1980s Bundeswehr Jägerzug (rifle platoon)

[carlos marighela]

Solido produce a decent, certainly useable Leopard 1 in 1/50. Alas, as it comes it's only useable as the least fielded version, the 1A2. It  could be converted to the almost ubiquitous 1A1 by adding some plastic card spaced armour to the turret and at least it has the sideskirts. That's a project, I've been putting off for ages. Sadly my Marders are 1/48 so the Leopard looks a bit small by comparison. Maybe it's bite the bullet time. I've largely run out of things I fancy painting at the moment.

Our very knowledgeabe fellow LAFer Jemina Fawr introduced me to the complexity of Leopard fielding within the Bundeswehr.

https://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2019/09/02/beware-of-the-leopard-part-2-1980s-west-german-tank-distribution/

Sometimes you pay the price for too much knowledge, as I realised that with Germany no longer fielding any standard Leopard A1s by 1980 that the plastic kit I had bought on spec was useless. Oh well, maybe it will become a Belgian Leopard one day.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I am getting a certificate error on the Jemima Fawr link.

[Jemima Fawr]

Solido produce a decent, certainly useable Leopard 1 in 1/50. Alas, as it comes it's only useable as the least fielded version, the 1A2. It  could be converted to the almost ubiquitous 1A1 by adding some plastic card spaced armour to the turret and at least it has the sideskirts. That's a project, I've been putting off for ages. Sadly my Marders are 1/48 so the Leopard looks a bit small by comparison. Maybe it's bite the bullet time. I've largely run out of things I fancy painting at the moment.

Our very knowledgeabe fellow LAFer Jemina Fawr introduced me to the complexity of Leopard fielding within the Bundeswehr.

https://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2019/09/02/beware-of-the-leopard-part-2-1980s-west-german-tank-distribution/

Sometimes you pay the price for too much knowledge, as I realised that with Germany no longer fielding any standard Leopard A1s by 1980 that the plastic kit I had bought on spec was useless. Oh well, maybe it will become a Belgian Leopard one day.

I blame myself... 

The Belgians are a good call.  They STILL had them in 2005 when they came down to Wales and hosted my cadets for a range-day!   

You could always use it as a 1A2 in the LANDJUT Corps (6. Panzergrenadier-Division)?  Alternatively, the Canadians received a load of 1A2 as stop-gaps during the late 70s and still had a few knocking around as reserve tanks.  There's at least one photo of a Canadian 1A2 from sometime around 1983ish.  There's also the Italians...

[Jemima Fawr]

I am getting a certificate error on the Jemima Fawr link.

Oh yes, so do I using that link.  It's also asking me to log in (I'm already logged in), which is odd...   

Try this one:  http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2019/09/02/beware-of-the-leopard-part-2-1980s-west-german-tank-distribution/

[Jemima Fawr]

I am getting a certificate error on the Jemima Fawr link.

That's really strange.  I get the error when using Carlos' link, but not when using my link, but it appears to be exactly the same link! 

[carlos marighela]

I blame myself... 

The Belgians are a good call.  They STILL had them in 2005 when they came down to Wales and hosted my cadets for a range-day!   

You could always use it as a 1A2 in the LANDJUT Corps (6. Panzergrenadier-Division)?  Alternatively, the Canadians received a load of 1A2 as stop-gaps during the late 70s and still had a few knocking around as reserve tanks.  There's at least one photo of a Canadian 1A2 from sometime around 1983ish.  There's also the Italians...

All good suggestions but alas, Italians and Canucks are thin on the ground in 28mm. I'm waiting for Rubicon to release their Australians. Kit bashed with their US troops, they should make reasonable Canuck proxies. They'll be fairly limited as Aussies anyway due to dodgy research.

Having contemplated the amount of work involved in converting late WW2 US troops into chaps with M14's I'm loathe to do the same for BM49 wielding Italians. Belgians can at least be proxied using the Mofo Argentines.

Yeah, I'm torn between the extra work involved (which would mostly be covered in camo neeting anyway) and the limitation of it belonging to a single brigade in Landjut.

Things were simple in Awwstraya. We just had AS1s which were Leopard 1A4 with Belgian fire control. The only exception were the two 1972 trials vehicle which were 1A2 models.

BTW On my laptop I got a Bitdefender warning for the link I put up but ignored it as I have the same page bookmarked on my iPad.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

That's really strange.  I get the error when using Carlos' link, but not when using my link, but it appears to be exactly the same link! 

Your link worked fine. Thanks.

[Michi]

Try this one:  http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2019/09/02/beware-of-the-leopard-part-2-1980s-west-german-tank-distribution/

Very helpful, thanks a lot!

Now that I checked, I see that mine seem to be Leopard 1(A0) from one of the first 3 batches:



I imagine them to be from the third batch (which was delivered shortly before I was born) and not upgraded until second half of the 1970s. That way they will match Rubicon's M113 & Huey, my VW Kübelwagen and the newly ordered Unimog 404 (and even a Borgward B2000 that was in use until 1975).

[Jemima Fawr]

Lovely!  Whenever I see a 'classic' Leopard 1 it always takes me straight back to the 70s, being about 5 or 6 and being taken by my Dad to see them firing on range open days at Castlemartin and getting to crawl all over one. 

[carlos marighela]

You have a troop's (platoon) worth and they're nicely painted.

I'd be sticking them whatever the mark.

[Jemima Fawr]

Your link worked fine. Thanks.

Oh, great stuff!    Weird...

[Jemima Fawr]

You have a troop's (platoon) worth and they're nicely painted.

I'd be sticking them whatever the mark.

Absolutely!   

[Ursus Maior]

That's excellent work there Michi. As owner/operator of Under Fire Miniatures I very definitely approve this post.

The RTO is the guy peering around the corner at the front left of the second photo & I'm sure a Charlie G plus second marksman can be organized in the future.

Bill Weston.
www.underfireminiatures.com

Bill, I love to hear that and I'm definitely going to do a similar project in the future. So far, my plan was to buy the Charlie G from the Danish pack and simply discard the Armbrust shooter, as the weapon was never introduced in the Bundeswehr. But an additional support weapons team would be great! Maybe round it off with a MG3 on Feldlafette? The Bundeswehr Jäger battalions (and Panzergrenadiere) made quite some use of these. Or a figure with HK69 GraPi. It's available for your Bundesgrenzschutz units, but the Bundeswehr was and still is the main user of that weapon.

[Ursus Maior]

Thank you very much for the link!
M113s are available from Rubicon, I already have one (yet unbuilt) and the Leo 2 is too modern for my needs.
However I ordered one of the Unimogs to get an impression of what it looks like in the flesh. The 3D graphic doesn't look perfect (I used to own the prototype for years and know it quite well). I'll show the model here when it's finished...

The Assault Group also do M113, though they somethimes run out of them. They're incredibly cheap to buy from them, I think I paid 9 £ for an M113 and the same for a HMMWV.

[Michi]

The Assault Group also do M113, though they somethimes run out of them. They're incredibly cheap to buy from them, I think I paid 9 £ for an M113 and the same for a HMMWV.

Thanks for the hint! l‘m in progress of pimping two of those printed Unimogs mentioned earlier, but once they are finished, I can start planning APCs too…