HELLER AMX30/105

Model and photos by:  Andreas Hueger

Construction notes:

French modern tanks are still a very rare sight at Model shows or even in modeler’s collection’s.

The only producer of injection model kits is HELLER of France. The following article deals with the construction of this not quite up-to-date kit. My main purpose has it been to use as few after market parts as possible to keep the price for this kits as low as possible but still do it as much good as necessary.

First of all, the crew is about the worst I have seen, do not use it for anything at all. Throw them away.

The tanks‘ chassis has been split by HELLER into four pieces, they fit together quite well but I recommend the heavy use of glue to keep this section in shape. Do not forget to check the fitting carefully while drying out. The same can be said about the suspension parts, they fit, but need a lot of glue and even more drying time to hold together during construction (and afterwards). The road wheels lack a bit overall sharpness, but this can be said about most parts of this kit. Glue all suspension parts firmly and let them dry out safely !

The hull has to be glued firmly to the chassis as it tends to be bend and will hold only after long drying, therefore do not attach anything to it prior this step.

Accessories for the hull are plentiful but sad to say, only partly usable. The tow chains can be handled in the same manner as the figures, throw them away.  I replaced them with ACCURATE Armour's modern tow cables cut to length.

The frontal cable is held in place by a cramp on the frontal armour plate as  shown here. It has to be scratch build. This can be done easily, even without much skill. The double headlights are not used. The left headlight is a single headlight and the right is flanked by a special  night light.

Do not forget to attach the guard railings, even though not mentioned in the instructions. Most of the tools supplied are very toy like and I suggest to treat them like the tow cables.... Often the hull’s left side tools are not attached to avoid loss, I have attached cramps in place of the tools.

The hull back displays and early production type, its tools are of better quality and I attached them.  The square box on the right side of the back plate received a piece of wiring for detail. Simply drill holes and insert electric cable. The photo etch parts for the exhaust grills are useful and add a lot realism. The exhausts have to be carefully colored, I painted them in a metallic rust color and then added a rough overcoat with the  color   scheme to simulate the wear on these parts.