The AMX-30 was developed as France’s Main Battle Tank in the 1960s.

It is the contemporary of the United States M60 and Germany’s Leopard 1. Over 2000 were produced between 1966 and 1993.

Despite attempts in the 1950s to develop a joint main battle tank, the United States, Germany and France could not agree on what should be the most important features of a tank so, eventually, each country went its own way.

In France, planners believed that mobility was a tank’s most important feature, followed by firepower, so the AMX-30 was developed as a relatively light weight tank of only 36 tonnes but with the standard 105mm gun of the times.

Many critics believe that this decision made the AMX-30 a bad tank. Others disagree.

This model represents an AMX-30 of the 1st Escadron, 1st Pelaton, 4th Regiment de Cuirassiers, at Bitche in 1978.

Heller 1/72 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds .