Here is my tamiya T-55 built mostly OOB. I replaced the barrel with one from RB model, and some copper wire replaced the piece of string in the kit for the tow cables.

this kit really falls together, the only fit problem i had was at the front of the hull where the upper and lower pieces meet. i had to fill a small gap with some stretched sprue. the RB barrel did need a bit of persuading to get into the mantlet.

the rear tow cable is left sticking out until the wooden log is attached later as it wraps around that.

let me know what you think

ok on to the paint
I gave the whole thing a base coat of tamiya flat black. then highlighted the centers of the panels with Tamiya buff lightened with white. the final coat is XF-51 Khaki drab lightened with the leftover buff mix.
I had every intention of taking photos of all that but i was really keen to see how it looked.

I am still trying to figure out how to get the subjects my photos to look as good as they do in person.
i think it turned out alright

and now on to the gloss coat. I prefer to use future.
and of course it has made the whole thing much darker but seems to have brought out the preshading a bit better.

Very god so far Dylan

Which version are you going to reproduce?

I like a lot this subject and this kit . I have two of them in my stash.
One is at 70% finished. It's been lying on my workbench for a mounth now but hope to complete it soon.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks Mauro, I am going to do the Czech army version. I am assuming that the Czech's would have maintained thier vehicles to a fairly high standard. so i can keep the paint chipping and rusty bits to a minimum. I havent really figured out how to do that stuff yet
D

Yes, you're rght. Czeck T-55s in general don't look too worn

http://www.brdm2.estranky.cz/fotoalbum/tanky/stredni-tank-t-55a/04.-t-55a.html

The only problem with Czech t-55 is that the engine deck is quite different from the Tamiya kit (which depicts a russian T-55)

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/167910&page=1

But anyway I think that you've already know it and you' ve decided to do your model straight from the box

And as I told you is very good indeed

cheers

I always find out about that kind of thing way too late.
oh well 99% of the people who see it will not know. ( except for on Armorama of course).

I have been playing with the lighting for my camera, because the last pics were really dark. so here are a few more that i shot with different lighting.










I think they look a bit more how it is in real life

looks good to me. I use MM Russian Armor Green, but it seems little bit blue for anything pre-70. Think I'll be using your paint mix on a future build.

That's it. But it doesn't a matter

According to the pics the olive drab shade of your tank is very close to Czeck t-55s color so let's go ahed

Excellent stuff Dylan. I think in the last couple of pictures you got the lighting just right. The paintwork is very nice- the photo shot from above shows the highlights and shadows off very nicely.

-Karl187-

Dylan,

I really like your T-55 and your color matches the czech one very well! Keep it going,

Andreas

Dylan, looking good. This is my second favorite tank ever (second to the T-62 but just by a hair) and you are doing a pretty good job at it. Besides what Mauro pointed out about the engine deck (for a Czech tank), the only glaring problem with the Tamiya kit is the turret. The bottom edge of the turret should be bevelled which is easy to do and the turret ventilator port is missing. It should be on the front lower edge of the turret, about the 1:30 o'clock position, again easy to add your yourself. If you go to this link and scroll down to the second pic, you will see clearly both items I have described.

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/t55mt_1.htm

Again great job and can't wait to see this finished. By the way I have 1 completed Tamiya T-55 kit but have 5 unstarted Tamiya T-55 kits and need two more to for the projects I have in mind. I also have a Trumpeter and an ESCI kit that I am messing with but they really don't measure up. Just practice.

Roy

Few closer pics:

Lookin' good Dylan, I still need to get one of these kits on the workbench someday, hopefully soon

thanks for the input guys. unfortunately it's too late to fix any of the misatkes. I am most certainly going to be making another one in the future though.

I actually saw one of those sudanese t-55's in 2007 while working for the U.N. but i have never seen any pictures of one up close. I tried to get a few shots myelf, but i found out pretty quickly that in that part of the world when you point a camera at someone they usually point an AK47 back at you.

back to the build

now with 100% more decals

Don't worry Dylan

Maybe we was wrong to tell you the few flaws of your model. It seems that is not good enough this way.
On the contrary is very good indeed. Furthermore Tamiya T-55 is stunning also out of the box

I like a lot hoe you're rendering the Czech painting scheme

Are you going to insert your tank in a diorama?

Cheers

well i HAD a bunch of in progress pics but my sd card got corrupted somehow.
so here is the finished product.
I had a lot of fun building this kit, which is the whole point imo.














I really like how the tracks turned out

its been pointed out that the tracks might be sitting a little high so i moved em down a bit.




the tracks should only touch the middle three roadwheels but yeah they were a little floaty

You really nailed this! A perfect finish on the tank itself and the tracks. Some great work.

Nice. nothing like a good looking T-55 (except a good looking T-62).

Roy

Dylan,

very nice job on this one! Thanks for reminding me that modelling should be fun and not work

Best regards,
Andreas

thanks for the comments everyone. I had a lot of fun with this one and i am really pleased with how it turned out. I took a few more shots of it after i fixed the track and with better lighting.
can you tell I'm proud of this one lol

Really well done Dylan!

I hope I'll be able to do a similar paint job on mine JNA t-55

cheers

Tracks look way better now. Congrats for this nice, clean build and paint job.