Of all the tanks out there, one tank that is somewhat a mystery to me is the Leopard 2. I have two in my collection. But since I built them over twenty years ago and didn’t document the builds. (And the fact that these days my memory is only good for 24 hrs) I am ashamed to say, -I sorta forgot what they were. I think they are the Leopard 2A1 and Leopard 2A5. The first has the older boxy turret with flat sides, the other has the arrowhead, angular turret.
Now since the last Leopard 2, I built was about 20 yrs ago, The Leopard had continued to evolve, A6, A7V etc. but I put off purchasing updated or newer variants because externally they look just like the A5 I already have. Now I see there is an A8 variant and it’s has a distinctly different turret, which is enough of a difference that I plan to purchase it (Probably after Christmas)
But in the mean time, what was the differences between the A5 to A7? Externally they look the same. What if any external differences are there that would warrant a purchase?
The early “boxy” Leopard 2s were numbered 2, 2A1, 2A2, 2A3 and 2A4 (there doesn’t appear to have been a 2A2), but external differences between them are small. The easiest way to tell some of them apart in original photos is that if the tank is German and painted green all-over, it will be a 2 or 2A1 2A1 or 2A2, because the 2A3 and later were painted in three-colour camouflage at the factory (and earlier tanks got that applied later on, so you can’t say a tank is a 2A3 or 2A4 just because it’s camouflaged). The first one with the “wedge”-shaped turret was the 2A5, and the 2A6 is the same tank but with a longer gun barrel. Everything after that rapidly gets too modern and confusing for me
Thanks, I looked through Spielberger’s Waffensysteme Leopard 1 und Leopard 2 which explains the different build lots of the tanks, and how they correspond to the 2, 2A1, etc. but doesn’t mention the 2A2 in that sequence at all. Let me amend my initial message.
Thank you for your reply. The problem with the Leopard 2 article in Wikipedia is, it puts me to sleep.
I admit my question seems unusual. To choose to build model tanks based on external appearance. But that’s kinda the problem. The Leopard 2 family are so identical to each other (broken down between flat turret and angular turret) that it might not make any sense to me, to build tanks that have no real outward differences. (Sure there are differences internally, but you can’t see that on the outside) From a research perspective, I can barely grasp all the various Abrams upgrades over the years, but at least there are plenty of external differences that would make it relatively easy to identify the variations…But the Leopard 2? I can put an A6 next to an A5 and it would look like I built the same tank twice. A7V looks exactly the same (Or am I missing something?)
My way of thinking as far building a collection of tanks, is to highlight the variations. I have several M4 Sherman tanks. Each represents a version and they are significantly different enough to show the changes made to the design. Apparently, not so much with Leopard 2
If you haven’t built a Leopard 2 in 20 years, I’d recommend doing a Meng 2A4 and a Tamiya A7V. Or even a Meng A7. I agree their isn’t much visually between the A5 and A6 besides the longer barrel. But the A7s showcase the longer barrel and have a lot of changes in the rear turret area that show up in side by side comparison. I include the Meng 2A4 for a slab side as you probably did a Italeri/Revell kit back in the day. The new Meng kit blows them away. As someone mentioned, I’d wait for things to shake out on a good production A8.
