hey all, I have the opportunity to buy a kit of what I consider to be the UGLIEST of all tanks.

The AMX-13/75

$25 USD. The old Heller kit. I know the kit is crap, but it would be an oddball... so there are two of them at this hobby shop, and I am torn! Do I plunge off the deep end and get it?

That thing is so ugly, how could you not buy it and have a ball building it. A bit of Heller driven scratch built details and it'd be a great addition.

I saw one of those in the flesh in Germany, being towed somewhere...it was at the Grafenwöhr gunnery range, and may have been a target once. Unfortunately it passed by to quickly for me to get a photo, but gawd, was it uuuuuggggly!

Saw the kit, and did what you're contemplating. Heller's kit is, unfortunately, the only game in town.

Go for it - I love putting stuff on the table that causes guys to look and say "What the hell IS that?"

I saw one at Graf,too.It was in a non firing range area,and I climbed in the turret. The elevating mech worked,and it was cool winding it up and down.

You actually TOUCHED it????? Ewwwww...

Oh, I don't know .....

They're no uglier than a Marder (I, II or III) and those seem to be very popular.

The Heller AMX-13 kit could be very presentable if only somebody would offer some aftermarket accessories. It desperately needs replacement tracks, but the only ones available are resin strip tracks from Accurate Armour, which I consider only a slight improvement. It also needs some etched brass for a lot of fine details like the headlight guards, which would be hideously fragile if they were scratchbuilt from styrene. Heller has sold thousands of these kits over the last 30 years, and a good number are sitting in closets because they would need too much work as is.

i think they are kinda cool, but i am always an oddball when it comes to aesthetics I guess.

If nothing else, you can plant the turret on a sherman chassis to represent the Egyptian hybrid. I've been meaning to do that for a while now (when my kit stash gets thinner - as if that is ever going to happen!)

They got one at one of the Barracks in Mannheim Germany. I got some pics of it before the security guards came and chased me off. "Don't take pics of the equipment" they told me, I pointed out that its got moss growing on it. Oh well at least they didn't have me delete the pic. And yeah its an ugly tank.

-Dan

Get it. Listen to your dark side, buy the ugly tank!

Steve, I exclude things (like the Marders) built while being shot at . The AMx was built in peacetime with no distractions.... no excuse for that!

I figure the AMX-13 to be the safest tank ever built- what self respecting armour piercing round would actually hit it?

I think I will get at least one of them, even though I swore off Heller kits since the AMX-30 (and a few automotive subjects) I bought a while back.

I have one of these beasties. It isn't a bad kit, but isn't a good kit either. It comes with some PE, and plastic, and metal missiles for the SS-11's. I would say get it. I liked building it, and it doesn't look too awful bad when built. Go for it!

i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/M4builder/smilies/worthless5af.gif

As others have suggested, it's not the greatest kit, but with a little TLC will turn out looking vaguely like what it is supposed to. Resin tracks are a must.

" If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest of freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council, nor your arms".

Samuel Adams

Buy it.

DONE! I bought it today at lunch (my route takes me right by the hobby shop that had it). One day I'll build it. What is odd is that the only decal options are an IDF and Swiss tank . Oh well Heller decals are awful anyway....

Agreed it's crap... So thankful our country swapped em for Leos...

Well as 18B pointed out this thread is useless without pics. I really did not want to expose young, children, the elderly, ot those with sensitive stomachs to exactly what the AMX-13 looks like. Austria has them.... in 3 tone NATO cammo..... these poor souls, who knows from what land they hail.

Buy it! Why not...there may be an upcoming campaign entitled "Ugly Babies"?

Huh. I must be weird then because I like them! Especially when you take the turret and place it on the Sherman hull. I have one in the stash to build too.