In going through my stash (collection), I found what appears to be a decent kit. What I would like to know is if anyone has built this kit, what are your impressions? I would guess the Tamiya counterpart is better but, since I have a kit on hand, it looks worth building.

Thanks for comments!

The hull is modified from the Leo 2, & that built up ok, more fiddley than the Tamiya, but 1/2 the price!

Warning! they have included hull hatches/vents on the sideskirts, which will make assembling the hull tricky.
I've got the 2A5 version as well, & I would seperate the said hatches from the sideskirts, & leave the tracks& skirts till later.

The Tracks are crud, but Bronco(?) have brought out some Dhiel tracks.

Great. Thank you for your comments and, in particular, your warning.

AFV Club do replacement tracks as well. Not sure which are the more fiddly.

I just finished that kit. i had a couple of problems the first was the upper hull, lots of sanding and fitting and at one point i almost had to scratch build the side skirts because i was not impressed at all but managed to make them work eventually with some super glue,warning this was tricky . the upper hull there was what i thought to many pieces that left big gaps and once again i found my self using super glue and model putty to fill seams. JUST WATCH OUT when u do the upper hull there is some sanding and and fitting it is tricky and the super glue helps a lot even though i don't like to use it but it does help in the sanding by giving strength. but other than that its an ok kit i liked it the price was right and u get a descent kit.

It is a decent kit that has been surpassed by recent releases, but it will still build a good 2A6.

On the tracks, after market tracks (unless there is a 'link-n-length' set that I don't know about) are extremely fiddely to put together. I used the HKCW set when I build mine, and to be honest, it was hardly worth the bother. Don't forget, that most of the track is hidden, either underneath the tank, or behind the skirts. And, because the Leopard does not have sagging tracks, stiff rubber band tracks are no problem.

I did not replace them on my recent HobbyBoss build.

Mike,

I agree with Henk - you can't see much of the tracks when complete. However, being Italeri tracks, you really want to pre-form them around something to set a curve around the sprocket and idler so the tension doesn't "pull" at the axles. In the past I have resorted to cutting plywood templates so the tracks can be fitted to them before getting a dunking in boiling water to de-stress the plastic. Once they cool off they should hold the curves enough to not break any axles. (You could also just tie them into loops at the ends with string to form these curves before doing the dunking, if cutting ply isn't an option...) If you do go with AM tracks, you could get away with only building the bottom run, since nobody will see the tops under the skirts...

Hope this helps!

Tom

(With Italeri's old Leo 2 kit staring out from the pile...)

Thanks, Tom. This works. Actually, the kit tracks are not too bad. One just has to "exercise" them and they look okay.