams.

Tamiya 1/16 leopard 2 a6 main battle tank kit