Today I shall be featuring the Leopard 2A6!
The Leopard 2A6 platoon rolling out of a Town!
The Leopard 2A6 is the by-product of modification throughout the many years since the Leopard 2 was first manufactured in 1979.From the sloping armor improvement made after the Leopard 2A4 to the new Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun L55 improvement made after the Leopard 2A5, the Leopard 2A6 is the current mainstay and latest Leopard 2 tank.
The Leopard 2A6s passing through a town. (Hope you guys like a different type of diorama from the usual plain flat grassland with no buildings.)
Even as the Leopard 1 tank was rolling out, the German Army was already looking for the successor of the Leopard 1 to keep up with newer Soviet designs. They went into a joint venture with the US to develop a new tank through the MBT-70 Super-tank Project. However, due to large overruns in cost, Germany withdrew from the project and started the development of the Leopard 2 to complement its Rhienmetall L44 120mm gun.
Even from just this picture alone, the obvious difference between the Leopard 2A6 and the 2A5 is its way longer gun length.
Aside from its Rheinmetall L55 120mm smoothbore gun (an improvement from the older L44 in Leopard 2A5s), the Leopard 2A6 has 42 rounds comprising of DM-53 APFSDS-T anti-tank round and German DM12 multipurpose anti-tank projectile. Last but not least, Rheinmetall has input an upgrade to Leopard 2 tanks enabling them to fire the LAHAT anti0tank missile through the main gun.
Leopard 2A6s moving in combat formation.
It has a combat weight of approximately 60 tons and can travel in excess of 65km/h forward and 30 km/h backwards. It has a combat range of 550km. The Leopard 2A6 is by far, a great formidable compare to the M1A2. Besides, the MBT-70 project, while a failure, was the grandfather and root of the creation of the M1A2 and Leopard 2A6 tank.
I always take particular liking for taking pics of tanks lining up..SO here is the Leopard 2A6s in a line!
In terms of Combat history, the Leopard 2A6 has perform well, providing great protection for Canadian Soldiers manning the Leopard 2A6 in the Afghanistan Conflict.
The Leopards entering a rural town to engage the enemy.
On top of the fact that the Leopard 2A6 is but the descendant of the superior German Armour technology. I find the Leopard 2A6 a really awesome looking tank with a great design. (I would even say better looking than the M1A2)
Isn't she a beauty? I really can't emphasize how much I like the German Leopard 2A6 design.
And as Much as we might deny it, even the American MBTs starting from The Patton tanks right to The Abrams were developed with much influence from German expertise. Since, they were renowned for the Tanks in WWII.
These Leopard 2A6 tanks that you see here are from Takara Toys (Now defunct and has merged with Tomy to form Takara Tomy). They are from the World Tank Museum Series 6 Collection which feature a selection of Modern Battle Tanks. It is designed Akira Tani and produced by Kaiyodo. Unfortunately, from the looks of World Tank Museum website and searching to get these tanks, your best bet on getting the 1/144 scale tanks would be to look at ebay. Apparently, Modern Battle Tanks aren't as lucrative to sell compared to Transformers and other popular Kid toys now.
These lil Tanks come in a great packaging with informative japaneesy info of the tank inside the package as shown below.
In my opinion, Japanese packaging is always awesome.
Speaking of the Leopard 2A6 and how I am really attracted to its design, have gotten myself the 1/72 Leopard 2A6M by Revell!! It will take awhile before I paint it but that is how much I really like the way this German Tank rolls!
Till next time, Thanks for reading!
Those are some fantastic photoshots!!
ReplyDeleteLoving the Leopard 2A6 and the background and houses. Great line up of these MBTs in their Platoon formation!
Really great looking pics of the Leopard 2A6. The detail done by Takara is awesome too!
ReplyDeleteGood to see your Modern Military stuff again! A sight for sore eyes (=
That is a sweet looking line of Leopards! Fire away RheinMetall!
ReplyDeleteI have a few of these. I have the T-80 and the M1A2 Takara Armour and its really awesome too! If you like these stuff, you should get those too!
ReplyDeleteThey remind me of the Micromachines Modern Tanks that you use to show on the old modern military modelling blog of yours Jiaqi. BUt they look more nicer and more realistic.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots and Great Collectibles!
Might get some to display on my Model Workstation.
Simply great photography in play here.
ReplyDeletePic #2 and #6 are my favourite! And you are right Jiaqi, pretty sad that these stuff are out of print due to more profitable and famous products like Transformer that steal the limelight and demand.
Agreeing with RedChina on the pic selection. I really am looking forward to see your Leopard 2A6M if your pics are as good as this. Keep bringing in more models Jiaqi!
ReplyDelete@hiko Nice! I am actually thinking of getting the T-80 and M1A2. It is pretty hard to find them though.
ReplyDelete@RedChina, I agree with you too.. Takara is pretty focus on Transformers now. Modern Military hasn't really been the main selling product for Takara int he first place.
where can buy it? kuala lumpur, malaysia have?
ReplyDeleteI think you would have better chance finding it on ebay than anywhere else. I doubt KL would have.
ReplyDelete