Herpa - 741880 - Armored Vehicles, Tank Leopard 2 - German Army (Deutsches Heer)

Specific Item Information: The Military series includes a large amount of high-quality finished military car and aircraft models as printed and blank versions. The technology of the vehicles and airplanes from the time of WWI until today fascinates collectors and diorama builders in equal measure. The series will be expanded continuously with new types and print variants.(Roco item no. 900). 1/160 scale.

Model Information: Minitanks is a rich in tradition military series which was launched by the model railway manufacturer Roco in 1960. The brand name has stood for detailing, scale and precision in the model building world ever since. On October 1, 2007, Herpa has taken on the worldwide distribution of the military series Minitanks and will continuously advance and extended the program.

Prototype History: The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V-12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey. The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as also seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces against ISIS and the YPG.

There are two main development batches of the tank: the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilised main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain.

Road Name History: The German Army (German: Deutsches Heer) is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). As of 28 February 2017, the German Army had a strength of 60,431 soldiers.

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Brand/Importer Information: Herpa, or Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH, is a German manufacturer of die-cast model aircraft under the Herpa Wings trademark and plastic car models under the Herpa Cars & Trucks trademark. The mainstay of Herpa Wings is in the 1/500 scale, although models are also produced in the 1/400, 1/200, and 1/1000 scales as well. Herpa Cars & Trucks are mainly produced in the 1/87 scale, although 1/120 and 1/160 scales are also offered.
Herpa also produces magazines for car & truck enthusiasts and model aircraft enthusiasts, known as Der Maßstab and WingsWorld respectively.

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Manufacturer Information: The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in HO scale and the smaller N scale. TT scale was also subsequently added to the product line. The model rail product line covers many European countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and also the USA.

On July 15, 2005 ROCO Modellspielwaren GmbH was declared bankrupt. From July 25 the company continues as Modelleisenbahn GmbH, but still uses the Roco brand and associated logo. On October 1, 2007, distribution of the 'Minitank' product series was assigned to the German model car manufacturer Herpa.

Since February 2008 Modelleisenbahn also owns Fleischmann, which like Roco had gone bankrupt. The two companies continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joined development projects, marketing and procurement.

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