This was an old shelf queen that I barely started at least 10 years ago and then sidelined due to a screw up in early alignment on the build. At the end of July I pulled it back out, tore apart the error and got back to work on it. I finished it up a few hours ago.
This is the old Heller S35 kit originally released in 1977. I replaced the turret machine gun barrel with some Albion tubing, added cast armor texture with Mr Surfacer 1000, and a tow chain on the rear tow hook and shackles. Paints are Humbrol enamels.
Chad, Heller kits are not for beginners, nor “shake and bake”, by any stretch of the mind, but they can look good with some extra effort. This is only my second Heller 1/35 armor build completed out of three starts.
It looks good to me. You know those Heller kits were pretty decent with some patience. I didn’t start messing with their armor kits until I was stationed in Germany in the late 80s, the AMX-30 specifically. Over engineered, yes, but it was an enjoyable build. And I also did their Jeep copy.
Mike, the figures are more for scale and practice for painting than anything else, but based on some comments here and elsewhere, an idea is forming for a base.
Rob, you are quite right about patience a requirement on Heller kits. Focus is another… lol. I built their CCKW Deuce and a Half many years ago and that turned out nicely. Fiddly, but worth it. I started the AMX-30 years ago as well, but it has been severely damaged while sidelined. That is one that I’d like to add to my collection.
Thanks Capn. The French camo is enjoyable to do, even if a bit challenging. I think that, along with the designs of French armor does make it addicting.
Hey Stik, excellent work on this tank. The camo is outstanding as everyone else has commented. Question: Did you airbrush the enamel paint or hand brush. BTW the Mr. Surfacer really gave it a realistic rough metal finish and the figures look great.
PJ, ‘77 was indeed awhile ago. But not exactly the dark ages for armor modeling with kits of that era.
Tiger, the enamel paints were airbrushed on using Silly Putty as a mask for the color demarcations. I then used a Sharpie enamel ultra fine tip paint marker for the black borders to get a fairly constant width line.
Thank you Grey. It’s funny how much you read of these Heller kits being “dogs”, yet the few that I’ve built so far are not bad at all. They may not be super detailed like Dragon or AFV Club, or shake & bake like Tamiya, but they are worth a go. Especially if you want the French subjects that no one else makes.
I built the R35 by Heller a number of years ago and remember it fondly. This was around 2003 or so and I was just happy to have a French tank. On online forums back then the biggest criticism against a lot of the Heller armor kits were the dimensions were off on a lot of kits.
