Hey Barry, welcome aboard and thanks for posting now that the nice people on the thread have approved your entry!

Looking at the build it's obvious you've still got some way to go so thats great; certainly justifies you joining in.

Nice work so far, a very clean build to date!

James

Thank you for the kind words, it's my first real build in 18 years and it's been a loooong time in the making, I bought the kit when it was released, opened the box and hacked a couple parts off the sprue then it sat.
I got back at it about 4-5 years ago, glued up the road wheels and painted them then it sat and now it's getting finished, hell or high water.

Last night's progress, it's starting to look like a tank!

thanks Mike i wish i could dich work but i'm a nurse and i work in a ER!!!! so I wount gett back to it untill monday. your T-55 is outstanding love it can you post some pic of the tank that you are using as a reference thanks
dave

Dave the build is looking great dude

Barry you sure did mix something up, there is plenty of build left there yet

Mike that is a good idea from Dave. Is it possible to show us some reference pics
It is a shame we don't see more of your work, as this is looking great




Paul

Hi Barry,

Welcome on board...glad to have another 55 build in the group!!

Dave yes with work like your's model's rightfully come second for sure!!

Paul thank you very much for your praise, I will try to live up to it!!

Ok a couple of reference picks

Firstly the rear end, as you can see still bits to add to match up

Side View...I am hoping I can pull of the varied colour's of sanding / rusty, I also believe that the drive sprocket is a faded green...would love to hear other veiw's on that point??

Now a front on view


Cheers Mike

Hey Mike,

Never seen the photo of the rear before, nice.

Yeah the sprocket looks darker, I'd go for green, good to mix up the colours a bit, and adds to the 'beg, borrow or steal' ethos of these types of tank.

Should be a real fun one to paint.

Cheers,

James

Hi James,

Yeah I really like that end shot myself!!

Thanks for the input about the drive sprockt, I agree the green would add a slight change, not sure if the exposed mantlet would / should be green as well, as from the front shot looks like it maybe sand as well??

I think it should hopefully go ok...

Cheers Mike

Hi Mike,

Well I'd say that these guys gave it a coat of sand after adding the applique, so the mantlet underneath the sand cover may well be sand colour, however, my take would be to leave the mantlet green for a bit of colour contrast to add to the 'artistic' side of the build.

Your call though...

Cheers,

James

Mike great pics thanks i found these yesterday what great luck http://www.star-decals.net/star35985.html

should have them in 2 weeks
dave

Mike I would go for a very faded green on the sprocket and maybe russian green on the visible parts of the mantlet.
Are you going to reproduce the sight cover to the left of the main gun?
I have never seen that before, at least not the vehicles in Duxford, Munster,Overloon or Bovington.

Dave thanks for the link Star Decals, looks like they have some interesting line ups there


Well here's my update, I base coated with Humbrol 66 olive drab, then came Model Master 2138 Israeli Sand grey, The white stripe on the barrel is Humbrol 34:










More tomorrow.





Paul

Hi Guys

Mike: Cool pictures and a unique version of the T-55 and I look forward to see more.

Paul: Very nice work and good to see some paint on the beast.

Update from my side and my Enigma.









have fun out there
Ole

Hi Paul,

Looking way sooo cool my friend, all the different bits will certainly make her pop for sure!! Yeah I will do the sight cover, I have it in an update set.

Hi Ole,

Love how your Arabic Beauty is shaping up!!! It is causing me to make puppy dog eyes at the couple in my statsh lol

Can't wait to see more!!

Cheers Mike

Here you can see how smug Driver Bill is that his T-55 almost looks like a tank.



I love out of the box Tamiya, I feel so productive and yet it's just the most basic of modelling.

Here's a glamour shot for a night cap

Ole and Mike: thanks you two. All I can say is that this
is where I have to be very careful. It's this stage where I usually screw the job up .
Ole your Enigma looks fantastic, I think this is going to be my choice for the "Desertised Campaign" someone is starting in April

Barry : driver Bill sure has settled in there , and the build looks good . What did you use to clean the tank with? Whatever you have done the surface looks like it will accept paint without a primer

Todays update, I have added some lightened Israeli sand grey
for a little fading. And painted the mud flaps with a homemade
mix for Anthracite:






more tomorrow hopefully.






Paul

Hello Paul,

I washed the kit down with dish soap and water, then a quick scrub with Polly S plastic prep (the pink stuff). Then I blasted it with Tamiya dark green from a spray can for under coat. I think that's what I did at any rate, it was done on my last round of building several years ago when most of the parts were on the sprue.
Funny how methods change, I remember that seemed to be the most preferred method among online builders and now no one seems to go near paint until the kit is nearly done.

Some really nice working going on here. Paul, Ole nice seeing some painting beginning, looks great. I have some serious catching up to do.

Well here are some shot of the fuel drum and smoke pot assembly on the rear hull. I still need to make the bottom supports for the pots and decide how I want the suspension to sit.




Egyptian version


Syrian version

Hey Cam, I've sent you a pm. Check your inbox.

Nice progress guys!

Here's my update... seems there is some hope for this turd after all





Cheers
Lawrence

A question to all the T-55/62 fans. I just got SKP's T-62 lenses and taillights set in the mail and they provide green and red lenses for the convoy/position marking lights. All the pic's that I have seen seem to show white lenses. Has anyone got ideas as to which is right?

Cam, newer production models of the T-55/62 use red lense on the rear tail lights and green on the front lights. But the most common are clear and white for NVG's. Here's an example

Here's a new production T-55 using the white NVG lights. It's going to be up to you on whether or not to use the colored lights.



And by new I mean those that have been produced 2005 and later from what I can gather from the net.

Some great progress on display here guys, good to see people getting to the painting stages, nice work!

I'm also at this stage of the build:





More info HERE!

Cheers,

James

Christopher, thanks for the prompt reply. I'm building a Syrian T62 1972 from the Golan Heights so will go with the white/clear combo and save the coloured ones for another project.

Well this thread is fantastic and I have learnt a lot about the T55 and the follow on versions and also am really enjoying some great workmanship.

I have a Tamiya Enigma in the stash and this weekend I felt compelled to join in.

It will be mainly OOB with Fruils and an Aber barrel. I want to push my painting skills so will focus on experimenting with new techniques rather than over-detailing. Hope to get it done in time!

Nice choice for proving your date Noel!
(Watching the 6 nations live is one of the biggest things I miss now I live in Australia)

Good to see you join in, the Enigma is a popular subject (not as popular as the T-62 mind you!) so keen to see how you progress.

James