WIP: AMX-30

I decided to do a side build while the T-34 was being prepped for detailing so I cracked open a Kitech motorized 1:48 AMX-30. 

The AMX-30B is a French Army main battle tank. The basic model is armed with a 105mm gun that is accurate out to 1925m while stationary, as it is not equipped with a stabilizer. It's secondary weapons consist of M693 Autocannon with 500 rounds, and an NF-1 MMG with 2000 rounds. The 105mm gun has 30 rounds and is capable of firing seven a minute.

The AMX-30B is a potent combination of firepower, and speed. AMX-30Bs acting as a mobile reserve while on the defensive really can make a difference, provided you're not throwing them into headlong charges at T-72s. The gun it's equipped with, the F1 105mm, is accurate for a low points cost making it quite useful defensively. One of its most distinctive features, its 20mm Autocannon, allows the AMX-30B to be more flexible by giving it significantly better range, some extra damage, and a decent ability to stun and demoralize enemies over the machine guns most tanks are equipped with. Its main disadvantages are its poor armor, (with mediocre at best frontal armor as well as minimal armor in all other areas) as well as the fact that it lacks a stabilizer. These make it poorly suited to receiving fire and maneuvering in the open. Info taken here

 I'll get straight to the point. And it is an ugly, ugly kit.

From the get-go, there was already something wrong with the mounting of the main gun mantlet to the turret, not to mention the squashed turret details and the squat, undersized commander's cupola.The turret had thick bustle racks which were difficult to place as well as being misproportioned as well.

The barrel looks nothing like the barrels I see on my reference pictures which is unfortunate since the AMX-30's claim to fame is that it was the first one to successfully use a smooth-bore gun rather than a rifled gun.

One of the unique features of the AMX-30 was the Obus à Charge Creuse de 105 mm Modèle F1 (Obus G) HEAT projectile and its main gun, the Modèle F1, a monoblock steel 105-millimeter (4.1 in) cannon. HEAT warheads suffer when spin stabilized, a product of rifled barrels, causing the French to develop the Obus G,[34] (Gresse). This projectile was composed of two major parts, including the outer shell and a suspended inner shell, divided by ball bearings. This allowed the projectile to be spin-stabilized, and therefore more accurate than a normal fin-stabilized HEAT-round, while the inner shell did not move, allowing the warhead to work at maximum efficiency. Info taken here

The hull suffered from a wrongly-shaped rear grill on the engine intake, poor details on the glacis including missing hatches and rudimentary lights. This kit is more of a toy than an accurate scale model. The box art fooled me a few decades ago and I picked up three of Kitech's sets, namely the AMX-30, an M60 Blazer and a Leopard 1.

This is one of the rare times that I had to rethink if building the kit was worth it. I'll probably tear it apart as soon as I gather up more research on the tank in attempt to correct some of the details. Offhand -- wrong proportions, bad engineering, simplistic parts, wrong undercarriage and number of wheels, wrong barrel, squashed turret, misproportioned cupola, misshapen wheels, thick and ugly bustle racks, cheap and brittle plastic -- I could go on and on about the flaws of the kit. 

But the strange thing is, I still had fun building it. I'm weird that way.

Basta, done na for the meantime with this tank. The sad thing is that I still have two more kits from the same maker. I picked them up more than a decade ago and didn't realize how toy-like their features are rather than accurate miniature models. 

Oh, well, I might as well build all three ( masokista ako) and add them to my tank collection. Preferably behind some other tanks. At the bottom most shelf. And way, way back.