So while on a two week trip, I decided to bring something to work on since it’s not really a pleasure trip and we won’t be site-seeing. The wife will be working as well, remotely. I decided on this kit from Takom.
This is kinda the reverse of the kit I built a few years ago of the Chaffee hull with the AMX-13 turret. Love these kinds of odd balls. My progress so far:
Some observations:
The sprue gates are kinda big but easy to cut off and sand smooth. The suspension parts all fit very good, the road wheel arms are a tight fit in their key holes so I hit a few with a file and no problems.
I’ll leave the wheels off til I get home and paint them separately from the hull which is my norm.
I have this excellent book as a reference. My only minor gripe is there are no line drawings but there are a couple of illustrations. Otherwise it’s excellent.
That’s a good book. I had it real close when I did this one last year, but I slept with Dr Rob’s book. IMG_4169 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I still have a Takom turret and some spare hull parts calling my name. I thought the Takom kit was really nice but I only used a few parts, basing my build on Tamiya’s kit and pulling a few IDF-specific parts from the Takom kit. I’m curious to see it with a Chaffee turret, the answer to a question nobody asked.
I remember your model Russel and it’s quite impressive. Excellent job.
I will be doing as many versions of this tank as I can in the future. Think I’m hooked on it, especially the later versions with those big a$$ guns.
I’m looking at a chart in this book and it lays out the various features for the different chassis styles. It mentions a shock absorber for the front and back wheels but I only see the ones for the front in the kit. Nothing in the directions.
Did your Tamiya kit have both front and back?
Also, which book is Dr. Rob’s?
Thanks for your reply Russel
Here’s the book: IMG_4786 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
It’s IDF-specific, just what I needed. I have no idea what’s in later volumes.
The Tamiya kit also has shocks on the first and last road wheel stations only. If I recall, that’s typical of the early ones, pre-rebuild.
I have to chuckle, thinking of this little bitty tank with a 105mm gun. It must have scooted back when it was fired.
That’s who I thought you were talking about., Looks like an excellent book. I remember when they came out with their book on the T-62 Can’t find it now!
A lot of them sold out and have not been reprinted. I was wanting to order a couple of the Centurion/Sho’t books and missed out. They occasionally pop up on eBay but they’re pricey.
I built this one a while back Richard. Not sure if accuracy is your thing, but the kit has a couple of issues.
One is the access ports on the side - they should be flush, not protruding:
Peter thank you so much for your reply and the pics. Your model looks excellent. Love the corrections and especially the finish!
Also, I’m not sure if I’ll replace the road wheels. I will try to scribe the panel lines though. As for the access hatches along the hull I’ll probably leave them as they are.
What color did you use? And is that a mortar mounted on the right side of the turret above the ammo boxes? Again, outstanding job !
Richard,
interesting choice of yours. This is the only AMX 13 kit by Takom I haven’t built so far.
Concerning your question, the early suspension (type 1 to 2C) had a second shock absorber internally fitted to the rearmost wheel arm. Here is a drawing from the technical manual where you can spot it.
Yes it was. During the war in Algeria the need for anti-infantry support raised but the the AMX 13 autoloader and the French HE round fuse weren’t good friends ! So extra Chaffee turrets were adapted to existing hulls. This experiment was short lived though probably because the weight was too heavy for the hull and suspension and the number of stored rounds not high enough.
Thank you Olivier.
If the second shock absorber is mounted internally, is any part of it seen out side the vehicle? I don’t think a second one is provided in the kit, I’ll have to check.
