Darren Baker takes a look at Char Leclerc Photo Sniper No 19 from Kagero Publishing courtesy of Casemate Publishing.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi;

looks like A Must Have if you are going to Build the Tamiya kit, and by the way, what happened to the Tamiya Leclerc. Did they OOP it. I sure Hope Not, I have one in my Collection in UN White and would like to Build Another in Desert Camo.

CHEERS; MIKE.

Just ordered mine !

Their AMX-30 series is really good lots of reference on otherwise hard to find information and pics.
Hope they have some info on the Leclerc upgrade program recently announced.

Cheers
Christopher

Not sure about this. I'll check on my own sample tonight.
Olivier

I am trying to backdate one to a Series 1 out of the Tamiya kit, are there photos of this in the book? I have the Tankograd book, but pictures are hard to find. Also, I would like to make the ARV version, is this covered as well?

Well, doesn't matter, I just ordered mine.

They seem to be available lots of places, Ebay, SprueBrothers, etc. I wouldn't worry about it being discontinued!

A least you'll find some Series 1 (T2 & T5) pics here :

http://www.military-kits.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=2&page=[page2]

http://www.military-kits.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=2&page=[page3]

H.P.

To answer the questions about the content of the book:
1. Christopher, it has nearly nothing about the latest update programme linked to the Scorpion programme. Only a couple of words telling it will undergo a new set of upgrade.

2. Graham, all the versions and variants are covered even the UAE one though this one lacks pictures of the rear part.

3. to backdate the Tamiya kit, you can also have a look at this article http://olivier.carneau.free.fr/kits/france/leclerc_rt5_djiti_1/index_gb.htm It deals with a late Series 1 upgraded to the RT5 standard seen in Kosovo.

4. backdating the Tamiya kit to a very early batch is feasible but your main trouble will be to redo the sprocket hubs. This point is well see nin the Kagero book. Probably a Heller sprocket would be useful.

5. if you need pictures of an early Leclerc, you can have a look at Prime Portal or my own site.

Enjoy your build.
Olivier

Hello Olivier, Christopher, and everybody:

The book only touches on the Scorpion and is focused closely on the French versions. The reason we avoided attempting to explain too much about the Scorpion is that concrete info was (and probably remains) hard to find beyond the fact that the whole Leclerc fleet will receive a common electronic upgrade. The exterior factors like armour upgrades and additional equipment visible on the outside will be variable according to mission. It is likely that a UAE style remote weapons station will be installed on the turret roof. For the UAE Leclercs, we assembled what information we could: Nexter and the UAE military are generally very quiet about the UAE Leclercs and we respected this. Equally, because the Leclerc is in service we avoided long discussions about the vehicle's armour protection. I myself am going to model some early Leclercs one of these days, they are my very favourites of the family... especially prototypes, T1, T2 and T3 (that is the first 3 batches).

All in all, the book was intended to provide the English language reader the real picture of what was intended with the Leclerc, what this translated to as a production tank after the Cold War ended and how the design has evolved with the changing face of the French Army these past 25 years. At the time we wrote it, most of the English language info on the Leclerc was a mixture of facts and fiction and the capabilities of the different versions were very mixed up on most internet sources. Our main sources beyond my co-authors' excellent technical knowledge of the type, was by direct interview with officers and men who crew Leclerc MBTs or with the officers who participated in the development program. For a detailed look at the development of the Leclerc the reader is advised to get hold of the Marc Chassillan book, but this is only available in French, so there is a very brief summary at the beginning of our book.

For what my opinion is worth I think you got the mix well balanced and the result is a book that should provide most with what they need.

thanks for the kind words Darren. It was great writing with Thierry and I am looking forward to studying the French Armoured Corps' AMX-13 and M47 period next.