I’m about to start work shortly on a small dio of an M1A2 coming across an Iraqi T-55 which is lying on the side of the road, having been knocked out in a previous engagement, most likely by an Armor Piercing Round.
My question is, I don’t know much about the T-55’s - their armor and so forth, and I was wondering how much damage would be visible on a T-55 after taking a hit from an Armor Piercing Round. I don’t want to go overboard with the weathering if not much would be visible from the outside - I don’t want to under do it either.
Any help would be much appreciated - any photos that anyone may have would be fantastic !
I saw some thing on the Discover or History channel awhile back specifically about the ground offensive in the first Gulf War. They showed ALOT of turrets not attached to thier hulls[:0][xx(] Some of the US soldiers they interviewed talked about “poping the turrets” [:D]
It all depends. Take a look at source pictures. I’ve seen some with not much visible damage, some with their turrets off, but not much else, and some with just nothing left of them. Basically, if an AP round pierced the hull and did it’s damage on the inside by hitting the ammo stores, the tank would more than likely lose it’s turrett.
You might want to try using the old Trumpeter Type 59 and Type 69 kits. Most of the T-55 varients that were used by Iraq were the Chinese variants of the old venerable Russian tank. Most of the differences are cosmetic, but the kits are cheap and pretty easy to find. Just look for the Hobbycrap… oops I mean Hobbycraft Iraqi Freedom stuff in Hobby Lobby or your LHS. They are easy to beat up because they are cheap.
Been there done that. Use the Tamiya T55 and modify as needed, you will be much happier. T55s behaived differently than T72s. There was less of a catastrophic explosion. They stayed intact better. The sabot went completely through the tank with no exceptions, you will need an entrance hole and an exit hole. There were no deflictions. I personslly saw an entrance hole that was a foot long and about 2 inches wide. The angle of impact was very shallow but there was no deflection. If you stood back you could seestraight through the intrance and exit holes. The impact was on the front turret roof and the exit was out the back of the turret between the TC and gunner about 6 inches below the turret roof.