good day guys!

im kinda planning to purchase one on the net.. the closest i could get is a box art.. i couldnt find anything bout it on the net. no kit reviews whatsoever.. is it an out of production kit? i was wondering if some guys who have built this kit or have experience building heller kits in general could give me a heads up on what to expect before i buy it.. how is the plastic quality? vinyl tracks or link ones? and lastly, does it have aftermarket PE parts like eduard and the like?

thanks in advance guys! as usual, any help would be greatly appreciated!

here's the box art of the kit im talking about.. just incase some guys here could recognize it thru the picture.. thanks again!

Dear Arkuo
I did build the AMX 30 Chassis Eduard PE exist for it and you should use it.
To me knowldege there is no AM tracks.
Concerning the AU F1 turret, i have no idea you can contact Olivier Carneau Bison 123 he is the expert on French vehicle.If you need pics reference you can contact Frenchy He will probably help you

Concerning the AM producer you should check Blast Model and Azimut Production
Cheers and Good Luck
Seb

thanks a lot seb! appreciate the help!

do you think they'd come with vinyl tracks with the kit?

Yeap
It is vinyl grey metal tracks
check Amx 30 AA

Olivier Carneau Website

You can PM Olivier for more info

Please give us some news on this build

Cheers
Seb

This kit shouldn't be hard to find, but it needs a lot of work to look good. The tracks are vinyl. There was a styrene link to link AMX-30 track set available in a very limited run from Gum Ka in Japan, but they were sold out almost instantly and never reissued for some reason. Vehicles serving in Kosovo use Diehl tracks similar to those used by the Italian Ariete (only available in vinyl in the Trumpeter kit).
Heller's kit was issued in 1976, and is very basic. APU on the glacis is missing, the deep wading panels on the glacis are molded in place and are in the wrong position for the howitzer version, anyway. The side doors for the sponson stowage boxes are also molded in place and look poor. The grills on the engine deck are hopelessly chunky. The Eduard photoetch set for the AMX-30 gun tank have some useful bits, particularly grills for the engine deck and the mesh for the mufflers. Later vehicles have a different, spiral pattern grill for the circular fan housing, whereas Eduard only offers the early transverse pattern (though this is largely hidden under the turret overhang). The turret has no interior and hatches are molded shut.

thanks for the info there gary!

since the topic has already been talked about, just a side question though, would the AUF1 be in the same era as the french leclerc 2 MBT?

It is still in service. For photos of it in operations, pick up a copy of "Rolling Steel," published by Concord (Great Models has it in stock). Almost the only reference available in English, other than the broad surveys of military vehicles that offer a single photo of each type.

You'll find some nice walkaround pics of this beast on Maquettegarden website :

155 AUF1 pics

According to chars-francais.net , the last upgraded AuF1s have been delivered in the beginning of 2007.
More info HERE (in French)

HTH
Frenchy

appreciate the help frenchy! thanks a lot!

frenchy, the site on the AUF1 walkarounds doesnt work.. is it still up or just my computer? thanks in advance!

Hi
The site is still up, and it has nothing to do with your computer but the link I've posted doesn't seem to work....
Here's a plan B :
Try this link :
http://maquettegarden.free.fr/Vehicules%20Modernes/155AUF1/index.xml
or this one if need be :
http://maquettegarden.free.fr/materielsmodernes.htm (and click on the 155 AuF1 thumbnail )

HTH
Frenchy

perfect!! splendid pics frenchy! thank you very much!

now i wish eduard's AMX 30 PE could help me build a nice heller kit.. so it would be at par with my tamiya leclerc...

not to mention i still need to think of an ingenious way to scratchbuild the auxiliary power unit that heller forgot to add..

thanks again for the help frenchy!

You're welcome ! If you need more reference pics you can download a 3.17 Mb photo file in ZIP format on Maquetland.com :
http://maquetland.com/v2/index.php?page=photos&c=char

Just click on "télécharger" below the AuF1 thumbnail...et voilà !

HTH

Frenchy

thanks again frenchy! boy, you sure do have tons of resources.. i helped myself to a couple of ZIP files.. some very useful pics in that website.. thanks again!

I bought it recently.

I can post pictures of the sprues if you want.

In short: Pro = Only plastic kit available, Con = Everything else

Hey Arkuo
I told you Frenchy is the Man of Big A for the pictures

@ Frenchy good vacations ?????

i will forever be grateful if you do.. please do post pics of the sprues if you have some time coz i havent placed my order for it on the net.. that will be just like a "first look" review by you..

thanks a lot in advance richard!

I will post them later today. My daughter have the camera and she won't be home before 17:00h.

Hey Seb you gonna make me blush ! I just have a good list of bookmarks, that's all ...
I'm still on holiday....until August 20
Frenchy

Here we go with a world premiere: Sprue shots of the Heller AMX-30 AuF1

The hull is straight from the Heller AMX-30 kit. That mean you'll have to make some modifications to bring it to AuF1 standard. Nothing really difficult with a good set of pictures.

Turret. Very basic and soft details. There's also a little something strange. On the first page of the instructtion sheet there's some pictures of the kit with the rear turret ammo doors opened and the .50 MG on the roof. Those are not in the kit.

Instruction sheet:

Hope this will help you

This is the only game in town so it's hard to see elsewhere. With a little work I'm pretty sure it can be made into a nice model. So far I've been able to grab the following SPG

Trumpeter Chinese Type83 SPG
Trumpeter British AS-90
Italeri M109A6 Paladin
Revell Panzerhaubitze 2000
Heller AMX-30 AuF1

This should make an impressive sight on the shelves

whoa! that's one neat review you made ther richard! i was expecting a first look type of review but seems like you covered everything but the kitchen sink.. appreciate the help richard!

and by the way, i have the same lineup of arty units as you.. we're basically building the same line... i just have them each paired up with their usual modern MBT's such as the M1A2, Chally 2, Leclerc 2, Leopard 2A6 and im even planning to convert the chinese type 98 to the most modern type 99 version..

thanks again richard! i appreciate all the help! hope it didnt cost you a lot of time..

cheers!