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Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
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AMX-50-120 from scratch? AKA 'Franc'-entank
Dark00Buick
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United States
Joined: January 04, 2016
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Posted: Sunday, January 03, 2016 - 10:51 PM UTC
Hey folks, new guy here. I'm a long time modeler (15+ years) but relatively new tanker (2 years) and I have a question I'd like to discuss open endedly with y'all (especially the veterans). Inspired by my recent love affair with World of Tanks, I've begun compiling kits for the 7 nations in the game but I've really fallen for the unique designs of the French Armed Forces after the War. Troublingly though, no one really makes these AFV's due most likely to them not entering service/ being blueprint only etc.

Judging from the armour models in-game, it appears that the AMX-50 tonne models were sitting atop Panther II chassis with 12 interlocking roadwheels to a side, flat sloped front plate, shallow glacis etc with what appears to be the oscillating turret from an AMX-13-75. Question is, if the turret rings are the same diameter, can I just put an AMX-13's turret onto the Panther II body and simply do some moulding and attach a longer barrel or will it look like Dr. Frankenstein's Tank?

Thank you all in advance!
sdk10159
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Oregon, United States
Joined: December 08, 2005
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Posted: Sunday, January 03, 2016 - 11:44 PM UTC
John,

If you're going to build this off a WOT tank, then the Panther chassis might work.

All the pics that I've even seen of a AMX-50 the chassis 'resembled' a Panther in that it had interwoven road wheels and sloped armor. The AMX had 10 road wheels and 4 return rollers, so there was no track sag like you'd find on a Panther.
ceerosvk
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Slovakia
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 12:16 AM UTC
Honestly, with the frequency of various paper tanks and prototypes being released by all kinds of plastic model companies.... If i was you, i would wait for someone to announce a proper release of it because i think it's just matter of time. You don't want to spend a year scratchbuilding something just to see it released in styrene moments before you finish it

Or perhaps i'm just too optimistic
Dark00Buick
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 01:41 AM UTC
That's actually a really good point Michal; I was wondering that myself, especially considering the growing popularity of WoT. I saw that Italeri in fact has WoT labeled kits now on Amazon...
Dark00Buick
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 01:43 AM UTC
Agreed. I'm definitely most concerned with the turret ring and sorry about the mis-count on the roadwheels; I looked after you said so. I think it would* work but as you might imagine, I'm no different from your average tanker in need for detail match... Even if no-one who's to see my display cases would know the difference.
shart1979
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 02:56 AM UTC
One thing I'd mention is that the proposed AMX chassis was based on the Tiger 2 rather than the panther and that design formed the basis of the one prototype build they completed. The running gear and overlapping Road wheels were all taken as is but the chassis and Hull armour was significantly reduced to reduce weight but the dimensions stayed the same

The turret was the same oscillating type as that used on the AMX 13 and Panhead. Hope that helps and I would second the comments about the likelihood of an AMX being a mainstream release especially with the WOT interest and the recent release of the AMX 13 varients by MENG.

Another example of this is the announcemnt that the T29/T30 family will be coming out in plastic this year
Dark00Buick
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 03:13 AM UTC
Really!? I loved the T29. Great advice on the tiger chassis too, btw.
shart1979
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United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 01:45 PM UTC
Yeah it's great news on the T29 family - There is a thread that covers that in more detail;

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/241915

Frenchy
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Rhone, France
Joined: December 02, 2002
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 05:36 PM UTC
Some pics and info about the 120mm gun variant of the AMX-50 :

http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/engins-blindes/chars?task=view&id=682

As far as I can tell, the oscillating turret is bigger than the AMX-13 one, and the hull is not the same as the Tiger II one (even though its engine is a Maybach )...

90 and 100mm gun variants :

http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/engins-blindes/chars?task=view&id=20


H.P.
shart1979
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 05:51 PM UTC
Additional Pics and info -
http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=532

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/France/AMX-50.php
Dark00Buick
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 09:17 PM UTC
Merci, Frenchy (wow, that sounds like something an insensitive American would say, lol) and thanks for the info, Shawn!
ninjrk
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Alabama, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 10:29 PM UTC











ninjrk
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Posted: Monday, January 04, 2016 - 10:30 PM UTC

From my trip last year to Saumur.
arpikaszabo
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Praha, Czech Republic
Joined: February 13, 2006
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Posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 - 12:13 AM UTC
Reading the excellent links posted here, this tank has nothing in common with German tanks except of some inspiration. The wheels and tracks are totally different, which can be a dealbreaker when converting models.
ninjrk
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Alabama, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 - 12:38 AM UTC
I assume that you're looking at 1/35 scale but if scale is not an issue, there are kits in 1/72 http://shop.okbgrigorov.com/product/426/french-medium-tank-amx-50-100-early-version.html
tankmodeler
#417
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 01, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 - 03:48 AM UTC
Yes,

The AMX-50 is a totally different beast than either the Tiger II or the AMX-13.

The Hull is totally different than the Tiger II in both detail and overall size. The Turret is a similar concept to the AMX-13, but much, much larger and different in detail.

It really is a total scratchbuild. A realy good tank to scratchbuild, but totally different. If you are really lucky, they used something very similar to the Tiger II's sprocket and you can salvage that, but with the different arrangement of road wheels, even the track will be different enough that Tiger II track won't work without at least some work.

The road wheels wold need to be turned which also means new swing arms to get the right ride height and hull offset.

Trying to replicate the turret would be the hardest part of such a project as replicating the complex curves of the cast original parts is tough without both good drawings and a large number of photos as drawings simply can't capture the complexities of cast metal shapes.

Paul
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