Leopard 2a4 gun questions

[JesseGuthritsch]

I have gotten to the part of my build where I have the chassi mostly complete and the turrent mostly complete so I want to start working on my MODs.

I will be adding a working coaxial gun (6mm bb gun) to my Leopard kit and I'm 95% confident it is on the right side of the barrel towards the top (if you are facing the front of the tank). But now I have no clue what is the other capped looking part of the left side of the barrel (see the attached pictures). It is a gun cam and if not where is the gunners camera as I want to drive/shoot with this model FPV style.


Thanks for the help! I'm just some young punk with only my grandpa to thank for introducing me to tanks as a kid so I have very little knowledge beside what I can google and what he told me but he moslt drove trucks in Veitnam and not tanks.
I'm actually building this tank in his honour as he died recently. RIP grandpa

[Aaron Cheng]

The capped feature on the lower half of the gun mantlet should be the gunner's reserve optic; the primary optic is the 'doghouse' just above and to the left of the picture. If you want to attach an FPV cam, consider the main optic instead, or the commander's independent sight if you want an independent slew axis for looking around.

-Aaron

[JesseGuthritsch]

Ah, so the primary gun camera is the part with he closable looking lids thats to the left of the barrel. That would be a much easier spot for an FPV camera. I did also plan on using the commanders sights as my 3rd FPV camera as it would be cool to have a 360 turnable camera.

Any good suggestions where I could stick the drivers FPV camera to make it look like your actually at the drivers POV?

[Mark Heaps]

The drivers sight in the middle of the photo ( the one with the wiper blades ) would seem to be the drivers main vision block when closed down. That is lined up central with the hull.
As the Germans drive on the right-hand side of the road, I suspect the other vision block is secondary and aids the driver in keeping the vehicle on the road during road moves.
Would also have been of use when going through what we knew in the British Army as a rolling replen. Going along a line of static trucks filling up with fuel, collecting ammunition along with rations, water & mail. Enabling the driver to avoid colliding with the trucks whilst keeping close proximity to them allowing the truck crews to hand over the items straight into the hands of the turret crew who would be standing on the turret or the rear decks. Quicker and easier than the truck crews handing items down to a person on the ground and that person then having to lift them up to the tank.

[Peter Quambusch]

That´s right, Mark. Also the middle vision block would be replaced at night with a BIV (light intensifier device) to enable the driver to drive even at almost comlete darknes. That divice gives you a greenish pic of your surroundings.......

[Mark Heaps]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for confirming the position of the drivers primary sight.
The British Army vehicles during my time serving also had interchangeable day and night sights for the driver and I presume they still do. And just like yours, our night-sights gave a green picture
Therefore for anyone trying to emulate IR headlights on their models or the Chieftain Searchlight in IR mode, rather than using red (Infra-red cannot be seen by the naked eye ) , a low-level greenish illumination would be more realistic simulating what those who had an IR-sight would actually see through it. For those without an IR-Sight, such as the vehicle commanders until the tanks started getting thermal imaging, they would not know if that illumination was there or not.