My 'personal' CMC Leopard - FINISHED

[PR19_Kit]

After my two recent rather massive models, the Monterey and the Atlas, I'm going in totally the opposite direction for my next build, the A Model CMC Leopard 2 that I've recently bought after some well minded person on here mentioned that they were available.

I have a soft spot for the Leopard as I've seen both of the only two ever built and I think it's a superb looking aeroplane and really deserved to be a commercial success, such a pity it wasn't. In previous years I spent a lot of my time virtual flying with MS Flight Simulator on-line with the virtual airline community, and I flew with a small group of very keen individuals who'd formed Albion Airlines. Now AA were a sort of British 'Air America' and flew all sort of virtual 'missions' for the virtual UK Government all over the virtual world, great fun, but pretty time consuming. 

While my usual mount for Albion was either a civvie Canberra PR9  a Hercules or an A-330MRT  my personal 'taxi' was a Leopard in an Albion colour scheme, so that's how I'm going to build the model.

Of course it's a 'Virtual Whiff'. 

Box, contents and planned colour scheme below.



Lovely pretty box




The bits, but A Model have modelled the Leopard 1, even in the Leopard 2 box. Note the 6 ins ruler in the middle.....




My planned colour scheme. Decal design has already been started

[zenrat]

I hope this A Model experience is better than my current one.

Looks nice although the wings are a bit on the short side...

[PR19_Kit]

It's not bad so far, apart from the fact that it's SO small! It'll need some PSR on the fuselage joints, but I'v eseen a lot worse.

I may be doing something about those short wings........... 

[JayBee]

Another big, or rather small, problem is just where can you put enough nose weight.

[Steel Penguin]

wow! that looks neat Kit,  One id never heard of before, and yet it looks so "right" .
this is something im going to watch with interest 

[PR19_Kit]

Another big, or rather small, problem is just where can you put enough nose weight.

I'm thinking the same Jim. 

Even though it has a long nose, there's a lot of stuff at the back and that long nose has naff all space in it. There's some space under the dash panel, and perhaps I can cram some in the nosewheel bay.

[Rheged]

What a delightful little aircraft.  This should be well worth watching!

[PR19_Kit]

The weight situation's not quite as bad as I'd feared. While the Leopard does have a lot of stuff at the rear, tailplanes, engines, fin and ventral fin, the nose is not only long, but it's wide too, and there's all the seats and stuff in the front. Plus that relatively huge canopy which weighs quite a bit.

As it's so vital to sort this out early I did a 'tape up' of all the main bits, and it just about balances on the main gear axis.  To make sure I'm going to put some fishing weight shot under the instrument cowl, and maybe two of them in the nose wheel bay too.

One down side of this kit is the way the bits connect up, no tongues and slots for A Model on this one, oh no. They use pins in the wings etc. and holes in the fuselage. Needless to say not ONE of the holes is large enough for the pins!  I needed to trim them out with my scalpel blade before the parts would fit. The other issue is the sheer size, or rather lack of it, of some of the parts. The engine turbine faces are less than 1.5 mm in diameter!  Just grabbing hold of them is a problem, tweezers are an essential for this model.

[loupgarou]

Well, the nose is long indeed. More than the wings. 
I hope this kit doesn't fights you like the A400.

[Weaver]

If you do get stuck weight-wise, you could always take the back seats out and a have a very heavy box of 'tractor parts' in there which you're ferrying about for Albion Airlines, strictly to help third-world farmers, of course.....

[PR19_Kit]

If you do get stuck weight-wise, you could always take the back seats out and a have a very heavy box of 'tractor parts' in there which you're ferrying about for Albion Airlines, strictly to help third-world farmers, of course.....

Funny you should say that............ 

[PR19_Kit]

I've loaded some lead shot into the front of the cockpit, and the instrument cowling will cover it, see first pic below. There'll be a bit more space under the cowl afterwards, and I think can get some extra shot through the space for the pilot's feet with luck.

Now for the JMN bit.

The red arrow in the first shot points to a very small 'canard' strake on the nose. AFAIK neither Leopard had those so I'll be sanding them off, should take at least two strokes of the file, one per side. 

The arrow in the second pic aims at the bulge right at the tail, and that was only carried by the first prototype, G-BKRL, so to be 100% correct the Leopard 2, G-BRNM, should have it filed off. IIRC A Model have the same mouldings in both kits.

As mine is a 'production version'  it won't have the bulge either, which I think was an anti-spin parachute on the prototype. You'll notice the evidence of PSR, but I didn't need much of it.

[NARSES2]

What gets me is how wide the fuselage is in relation to both the chord and span of the wings.

[Caveman]

Not obvious from kits pics but the fuselage is very low too. It's definitely a jet that you sit down into, rather like a sports car.

[JayBee]

I may be doing something about those short wings........... 

Winglets?