RE: Another Tamiya Leopard
Gorehound,
The piece on the front is called a DARKAS. It simulates the main gun firing when using MILES type gear. I scratch built it using styrene, but's it's not 100% exact or anything. I think there's a link to a site further back in the thread that has some good pictures of a scratch built one (I used these pics to build mine).
HG,
Closer pics....