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Atelier de Construction d'lssy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) began developing the AMX-10P in 1965 to meet a French Army requirement for a tracked amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. Prototypes were completed in 1968 and the French Army placed an order to in 1972 to begin production.
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The AMX-10VOA variant is specialized for forward artillery observers who locate and direct fire to enemy targets within reach of their attached armored unit. |
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It's crew of 5 consists of an observer officer, a deputy non-commissioned officer, two radio operators, and a driver. The turret is fitted with a laser range-finder, optical sights, a thermal camera, and periscopes for observation. It is also fitted with a 7.62 mm machine gun and four smoke grenade dischargers for self defense. |
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The AMX-10VOA is fully amphibious, capable of swimming up to 7 km/h propelled by twin waterjets. A trim vane and bilge pumps must be configured before swimming. |
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About the kit: This kit is rare here in the U.S. and modern French subjects are also fairly rare in braille-scale so of course I'm completely interested in the kit, "vive la différence!"
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Kit details are pretty good overall, most parts are molded crisply. |
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| I'm still trying to perfect my splattered-mud effects. I'm getting closer but still not where I want to be. There's lots of room for improvement. |
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You can see here where my track links are missing some pieces. I repaired a few of the pieces but got lazy and let the others go hoping I might one day make a base for the kit and hide the tracks in some earth.
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All pioneer tools and are molded onto the hull but they are well done.
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| Although the French official use standard NATO colors, their green always appears to be more vivid than German or American vehicles. I attempted to brighten my green but didn't quite ge where I wanted to be for fear of overdoing it. |
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| I had a good time building this kit, no real problems or surprises. It will make a fine addition to my collection. |
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Kit: ADV Mini #72015 |
Scale: 1/72 |
Value:
I believe this kit is out of production. It is a rare find here in the states, I found this one on ebay for about $20.00(U.S), a very good value for this difficult-to-find kit. |
The Kit:
All resin kit with less than 30 parts, no decals, single page instruction sheet with no painting indications or text.
Parts are molded with good detail, my track links were damaged with a few bits missing. I did a sloppy job of repairing/replacing.
All hatches are molded shut. Turret, laser and machine gun can be positioned as desired before glueing.
I started with Tamiya Acrylic XF-67 NATO Green, XF-68 Nato Brown and XF-69 NATO as base colors, then I weathered with AK Interactive AK-076 Filter for NATO Tanks, AK-075 Enamel Wash for NATO camo vehicles, and AK-074 Rainmarks for NATO Tanks. |
Modifications:
I used small pieces of transparent sequins for periscopes and optics. Stretched sprue was used for radio antennae. |
Decals:
No decals were included in the kit. I borrowed the "Typhon" decal from a sheet meant for a WWII French vehicle, it's the correct seriff-stencil font commonly seen on modern French vehicles. |
Conclusion:
This is a good kit overall, my kit had some damage to the track links which isn't surprising since they are so thin. Some details are a bit soft compared to some other resin kits, but acceptable. I had fun building it and had no real problems or surprises building.
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