Hi there!

I am building a T-55AD in the colours of the Soviet/Russian Naval Infantry. If you don't know, what a T-55AD is, don't worry - this is a very rare breed of the large T-55 family. The AD was the world first mass produced frontline tank with an active potection system against ATGMS and RPGs, the "Drozd-1" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drozd The System was introduced in 1981 and worked as advertised. Why on the old T-55 tanks of the Naval Infantry? Because the soviet landing ships could not accomodate the same number of T-72s as of T-55s. So the T-55s were fitted with an active protection system to enhance the level of protection and to keep the tanks in service.

If you search Armorama you will find some topics and one or two other builds of a T-55AD. I am going with the Miniarm resin conversion set (a self-explaining choice - there is no second one) and Takoms T-55AM kit.



Nowadays there are 3 reasonable T-55 kits availabel: Tamiya, Takom and Miniart. Tamiya is easy to build, simplified here and there - and only correct for a small batch of T-55s. For some reason Tamiya had choosen a Polish (or was it Czech?) made T-55, that differs in some areas a lot from soviet made T-55s. But it is a nice kit and easy build. Miniart is on the way to portray any subvariant of the T-54/55 family ever made elsewhere the correct way. But to meet a lot of variants they broke down the kit into a lot of bits and pieces. Parts count of a Miniart T-55 is around 870+ parts. Without interior. If you choose a variant with full interior your parts count is at 1050+. Lot of modelling fun, indeed. Takoms kit is inbetween. Buildable as Tamiyas kit, but with PE and special parts like Miniart. Some details are a bit simplified, but evén the plumbing of the fender fuel cells is there. Good instructions too. This was the first reason for my choice of the base kit. Second reason: It has the rubber side skirts and the thermal cover of the gun right in the box. And last but not least - Miniarms set was made for Takoms kit.

Enough talked - lets cut some styrene

Regards
- dutik

Start cutting.
Dan

I did



Side-by-side view of the 3 major players: Tamiya-Miniart-Takom

Tamiya is becoming a T-55M2005. Miniart is a Somalian T-54AM (multicolor camo planned). And to the right Takoms T-55AD with some of the Miniarm resin parts.

BTW, about the other T-55 kits on the market:
Trumpeter - don't walk - run away!
Skif - well, the lower hull is fine. Turret and wheels not so much. But the wheels will become handy for the M2005.
Heller - oldie, former goldie. The turret is too shallow and details are not up to modern standards. But it was for many years the only game in town.

More to come
- dutik

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the T-55AD. I have this conversion in the stash and want to get around to building it some day.

Are you planning on doing a build article on the T-55M2005?

I'm gonna grab some munchies and make myself comfortable while I follow this build

Why not? But one build after another.

About the AD:

Takoms instructions are clear. Just follow the steps. Don't forget to drill every hole as required for the detail parts. Fit is good. The PE is easy to use: not too hard or too soft, and there are small grooves along the fenders for the placement of the fender supports. Faced only two problems so far: The frontlight guard war warped. No chance to glue the cage halves straight together. I've ordered a 3D printed part made by FC model trend ("T54A, T55 and T62 front lights") that looks really nice. It is just one part with the protective wires and reflectors printed in place. Amazing! The other area is around the small tank on top of the exhaust (it is an oil tank). It does not fit between the OEM boxes on top of the left fender. You have to glue both boxes a bit more apart than given by the locating pins. This ist easy for the slim box below the turret (this is the box for the barrel cleaning tool, iirc). But there is not enough space to move the rear box more aft (there is the IR projector stored inside, iirc). I shaved off the reinforment ribs of the box that are in contact with the rear fender brace. Just the ribs that are hidden by the fender brace, not the whole set. It worked. Keep this in mind when building the left fender. I've also managed to glue one fuel line the wrong direction (the instructions are a bit confusing here), so I had to replace it with some copper wire.



Well, the Takom kit and instructions are fine. Miniarms conversion set has a number of problems. Casting is top notch, but parts fit and instructions leave a lot to be desired. More on this later.

Regards
- dutik