My completed Leopard depicting a live firing exercise. Didn't dirty it up too much or else it'll hide the camo paint job.
Have to add the firing simulator just because it looks too good to be omitted.

P9300662 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300643 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300640 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300642 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300652 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300653 by mazyen, on Flickr

P9300658 by mazyen, on Flickr

Cheers
Lee

Very nice. Meng kits are my favorite.

Excellent build, nice and clean with just a hint of weathering; just how a modern high-tech MBT model should be as my preference.

Gary

Looks great!

Very nice

Very nice kit, congrats!


Tamas

Nice looking Leo Mazyen ! How was the kit to build ?
Thank you for sharing with us.

Only major issue with the kit is that the rear of the turret is scrapping the rear deck. What I did was to raise up the turret by adding plastic card spacer around the turret ring. It also has individual workable tracks which is very nice.
Cheers

Very nice!

The problem is not the turret ring. The rear hull is a big moulding and it sags naturally. It has also lost some of its strength weakened by leaving out the engine hatches. Even with the hatches moulded in place (on other kits) this is a perpetual problem with Leopard 2.

There are two solutions. Add your own bulkhead (Revell supply this in their latest kits) to support and level out the rear deck immediately behind the ring. OR Take a suitable length bolt – or cut one to length – and adjust the height using a nut. No glue necessary and micro adjustments are easy. Bingo!

Another common problem with the Meng kit are the toy-like torsion bars. I have seen a few builds where the ride height of the hull is too low, either because of track tension, or weak, unglued torsion bars. On the real machine there is a very definite, visible gap between the bottom of the skirts and the tops of the wheels. Please beware of this problem.

This particular model here suffers from this problem, but not as bad as others I have seen. The bottom rails of the footsteps should be at the same level as the inner rim of the tyres on the road wheels. Take a look at photos of the real machine with a quick Google search.

Ride ht will be easy to adjust.

Ride ht adjusted.
P9300742 by mazyen, on Flickr
P9300771 by mazyen, on Flickr

Well done. That looks much better. What was the actual problem - the torsion bars?

Yes, Micheal, it looks much better now. It’s the torsion bars. Just hv to cut them & glue the swing arms at the correct ht. Thanks for pointing it out.
Cheers
Lee

Great looking work!

Here's an update of my Leo with crew & remote weapons station added.
Leopard 2 A7 by mazyen, on Flickr
Leopard 2 A7 by mazyen, on Flickr
Leopard 2 A7 by mazyen, on Flickr
Leopard 2 A7 by mazyen, on Flickr