About 10 year's back my mate Eric Sujeki from Victorian Hobby Centre in Melbourne sold me this Leopard 1 ARV at a bargain price because at the time I was the features editor of Australian Defender and he was a great admirer of my Aussie Leopard pictures.
Eric threw in the Aussie tropical engine filter deck and screen, and the Leopard ARV sat in its box throughout the last decade and four house moves.
I've completed plenty of builds in that time but the Aussie Leopard has never been high on my list because they were a peacetime tank, whereas Aussie Cents, Matildas and Stuarts provide a wealth of "in action" modelling inspiration.
Back to the ARV ... I had looked at the kit a few times over the years, and what had always made me baulk was the fact it was a full resin kit (I would have preferred a conversion of an injection moulded Leopard 1) and the upper and lower hull just didn't match up (big resin castings are always fraught with frustration).
I decided to deal with both of the big gripes by combining the resin hull with an Italeri one, which would not only give me a better basis to work with but the injection moulded running gear would be much easier to assemble and I could also replace the cast resin tools with the kit items (the Italeri Leopard 1 was obviously the basis of the kit, so all the bits are interchangeable):
There was still a bit of filling and sanding needed, particularly around the sponsons, which needed to be trimmed to compensate for the thicker walls of the resin upper hull, and there was a wicked blemish on front lower hull section:
Then there were some gaps to be filled up front:
I had looked at using the Italeri plate, but the ARV is completely different to the gun tank (ya know, I've seen ARVs plenty of times and never took a close look at the rear plate ... I'll need to dig out some old photos). I also chiselled down the cast resin engine screen frame so the replacement would sit flush, and while the fan box would not be seen, I used it to hold the tropical filter plate firmly in place:
The front squared away:
Rear plate ready for fitting - mods were needed to the Italeri hull:
The basic building block together - some minor filling will be needed along with some Mr Surfacer, but all of the big challenges are out of the way:
The dozer blade is very well done, and went together with no problems:
So there you have it ... the project originally started out as "let's bite the bullet and sort out this hull", but now that's done, I don't think it's going to be too much of a stretch to get together, particularly since I have modded the hull to accept Italeri wheel and I will be using the Italeri tools.
The instructions are very basic and written in German, so I think it's a case of fitting the obvious bits and nutting out where the bits which are left over are supposed to go.
Instructions for the boom are particulary vague, so I think I'll ponder that challenge and start to fit some suspension bits ...
As I said, the biggest challenges are now dealt with, so it's just a case of getting all the smaller bits in place ... I'm sure I'll be inspired when the beast is sitting on wheels.
I also have a couple of sets of very nice individual link track which have languished alongside this kit, and with its open suspension, it's the perfect candidate to receive a set.
Anyone with any Leopard AS1 reference pics or tips, please feel free to chime in!
