Hi all,
For quite a while now, I have had both the Bison Decals Suez decals sheet and the poor Heller AMX 13 kit. I decided to start this project and have made some progress on the turret and the hull.
To help enhancing the kit, I'm also using a OOP PE set by a Spanish producer.
The challenge is not only to upgrade the donor kit but to backdate it as Heller give you the latest variant.

Here are some pictures
Hull








Turret











This will be a slow project as I have other models on the workbench and I'm still lacking correct refs to modify the lower hull.

Olivier

Nice start. Will you be using the Accurate Armour track set?

Thanks Robert. I'll certainly use it as I know it perfectly fits the Heller sprockets. The only thing that bothers me is the exaggerated sagging seen on many early AMX 13s. Im' not sure the resin set will allow to depict it.

Excellent start for thin interesting project, Olivier.
Keep on the good work.

cheers
Walter

I've had experience with those tracks and few others by AA. I block off areas with cardboard to isolate the tracks. A well aimed blast from the hair dryer will sag them perfectly.

The turret is nearly complete. Still have to add the details on the right side, glue the antenna bases (and find 50s type antennas), upgrade the smoke-grenade dischargers and finally make the rod like sights (can't remember the correct denomination) for both the gunner and the tank commander.







Olivier

Wonderful detail work, thanks for sharing!

To help resin tracks get some sag you can also use boiling water applied with an eye dropper.

Cheers,

Christophe

Really hard work, congratulations
Very good upgrade for ugly Heller's kit...

Very cool. I haven't seen any of these built up on the internet in the last ~3-4 years.

Thanks for the kind comments. If the "scratchbuild" modeling rule (you also can call it Murphy's law depending on your point of view) applies, as soon as I have completed this build a new plastic kit will be released by some major company

So wish me luck for the following steps

Olivier

This is looking to be a fun built! I have subscribed and will follow with great anticipation.
The oscillating turrets have been of interest to me for a while now. I wish I could find a video of how the recoil works though. Does the turret crew go for a wild ride everytime the gun/turret recoils?
And I wish another PE set would be relaesed for this kit!!
When I was about 13 or 14 years old and living in Germany, we went to an open house at a French Army Kaserne and I got hooked on AMX-30's. It was the first tank I ever got to climb on and I even got a ride in a personel carrier. What a great thing! It fired me up for armor and my modeling switched from WW2 airplanes to armor overnight. And then I discovered the AMX13 and the EBR's with similar turrets. I have been hooked ever since. I just wish somebody would come out with an early-mid 70's French tank crew set.
Sorry for the rambling...this build has got me all excited and worked up!

Do you know if they have ever upgraded this kit, or did they just rebox it over the years?

Thanks you all for the comments.
Bob, the only thing that evolved was the box ! The content has been the same all along the production series except for the decals which are for an IDF tank and a Swiss army tank in the current boxes. The French markings have disappeared.

Olivier

Nice start does the turret move up and down on it or it is fixed. I just think it would be cool to have a working turret like that.

The turret is still working in elevation. As the gun is not fitted yet, it tends to raise its "nose" but I guess that it will be well balanced with the barrel.

Thanks for the information, Olivier. I am going to have to do the same thing you are doing backdating the turret. I'll use yours as a guide, though I don't know if I'm going to do all the details you've added.

My model is not perfect as I have simplified some details to avoid scratchbuilding a whole new turret
You can have a look at the various walkarounds on the web to make your own opinion about what you want correct or not.
The problem with the AMX 13 is that there were a lot of modifications introduced from the early type to the late ones. And it is not obvious to spot them all in the various museums samples.

Olivier

Here is the turret right side complete.







Still have to add the smoke grenade dischargers, the antenna bases, two handrails and the auxiliary sights and I could call the turret done.

Olivier

hello bison
the X13 ist very nice

Olivier outstanding work you are a brave man to build a Heller kit
dave

Hi Olivier,
the jerry can holder looks fantastic! Was it heat formed or glued directly to the jerrycan?

Sean

Thanks Sean. The jerrycan holder has been gently bent into shape. I first built the base then using the jerrycan as a jig I gave its basic shape to the thin strip. Then I used a pair of tweezer to complete the job.

I'm thinking of making a heat based device to simplify the process but my knowledge in electrical appliances is nearly equal to null so it's still on hold.

Here are some pictures of the turret 95% complete. I still have to replace the handrails in front of the turret base.





Dave, as usual as soon as I finish this Heller kit, a new plastic AMX 13 will be released. I'm not brave, just consider I sacrifice myself for the profit of the community

Olivier

Hello again Olivier,
my idea of heat forming is nothing special, just immersing your form and the components to be formed along with some sort of clamping to hold it all together into boiling water for a bit. I've then run it under cool water but this probably isn't even necessary, works very well.
Again, it looks great !

Sean

Hi Sean,
I'm looking to make something easy to use for the beginner, with no risk of boiling your fingers too
A point of departure would be a soldering iron with different tips to match the various possible angles. The problem is the extreme heat an iron produces.

Olivier