Well, this is my latest project that I’m jumping into with both feet. As part of a T-54/T-55 family Group Build, I am building Tamiya’s T-55A.
This will be a mostly OOB build. But I am going to backdate the kit a little to make an early T-55 as seen here during Operation Danube, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” in August 1968. (yes I know these are T-54s, but for color reference, these photos are outstanding)
Stay tuned…
So far progress is pretty rapid and simple. Typical Tamiya ease of assembly, with just clean up of mold seam lines and sprue attachment points…
Oh yes, I will be replacing the kit tracks as I usually have bad luck with the Tamiya gluable single piece tracks in the past.
Yeah, those are nice color ref pictures. I’ll be hangin around this thread, if you don’t mind.
Please do!
Very cool. I’ll be watching. I have that kit with plans on making an Ethiopian version during the Ethiopian Eritrean war. I look forward to learning some tips! [:)]
Griffin, that is one reason we chose the T-54/T-55 family for our chapter GB. There were so many built and they have served in so many locations, for so many years, that the possibilities to build something different are vast.
Aside from back dating mine to an earlier version, and replacing the kit tracks, the only add on I currently plan on is adding the plumbing for the external fuel tanks.
Yes so many options to chose from. Are you going to do the A model with the anti radiation stuff or the standard version? I don’t know which one they used in the quelling of that uprising. What AM tracks are you going to use?
All the photos that I can find of T-55s there are early model- flat loaders hatch, no AA MG, no anti radiation shielding visible, snorkel stowed with the fuel drums and not on the turret. I have some Trumpeter tracks that I will use. They won’t fit my Trumpeter T-54s without narrowing the sprocket. Go figure.
Hey Stik,
Very cool subject for your charter GB. I will be along for the entire ride sir.
Ok Hunter. I hope you like it.
Will be looking forwardto see what you do with this.
Looks great SP and you’re making great progress.
No love for the USSR or communism here but they built some badass looking tanks.
I have always liked the T-54 and T-55 line of tanks. I will follow this thread with great interest!
Bill Morrison
I’m getting an armor itch, Stik. I’m blaming you and Baer.
Still have an incomplete Tiger waiting for some love…
Stik,
I was looking over your kit photo and the photos you posted and noticed that the T 55 did not have a antiaircraft machine gun mounted near the port opening. Was this something the Soviets felt unnecessary?
Bish, from the photos of the real ones, you can see what I am aiming for. And just a nice simple city street base.
Gamera, no love for them here either. But just while working on the suspension and lower hull, I sure was thinking about the engineering of just that area on the real tank. Tamiya really did sweet work capturing the detail.
Bill, I’m with you on the T-54/55 family. It was a worthy successor to the T-34. I hope that you enjoy this build.
Mike, give yourself to the Dark Side… your Tiger is calling you…
Hunter, I don’t know what the exact reasoning was for the Soviets not to have the AA MG on the T-55 originally. Supposedly they thought it would be useless against jets of the era. But then NATO started deploying helicopter tank hunters in large numbers, and in the 70’s the T-55s and T-62s received the Dshk machine gun that they did not have originally have, but the older T-54s and T-10s had already.
Stik,
That makes sense. I dug into it a little more and could not fing a solid answer as to why the Soviets left it off for that time period. The Dshk displaced a 12.7 x 108mm round. Until the late 1950’s most AAMG’s displaced a round between 20mm to 150mm. The Dshk has had a long history of seeing action from 1938 to Iraq. It is widely used by many countries i.e, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Just curious if it was due to rushed production, economics or like you said just pointless for the time.
Hunter, when you think of the design period for the T-55 onto an “atomic battlefield” the lack of a AA MG for the TC makes sense. The tank hunting helicopter was a few years off, and tactical air support at that time was fast movers volley firing rockets in a few seconds… dedicated mobile AA platforms like the ZSU 57-2 would give cover to the lead elements. Even Western designs for the most part were in similar straights with most NATO MBTs that were not US designed having only a 7.62mm MG.
Today was just working on the indy track links. I am using this Trumpeter set
I take the links and build small batches
And then build up long sections from the sub assemblies
I have built up the bottom runs for both sides now
Stik,
Thank you for the information, it’s always nice to learn something new. Now…enjoy putting your tracks together one piece at a time LOL.
Looks like a neat set, they’re going to look cool on the tank.