1/72 VK 16.02 Hull & Tracks

The VK 16.02 'Leopard' was a fast, heavy reconaissance tank developed from an order to MIAG and Daimler-Benz of March 1942, the former building the chassis, the latter the turret. Design of the tank was based on similar projects such as the PzKpfw II Ausf J, on which the hull was loosely based, but the desing influenced of the PzKpfw V Panther is plain to see, being developed at about the same time.
It was planned for the VK 16.02 Leopard to replace the PzKpfw II Ausf L Luchs, with a mock-up completed by June 1942, with a prototype possibly built in September of the same year, though this is dubious. Production however was halted, due to its similarities to the Panther, and the possibility of using a modified version of the latter in its place, which would be more economical and logistically more viable. The project was developed into Daimler-Benz's VK 28.01, but the program was cancelled in May 1944.
The VK 16.02 was to be armed with the 5cm KwK 39/1 L/60, the same used on the PzKpfw III Ausf J-M, while a modified version of the Leopard turret was later used for the SdKfz 234 Puma scout car. The VK 16.02's top speed would have been between 50/60 km/h, powered by a Maybach HL 157P 12-cylinder, 550hp engine. Armour was a maximum of 50mm on the front (both upper and lower glacis), and the turret front.
With the task of a 'heavy scout' taken up by PzKpfw IV and PzKpfw Panther and the turret reused on the SdKfz 234 Puma, Rheinmetall proposed to use the chassis as a base for the 10.5cm LeFH howitzer, referred to as Waffentrager Leopard, and a Sturmgeschutz auf Leopard (L/70) using the Panther's 7.5cm KwK L/70 gun in a fixed casemate, but only wooden mockups were made. Mounting a 2cm Flakvierling or 3.7cm Flak 36 gun on the chassis was also proposed, but plans never materialized.