The Leclerc tank was deployed in south Lebanon by the French Army for UNIFIL peacekeeping mission from 2006 until 2010. The model kit is based on the UNIFIL Leclerc S2 number 643 as seen in november 2007.

Kit and aftermarket products used for this project:

Tamiya 35279 French Tank Leclerc Series 2
Bronco AB3525 Leclerc MBT Workable Track Link Set
Blast Models BL35138K Update Set for Leclerc SERIE 2
Voyager Model PE3507 Leclerc Series 2 update set
Echelon Decals ECH356002 UNIFIL Leclerc T6 UN




Sources and documents which helped me builduing this project are:

Samer Kassis tremendous photo archives (the main source for the Leclerc 643)

My own photo archives of the Leclerc tank (available trough Flickr)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132364361@N07/collections/72157705226234535/

Oliver Carneau’s website: http://olivier.carneau.free.fr

Walter Lampel amazing and inspiring job on Armorama https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/164355&page=1

A big project ! Have fun !

Finish that Merit kit!
I'll be watching!
Dan

First thing to do is the anti-slip surface. After having tested several types of sand and sprays I found the most matching texture for French anti-slip surface by using the Montana Cans Granit effect spray.

Real vehicles show rough cast parts on the rear end of the turret. To recreate it in scale I've tried another effect spray, this time the Crelando/Baufix stone effect spray.

The hull is updated with elements from both Blast Models and Voyager Model sets. Bolts made from Plastruct styrene hex rod are added where needed.

Great start to your build. Very nice work on the anti-slip. I used a very similar product on my Leclerc. The Tamiya Leclerc kit is one of their best modern kits.

Not to highjack your awesome build, but perhaps for more inspiration, here is my UNIFIL Leclerc build and completed diorama.

Wonderful work Jason, your Leclerc looks great and your diorama recreats nicely a southern Lebanese scenery , I love it!!

Voyager Model gun barrel is drilled



The final result.

I combined both the sets from Voyager Model and Blast Models to come out with a better looking 120mm smoothbore cannon

Work in progress...

Great work on the details.

How do you cut clean discs from the Plastruct rods?
I always get dodgy rivets this way ... yours look much better ;-)

Keep up the good work.
cheers
Walter

Looks really nice right now!

Great idea to use granite spray to create non-skid surfaces. I've used granite spray in modelling too - but just to paint granite...

What is the reason behind the Blast set? Did Tamiya miss something (do't beleave that Tamiyas details are not good enough) or is it to create a version not provided in the kit?

Keep rolling!

Thanks Walter, your work on the Leclerc inspired me a lot.

As for the clean cuts, I used first an 8 blade pickle slicer to cut an end of the Plastruct rod into 7 equal parts. Each part measuring about 2 mm would be cut into 4 or 5 slices.
I used a smaller cutter blade I got to lighten the pressure while cutting the 2 mm rods
I admit that even with such a technique I manage to get a certain amount of waste.

Thanks

Blast models did a really nice detail work regarding most of the kit and notably for the Leclerc 120mm gun. Tamiya's Leclerc is fine enough but lacks of extra details when you manage to get next to the beast in real life

Applying a basic coat of Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green

Applying roughly Tamiya XF-68 NATO brown and XF-69 NATO black without worrying about the sharpness of the camouflage scheme since it will be covered with a UN white camo.







Making the Leclerc side skirts looking a bit more realistic

Very nice work Chadi!

A beautiful job so far. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Great work Chadi.
Good luck with the white paint. Can't wait to see your approach.

Cheers
Walter

Applying salt for the chipping effect:

The white paint job is now finished:

Removing the salt:

Preparing the rubber skirts for paint:

Conceiving the UN markings templates out of the Echelon decal sheet:

Basic painting, cleaning and building Bronco's Leclerc tracks: