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Heller AMX-13 - A Cold War tank from my youth and beyond!


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So this afternoon I had a brief session with the airbrush, laying some primer on the wheels for the AMX-13, plus some similar work for a small 1/72 Scimitar AFV - the ACE model. While the airbriush was in use, I quickly have the test bolts a light dusting, and the result speaks for itself.........

 

20190910_150814_resized

 

The bolt heads are clearly visible, even from a reasonable distance, and will be more so when some washes are on after the main paint, so with some trepidation, I now intend to attach several score of these minute bolt heads. When you next see the turret, the job will be done.

 

Why do I do this to myself!

 

Terry

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On 9/10/2019 at 3:46 PM, Hamden said:

 

You know you wouldn't be satisfied if you didn't add them - little details lift the model to the next level!

 

                 Roger

You are right! So last night, I added goodness knows how many 0.4mm bolt heads to the small plates. They were difficult to see without primer, so the whole area was given a coat of AK One Shot black primer. I'm pretty pleased with the results......

 

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I wouldn't want to repeat that soon, although it wasn't too bad. They are amazing little bolts, and the 0.6mm and 1mm being bigger, look even better. Maybe some scratch built AFV is in my distant future!

 

Anyone visiting the Farnborough IPMS show this Saturday, can see this WIP.

 

More soon

 

Terry

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Kudos for taking this one on.  More like a dinosaur's ear than a sow's............  I think I was in school when this kit was first released, and I'm retired now: the Takom versions will be a nice treat after this!

 

With apologies for asking, does anyone watching in happen to have a spare AMX13/105 muzzle brake, Heller or Takom?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/12/2019 at 11:43 PM, Das Abteilung said:

Kudos for taking this one on.  More like a dinosaur's ear than a sow's............  I think I was in school when this kit was first released, and I'm retired now: the Takom versions will be a nice treat after this!

 

With apologies for asking, does anyone watching in happen to have a spare AMX13/105 muzzle brake, Heller or Takom?

Thanks! I agree its a challenge, but it's moving along. Wheels have been prepared and primed, and the last few bits of detail added to the turret. Some further priming needed on those. For anyone interested, the work so far on this will be at Bovington show this weekend. Looks a bit menacing in it's black one shot primer coat!

 

Can't help you with the AMX13/105 muzzle brake I'm afraid.

 

Terry

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Nice to meet up with you at Bovington Terry, your AMX is superb and looks far better in the plastic than the pictures portray!

Looking forward to seeing this progress to completion...........................................I here a couple of M60's calling..........................................

 

   Roger

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Great to meet you too Roger. The AMX is turning into one of those projects that sucks me into more and more detail. Glad you liked it. Progress will continue but priority focus is on a few projects for our Telford theme of "Animals" ...... the opportunities are endless, for example Lynx - a Helicopter, an AFV, a type 41 Frigate ....... my particular projects involve a two Kangaroo's, a Mustang, a Bulldog and possibly even a Gamecock! Depends how time goes.............. I already have a Hog, another Bulldog and a Tiger ready. 

 

And yes, your lovely M60 has inspired me to pull out my own stalled project(s) on that one!

 

Terry

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  • 3 months later...
3 hours ago, Vaastav said:

Interesting

The Indian Army used AMX 13 as well so I think I'll follow if that's fine

Glad to have you on board Vaastav. I'm afraid progress has been slow lately due to a number of other (non modelling) commitments at the moment.

 

In addition to this Heller one, I also have two other AMX-13's in my stash (Takom). 

 

Terry

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8 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Glad to have you on board Vaastav. I'm afraid progress has been slow lately due to a number of other (non modelling) commitments at the moment.

 

In addition to this Heller one, I also have two other AMX-13's in my stash (Takom). 

 

Terry

Would you mind doing an Indian Army one?? It should be interesting.

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  • 1 month later...

Not much happened on this one for a while, but this week much activity on several models, including some airbrush work, so the AMX-13 got treated to a bit of progress.

 

First I masked off all small lights on the hull. These had been pre painted and the plan was to use some excellent circle shaped masks which I acquired last year when I visited Japan. You can see an example here https://www.hlj.com/circle-masking-sheet-1-6mm-hqpmask-cir This example is not quite the same as the sets I purchased, but you probably can get them through Hobby Link Japan or other similar suppliers. They are made by HIQ Parts and are called Circle Masking. As far as I am aware there are four sets, small, medium, large and extra large with each set offering between over 500 (small set) to around 120 (extra large set). The circle masks range from 1.0mm through 7.6mm in  0.2mm steps, across the whole range. They offer the circle mask, and of course the corresponding circle surround, depending on whether you need to mask off a circle to paint the surrounding area (as I do for this one), or mask off the surround to paint the centre circle, if that makes sense.

 

Once I'd masked them off, I also masked the exhaust area and completed the coat of black primer using AK's One Shot. The following day I gave the whole model a further light dusting of AK's One Shot grey as a means of providing some pre-shading highlight.

 

Results are shown in the following pictures.

 

IMG20200224201256 IMG20200224201309 IMG20200224201316 IMG20200224201324

 

I'm pretty pleased with the result and will leave things a few days before applying the main coat most likely of IDF Sand of some sort as I'm planning an Israeli version. It's possible I might decide to apply a little more lighter grey in the areas that will benefit from being paler.

 

More soon

 

Terry

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3 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Looking good Terry nice to see this back on the bench!

Should be finished for April 18th

 

            Roger

Thanks Roger. It would be good to get it finished for our show, so no pressure then!

 

Terry

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On 2/25/2020 at 2:31 PM, Bullbasket said:

Good to see this one moving again, and I like the idea that it will be in IDF colours.

 

John.

Thanks John.

 

While we are at it, does anyone have any good recommendations for what IDF sand was used around the time of the six day war, or maybe in the years leading up to it? I've yet to choose a specific scheme as I have a few decal options, but getting the sand/grey colour right helps.

 

Thanks

 

Terry

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I cant say for 6 day war but I used model air Sinai grey for a merkava it it was a lovely colour but definatley grey once it was dry. Looking forward to seeing this finished excellent so far.

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43 minutes ago, Red Five said:

I cant say for 6 day war but I used model air Sinai grey for a merkava it it was a lovely colour but definatley grey once it was dry. Looking forward to seeing this finished excellent so far.

Thanks. Yes I think Merkava had both sand and more grey schemes and some of the earlier IDF colours seem to vary that way also, probably due to era/ theatre, I.e. early 60's vs 67 and after or Sinai or Golan maybe. The whole topic is quite fascinating and I hope to pick up more here. I know @Bullbasket is doing some great stuff on his Sherman.

 

Terry 

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got a chance to get back to this one today (and a few of my others on BM), in a mammoth airbrushing session.

 

Using some Vallejo Israeli Sinai Sand Grey, mixed with W&N acrylic flow enhancer (thanks for that tip @CedB), I lightly dusted the hull, turret and wheels.

 

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That will be left to dry overnight while I ponder a lighter dusting of the same colour, to add some highlight. I'm thinking of mixing the next coat with a sandy yellower shade.....

 

All good for now.

 

Terry

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On 4/4/2020 at 7:43 PM, Hamden said:

 

Nice to see this one back Terry, paintwork looks nice and smooth

 

         Roger 

Thanks Roger. I used some Windsor & Newton Acrylic flow improver mixed with the paint. A tip given to me by Ced. It works really well.

 

On 4/4/2020 at 7:51 PM, robw_uk said:

nice paintwork.. I have been off since mid '19 so slowly getting my mojo back, inspiration greatly received

Thanks. Glad you are getting inspired!

 

On 4/5/2020 at 10:01 AM, Bullbasket said:

The paint job has brought this alive. The Vallejo sand grey is about right. It's the one that I'm using on my M51.

 

John.

Thanks John. I realised the first coat I gave it was the 1973 Sand Grey. I intend to use the 1967 Sand Grey, also a Vallejo colour but it seems very slightly browner/sand coloured which I think is the right one.

 

4 hours ago, Ernst said:

Awesome progress, inspiring to see how some tlc can bring an old kit back to life.

Cheers,

Ernst

Thanks Ernst. Yes I enjoy bringing older kits a bit up to date, although sometimes it can be a lot of work!

 

9 minutes ago, Courageous said:

With lockdown and retirement, you should be rattling through your started builds...:bobby:

 

Stuart

Rattling indeed, four on the go at the moment, plus a fifth which does not have a WIP............

 

I've spent today scratchbuilding a machine gun support of the type often seen on these tanks used by the IDF, as I think it will add a little more life to the model. I have a Takom AMX-13/75 in the stash, and this has the MG support, so I set about scratch building one to match, and using one of the two MG's supplied in the Takom kit. One is the .30 cal Browning MG and the other a 7.62 mm MAG (FN I think). I decided to use the 7.62 on this one.

 

The Takom mounting assembled, ready to make a "licenced" copy....

 

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The parts fashioned out of tube and card....

 

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The mounting point in place..........

 

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The scratch built vs the original on the right. Nice shot of the Takom 7.62 MAG

 

IMG20200407205635

 

The completed support test fitted in place, cradling the 7.62 MAG ......

 

IMG20200407205935

 

The Takon kit also supplies two different types of ammunition boxes to fit to the side of the relevant gun, but only one (common) etched brass support for said box, so I'm in the process of making up a support to match the etch, which is part 25 on the etch sheet you can see ....

 

IMG20200407141455

 

The support needs a bit of cleaning up but has come out reasonably well. Its shown with the 7.62 mm ammunition box from the kit, minus lid at the moment.

 

IMG20200407220659

 

It will need a bit more fettling to get a neat fit against the side of the gun.

 

That's all for today.

 

More soon

 

Terry

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