All the modelers who have built a Heller AMX30 or a conversion using this base faced the problem of the replacement of the vinyl tracks issued by Heller. Phebus Creations had in their range for a while a set of resin tracks of the early pattern which is out of production. Then the manufacturer shifted to the newer pattern fitted to the vehicles based on the AMX30 chassis currently in service with the French army. This is the reference reviewed here.

The set comes in lengths (4 long, 6 short), separate links, 20 snow grousers and 2 sprockets. An A4 instruction sheet shows how and in which order to assemble the parts.

The parts are molded in a yellow or grey resin. The level of detail is correct but Phebus have wrongly depicted the rubber pads shape. In fact, a rectangular notch is present near the central connector whereas the real pad doesn’t show any notch. On the contrary, the side connectors are well depicted with their extensions present.
On the outer face of the sprocket wheels, a series of bolt heads is missing although clearly noticeable.
The hollow guide teeth are pretty well represented.

The cast is more of a problem. In fact, most of the junctions to the sprues are ill placed and require a fair amount of preparation work particularly concerning the inner face of the connectors. Some parts have some resin flash to delete. Generally, there are very few air bubbles.

The assembly will require a thorough cleaning of the parts in particular to enable a perfect fit of the central connector in its location in the next link. One will have to add the 16 bolt heads to each sprocket and fix the shape of the rubber pads on the links which will remain visible.

As a conclusion, this set is necessary to those who want to build a current AMX30B2, AUF1 howitzer, EBG (armored engineers vehicle), AMX30D (ARV) and AMX Roland (air defense tank). However, due to the amount of work required to prepare the parts, it is recommended for rather advanced modelers.

Phebus Creations site
Price 25€