Aloha everyone!!

I'm looking into placing a VAB alongside my Leopard 2A6 in a "joint exercise" diorama and was wondering if anyone knew what the quality of the Heller offering in 1/35th was like.

Thank you in Advance!!!!

Well Kurt
I dont your standard ?
But I didnot build it so fare I have seen the sprues. In order to have decent model you need to buy some AM parts like wheels and PE minimum. I did the Amx30 from heller and the Leclerc, you really need the PE in order to have a decent final model.

DO you want to model the interior as well ??
YOu may check BLast and Azimut website for the AM parts ??
AND you should wait for the answer from Bison 126 our french expert here on Big A.
If you need ref picture please ask Frenchy, He will be happy to help you and I will be really happy to follow the blog

Cheers
Seb

Ditto Seb ! I would be happy to help, but I'm not really into modern french AFVs...
Kurt : in the meantime, just check out Olivier's website for reference pics.
http://olivier.carneau.free.fr/
You'll find useful stuff there including building articles like this VAB-related one :
http://olivier.carneau.free.fr/kits/france/vabvalo/index_gb.htm
As Seb has said, Heller's kit will definitely benefit from the various AM sets that have been released mainly by Blast and Azimut. However that may be, it's the only game in town (in plastic at least)....

Frenchy

Hi all,
I'm really blushing
Thanks for the compliments, I only had the chance of having worked with the scale 1 model quite a long time.

Anyway, Heller did some good job concerning the general aspect and the dimensions BUT that's all, unfortunately. You'll need to add the AM parts Seb and Frenchy mentioned.
In my site, you'll have some articles about some VAB I built and some AM parts as well.
So it's up to you but keep in mind you won't have another VAB on the shelves pretty soon.

Mister T, can you read me ??? Your Leclerc does feel alone !

Olivier

Hi Kurt

Its not all that bad of a kit, It does need alot of cleaning up though and I wouldn't go near it without purchasing the Eduard PE internal & external kits first, you will need them! You may need to scratch build the odd part if your a fussy builder, some other parts can just be replaced like the .5 HMG (50cal).

I've tried attaching a photo but you can see the finished kit in my profile page thingy if its any use to you.

I built mine in a couple of weeks, I painted it in UN white livery to represent a French Foreign Leigon unit that seved in Bosnia after reading a book by Irishman Padraig O'keefe who served there in 1993, a few photo's were inclosed & i used them as a starting point.
The hard-liner modellers among us will find faults in the "rush job" i did.
Overall though i did enjoy building this kit and its a nice edition to my collection, I happen to love wheeled Armored Vehicles and I intend to build the 6X6 version in the near future, not in Morrocan colors though but in french.

I'd be very interested in seeing your diorama on completion,best of luck with it,please do post it!

:)

Nice build of yours even if it is a rush build

Concerning the 6x6 version, no French Army vehicle, maybe our Air Force got some but I'm not sure of which variant though.

Olivier

Thank you all for your input. And for you Roy, if thats a rush job, I got to start over from the beginning! Awesome job.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
Kurt

I was on the Belief that French Engineer units have them, no??





P.S thanks for kind words guys, Happy New Year to you all

Sorry I didn't notice your last post before.
It looks like the picture is one of an upgraded VAB but not of the French Army despite the camo pattern. Probably, it is a "display" vehicle for some Arms exhibition.

Happy new year !
Olivier

I stand corrected, thanks for clearing that up