I would take the Hobby Boss C2 over Takom hands down, the Hobby Boss kit is more accurate .
Here are a few teaser photos of one of our C2’s fitted with the mine plough….. Photos from August 2006….
Thanks! I’ve built the meng Mexas kit with much help from you!
Wanted to get an earlier C2 but could not justify the cost of the Hobbyboss kit lately. Was able to score one on a pretty good deal from squadron
That rake looks pretty cool. I didn’t realize that the HB kit is so solid.
How did you like the Meng kit?
It was a treat to build. Went together very well. The only issue I had was getting the mexas armor on the turret aligned. Some photos show a slight misalignment on the real thing sometimes, but I was a bit OCD. To solve it I glue a .02” styrene strip in behind them to keep them flush.
I also added some metal antenna as I broke mine trying to get them off the sprue otherwise lovely build. It is sitting waiting for weathering!
My (non-MEXAS) C2 is the HB kit. It’s pretty good and detail is nice. The skirts around the turret are definitely more to scale than the Takom ones (though Meng did them best in my opinion).
The HB kit is the only that I know of that includes the clamps for the MG on the cupola rings. It does however lack the non slip surface on the front mud guards, but that is an easy fix. For some reason they also left out part of the loader’s hatch mechanism, which I fixed by having a spare from previous builds from other brands. And finally, the tracks only have the end connectors level, which doesn’t work around the sprocket and idler wheel. This can be fixed by simply bending them (they won’t snap off), but it’s weird that it has to be done.
The Hobby Boss Leopard C2, non-MEXAS version, has no Canadian C2 modifications on the hull at all. HB took their Bundeswehr Leopard 1A5 hull and put a C2 turret on it. An unfortunate inaccuracy that would need a series of hull modifications to make an accurate Leopard C2.
The Takom Leopard C2 kit can be quickly brought up to speed with the use of the Legend Productions Leopard C2 Detail Set.
Hi Jason,
What are the Canada specific details that are missing?
All of the Canadian hull modifications are missing including no welded mounts on the glacis plate and hull sides for attaching the MEXAS modules, lacking the re-aranged grouser racks, no lower front hull implement mount, no armoured cover for the electrical sockets on the upper front hull, no angled cable bracket for the armoured cable cover, no driver wiper cable cover, and the tow cable side hull mounts have not been moved back along the hull to the modified location.
Okay, after some delay I’m ready for take off … 
aaaand action …
First parts on the lower hull are done. The parts have some annoying seams … 
Takom mixed up the eyes at the rear in the intructions. Parts C22 and C23 are vice versa. It looked strange on test fitting, so I had a look in my Tankograd Leopard 1 book
Honestly, not much done yet but as you know I have also an aircraft on the bench and that is quite a challenge. Next steps are primer on the hull and wheels and then painting Vallejo Bronze Green 71250. I’ll keep you updated.
Jay, @JayJHCruz how many links have you used per side on your Leopard? 90, 89 or less? 
Sprue T has 180 links and 180 teeth …
Torsten
I’ll have a look when I get home!
Another option is AK real colors NATO green RC886 and the glass bottle in thier old line was RC080
My apologies, totally forgot to come back to this thread. But I come to 81 links per side. So that gives you some spares.
Leopard 1 is supposed to have 84 per side though, as far as I’m aware, but it looks good on the model and the top run is invisible anyway.
Thanks Jay! So I will start testing from 80 links onwards. Takom doesn’t mention it in the instruction.
Today I painted the lower hull and the wheels Bronze Green. Will show you pics asap.
Torsten
