LeClerc RT5

Manufacturer: ADV Mini(Kit No. 72020)

And now for somethingcompletely different ...

Well, I have just learnedthe hard way about the risks inherent in building a model withoutthe proper research material. When I finished this model andwrote the review, I was proceeding under the belief that I built(or rather, painted) a Leclerc in the army of the United ArabEmirates (UAE). But I was waaaaaaayyyy wrong. Thanks to an emailfrom Ludovic Bertrand (he makes the masters for ADVmini), I havelearned the error of my ways ...

What I have painted, infact, represents a French Leclerc on maneuvers in Qatar. It turnsout that the UAE tanks have a very large number of very obviousdifferences from the French tanks. Even more than I imagined.While building my tank, I had seen photographs of tanks with twodifferent "desert" paint schemes. I had incorrectlyassumed that the solid yellow scheme was early UAE tanks, and thecamouflaged version (which I painted) was a late UAE tank. Inreality, the UAE tanks are the solid yellow ones, and like Isaid, have many obvious external differences from the Frenchtanks. The paint scheme I used is for the French tanks in Qatar.

But my version of thismodel still is not entirely correct. According to Ludovic, theFrench tanks in Qatar are of a different version than the RT5Kosovo configuration. Apparently the turret roof has somedifferences which I should have incorporated into my model forthis version.

Well, as the saying goes,"Live and learn."

(See additional reviews by Ludovic Bertrand and Pat Storto .)

The kit is absolutelyfantastic. Instead of re-posting the scans of the kit parts,please refer to my previous KitPreview .

The kit is solid-bodied,so all of the hatches are molded closed, except for thecommander's hatch. There is a recess molded into the turret forthe commander figure, which is included with the kit. The hatchis detailed inside and out.

I have no idea if Imatched the colors correctly, but the tan in the photographslooked very yellow, so I used British Gulf War Tan, which has ayellow tint, and Panzer Dark Brown, which matched very well toit. It would be really nice to replicate the camouflage nettingwhich was often seen on these tanks.

The construction was verystraightforward and smooth, with a single exception. For whateverreason, it seemed that each track run was a single link tooshort. I bent them to shape in hot water (it actually worked thistime! - nice resin), but I had to make an extra link for eachside. The first side I worked on, I attached the very frontfirst, behind the mudguard, and then worked my way back, until itwas to meet with the track links which were molded onto thesprocket wheel in the rear, but there was a gap the exact widthof a single link. After replicating a new link in styrene, Istarted work on the other side, but this time, I started from therear first. I attached the sprocket wheel, then glued the trackrun to the links on the sprocket, and started working my wayforward. When I got to the front, I thought it was fine, but whenit was time to add the front mudguard, I saw that there was avisible gap at the top, so once again, I had to make an extralink from scratch. Considering how quickly the rest of the kitwent together, I didn't mind spending the extra time.

Once complete, this tanklooks really wicked. The turret is as large as most WW II tanks!That's also the reason you don't want to glue down the turret, soyou can turn it to see all the excellent hull detail.

Oh, one other detail, theend loops for the tow cable are provided in resin, but the actualcable needs to be fabricated by the modeler. I twisted a pair ofvery fine, soft-metal wires into shape.

According to Jane'sTank and Combat Vehicles Recognition Guide ,the kit scales perfectly to 1/72nd. Have you ever had somethingsitting right in front of you for a long time, and never noticeit? Just last night, as I was putting the finishing touches onthis article, I glanced over at the Jane's book sitting on thetable, and wouldn't you know, right there on the cover was abeautiful, hi-res, color photo of a Leclerc (but the negative wasreversed). I must have looked at that book a thousand times, butnever realized that the photo would have been an excellentreference when building and painting this kit.

The photos I have seen ofa UAE Leclerc showed the commander wearing a white, short-sleeveshirt and hat, which is why I painted my figure in white. But theJane's cover photo, which is of the French desert version, showsa commander wearing camouflage shirt, and a black helmet. Drat!Maybe next time.

After taking these photos,I've painted in the periscope and targeting viewports.

Thank you very much to Ludovic Bertrand and ADV mini for providing the review sample.