hi all,Im itching to build a T55 but being unemployed i have to watch the pennies so the lovely Tamyia one is out of my budget so ive been looking at Skiff and Trumpeter,could anyone tell me which is the better kit i see Trumpeter have two offerings.much appreciate any help.

the skif kit is pretty horrid, but the Trumpeter T55s are some of their early efforts. Some of the very earliest were not styrene, but some kind of ABS plastic requiring a different solvent.

You're not paying Tamiya dollars, but you're not getting tamiya quality either.
Sorry

I haven't built either of the two yet, but I did built two of the ESCI T-55's. The ESCI can be had dirt cheap on ebay or even at a local model show. I am working on the new Tamiya kit at the moment, and it is an awesome kit, but pricey.
Hope this helps.

Cheers
Rob

www.scratchmod.com

Well personally id keep your eyes on ebay for the Tamiya one at a bargain price or the buy and sell forum (they can be had cheap enough)

But if you must go for a cheaper option is say forget about those to and get the Esci/Italeri T-55. The Trumpeter and skif kits are pretty crap, and while the Italeri kit is far from accurate, I remember it going together a lot better and having nicer details!

Here you can find a review of Trmpeter, Esci (or Lee) and Skif kits

http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~TANK-GUY/KIT-REVIEW06.html

Cheers

...and good luck... unfortunatly they are junk kits...

HERE

A tutorial to improve the italeri(Esci) kit

Hi John,
You probably want to avoid the Trumpeter kits.
They were designed to be motorized. The examples I have experienced ( before the Tamiya release ) come with the motor brackets mounted in the lower hull, the sprockets are pushed onto the metal shafts from the gear drive. The net result is the hull is significantly too deep and too long behind the rearmost road wheels. Interestingly, if you build the front left storage box as-is, the turret is fouled and can't be rotated to install or remove it.
All in all, not very well proportioned.
I agree with all of the above commentators, if you absolutely can't get the Tamiya kit, the Esci/Italeri is the least worse alternate.

Many thanks guys glad I asked first and didnt waste my money,going to see if i can track down the italieri/esci version.

John, if you can resist scratching your itch until you've saved up a few extra pennies, I'd hang on and get the Tamiya kit if I were you. You won't regret it. The others are false economy really.

- Steve

Tamiya T-55 prices have dropped about 50% since they reissued it... it can be had for $20-25. It's worth spending a little more... I'd recommend the Esci kit if you don't want to go this route.