‘Engine Trouble’ - Leopard 1V and Bergingstank

I completed this project project two years ago, but I was never entirely happy with how it turned out. So recently, I decided to take it out of the display area and move it back to the workbench. After a few modifications I think the model is finally where I want it to be.

The scene is inspired by a photo of a Leopard 1V of the Royal Netherlands Army during one of the last exercises with the Leopard 1 prior to its retirement. Apparently, the reliability of the tanks suffered somewhat from the years of abuse and as such a powerpack change was not an uncommon sight. This also highlights one of the innovative features of the Leopard, allowing the entire engine and gearbox to be changed in record time.

The Leopard 1V is converted from a HobbyBoss Leopard 1A5 using 3D-printed parts, and an engine bay by Perfect Scale Modellbau. The Bergingstank was converted from a Takom Bergepanzer 2.













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Cold War Leopards? What’s not to like? Fantastic work there Jasper - very well done indeed.

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Really excellent work! Hope you will enter it in a contest, it will be a strong contender!

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Thank you! An icon of the Cold War, and my absolute favourite tank!

Thank you, but with the incredibly high standard of work at the shows around here this wouldn’t stand a chance!

Nicely done!

I really like the narrow but long layout. I think sometimes we see the “standard” being a more balanced rectangle with everything at angles to the perimeter and get restricted. This certainly dictates the flow and the viewers eues to move l-r or r-l. Very nice execution!

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Thank you! I try to avoid empty spaces as much as possible when making a diorama. It detracts from the subject and can ruin the look of the scene. So it made sense to confine this display to just the two vehicles plus some grass to add visual interest. Added benefit is that it doesn’t take up as much space in the display cabinet.

They were very fast thats for sure. When I was taking some Chieftain driver training down on Stapel (near Detmold) were were pulled up on the entrance road hard standing having our packed lunch when a Leo 1 limped past us from the training area and pulled in front of us and traversed off to the left. About 10 minutes later a Berg Pzr and spare pack and Tx pulled up from Rommel Kaserne just across the road, and Maint crew took approx 45 min to have the old pack out, the new one in, and the the Leo back out on the training area … fast.

It took about 45 minutes to undo all the self sealing couplings on a Chieftain before you could even think of doing a pack lift lol ( a full pack lift would take about 3 to 4 hours on a Chieftain)

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You are to modest! The way these models are build and painted and how the whole lay-out of the scene is done is really impressive.

Don’t know if you’re a Twenot member but if you enter a piece like this in their contest you would defenitely recieve a lot of praise and prices. I could never make something as good as what you posted here, and back in the days where I entered those contests i usually won a medal or two with models of lesser quality so I am sure you will do even better.

In any case; hope to see it in real life perhaps one day.

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Very well done,but the only thing I (imo) needed would be the addition of 2 or 3 more figures,to really balance it out

Thank you! That’s a good suggestion John, I’ll have a look to see if I can find any suitable figures.

That’s a superb diorama there Jasper, with two excellent looking vehicles. I may be a bit weird, but I much prefer the Leopard 1 series of tanks over the 2, although of course the latest Leopard 2’s are superb AFV’s.

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I agree, there is just something about the look of the Leo 1.
Ken

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I absolutely agree, the Leopard 1 is in my opinion the best looking tank ever made, especially the later variants with the upgraded armour protection, and there are so many slight variations with interesting markings and camouflages. Although I must admit the Leopard 2K prototype is also a very, very good looking tank.

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:grinning:
Your built?

Yes! 1:35 fully 3D-printed model

It stays as a secret what you changed for now after the first finish. Anyhow, pretty cool and realistic. the overturned traffic cone gives a reallife touch. brilliant idea.
… can’t remember such a perfect military looking Dutch soldier of that decade… :wink:

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need the source… :blush:
pls contact

Aaaargh! I now have a hankering to model a Leo 1A3/4 as in British service (as if Chieftain’s problems couldn’t be fixed); curse this ever inspirational hobby!

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