The Heller 1/35 AMX 13 DCA is long out of production and increasingly difficult to find, and when one does stumble across it, it goes for pop-star wages.
The basic Heller AMX 13 gun tank is also readily available (as of course, are the Takom versions).
Is it possible to incorporate the turret from the AMX 30 variant into the basic AMX 13 model? It looks like it should be feasible and even an easy fix, but I suspect there’s more to it than that.
Yeah, I’ve checked the details on Scalemates - I’m pretty sure the turret is one and the same; I suspect thought that the basic AMX 13 may have been modified - not necessarily lengthened or anything, but I notice (from the instruction sheets) that the circular fan aperture - for want of a better description - has been replaced by a rectangular version, and on the rear deck/hull, or what’s left of it, the 2 x gratings/mesh covers have gone and been replaced by spare gun barrel holders.
I think it’ll fit, but it seems very tight indeed, but perhaps that was just the case? I suspect a new hull-top plate may be required, but as I say, I’d like to know the art of the possible - if indeed, say, anyone else has done this, or just a French expert(!)
The turrets are identical, there is a minor difference in the smoke pots (two each side of the turret).
The hulls have major differences, the DCA hull is longer and higher, the DCA rear end is different, the sponson bins are different. The gratings over the engine compartment are different.
The engine exhaust is further forward.
Converting an AMX-30 gun tank to the DCA using a AMX-13 DCA turret and spare barrels is a piece of cake, going the other way will be a lot more work.
Robin, I may have confused the issue (or myself); the plan is to produce an AMX 13 variant - the AMX 13 DCA - taking the turret from the readily available AMX 30 DCA and transplanting the turret onto a Heller AMX 13, in order to end up with something like this:
and that will be difficult since the AMX-13 DCA hull is different from the
plain vanilla AMX-13 gun tank.
My previous post was a bit unclear:
Your wanted conversion direction is tough
if you had wanted to go the opposite way
it would have been a piece of cake.
You need to rebuild the whole hull. The box on the hull rear for the spare barrels is the simplest part. You need new hull sides (length + height), new upper glacis (to reach higher hull roof), new hull roof (length, engine gratings, flat sheet), hull rear, sponsoons. Takom tracks since the original Heller tracks are horrible by todays standards and they are also too short to fit the longer hull.
Compare the side view of this AMX-13/75 with the DCA:
Idler height above the road wheels.
Hull roof in two levels and the rear end sloped down.
The return run of the track seems to be going up towards the sprocket.
You could reuse the running gear and the lower hull front (lower glacis or transmission cover) plus some of the small parts from the AMX 13 gun tank
Just curious, but on the off-chance I encounter a Heller AMX-13 DCA (this is a project I also want to do), is the Heller hull actually dimensionally, correct? Or did they take the easy route & just slap a turret on the general hull with a few detail changes?
Damn; just when you think you’ve found an easy fix. I suppose scale drawings would help, but I’ve got to face up to my limitations. Better men than I would have no problem scratching a new hull, but me? Not really.
I’ll have another look and scope the art of the possible, which may not be much - for me. Cam nets of course, might be my friend here.
That’s a good question Damon. Re-visiting the instruction sheets courtesy of Scalemates, it appears that they bothered with the hull shape/length, and the number of idlers. There is a scale drawing, or such as it appears on the instructions - I suppose the answer would be to compare them with the standard gun tank as a first step. I should have noticed that before.
Heller have also amended the details on the hull top, in addition to providing the spare barrel box on the rear.
Hmmm. The answer is to obtain the actual AMX 13 kit I suppose, but they’re certainly rare. Mind you, it does seem to show that Heller actually bothered.
I can’t answer the question if the DCA hull is dimensionally correct
but it is definitely different compared to the hull of the gun tank.
The DCA hull is longer, higher and has a flat roof.
Having had a more in-depth study at the instructions I think I’ll have to concede defeat! It’s probably all do-able for those who can scratch successfully - I can’t.
Oh well, it was a nice thought, albeit now, in passing.
Yup- even if he did ship across the ocean, in addition to the postage/shipping fee - I’d probably be hit with a fairly substantial customs bill as well.
There’ll be others I’m sure. it’s not like I’ve nothing else to build(!)
Thanks to a very enterprising and helpful Spanish vendor (and no small use of Google Translate) there should be, winging towards me, after the Easter Break - this:
The Heller tracks SUCK big time.
Do yourself a favour and get some other tracks (Takom indy-link is one option).
Indy-link may not be to everyones liking but in this case they are easier to work with
than the tracks in the kit. The suspension is also somewhat fragile so the stresses
from the “rubber bands” can break things whereas the indy links can help keep
the road wheels straight.
so have no fears about using them - fun-sucking process though it will be.
I did look at the Takom sets but there’s not much to purchase when fixing together and installing them on a kit’s suspension would be quite difficult, or at least for me. That said, other modellers seem to have no problems so it’s clearly me, or a lack of technique - or both!
I would never ever attempt to drape a whole track length on the model before the
solvent has evaporated and the styrene is hard again.
That is asking for trouble.
For the AMX-13 I would make a lower run, starting at 3 teeth onto the sprocket and ending at halfway around the idler. Similar for the top run which should not be sagging like an 80 year old
reminiscing about his youthful days:
