Started building the new Tamiya 1/35th T-55A kit. Nice kit and it goes together very well. I replaced the kit barrel with the Finemolds one. Tracks (altough not present in these photos) will be Friulmodel. I may decide to add-in the Eduard PE Detail Set here and there. T-55 will be built as a Czech Republic vehicle. Markings will be a mix of Verlinden (Turret #'s)and Archer Dry Transfers (Czech National Insignias) and any other kit decals unique to the Czech version. Color scheme is TBD art this point, but the general idea wil include a 4-color camo pattern (Olive Green, Sand Yellow, Red Brown, Light Grey-Sand). So far, the building phase has been trouble free as far as ease of the build, and overall fit. One noticable flaw it the rear coooling fans, which are incorrect for a Czech T-55. The Edurad PE corrects this, and also provides the deep-water covers for the engine deck. I will be adding more pictures as time goes by. This is my first posting on Armorama.

Cheers !

Robert

WAMMO!!!

Looking good there!

Nice one Alpenflage. Looking forward to seeing it in camo and decals.
Welcome to the site as well. Hope you enjoy your visits here!

Plastic, Alpenflage, is the one who knows about the new Pz II Luchs kit.. maybe he'll elaborate!! :-)

Welcome and that is a good looking model.

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Great looking tank so far, good clean build as far as I can tell. That is just one mean looking vehicle. You mentioned that you might add P/E to it. I am curious as to why you didn't do that as you built it.

Robert

So far it looks really good. I am hoping to build on of these in an enigma configuration soon.

Nice clean build. Should paint up beautifully.

I was planning on building this kit as much OOB as possible. The Finemolds barrel was just a simple replacement. The kit tracks, went to a buddy who needed a better set for his Trumpeter T-55 kit, so I went for the Friulmodel tracks. While doing some photo-research, I discovered that the rear cooling fan area, and intake manifolds (vents) were incorrect for the Czech T-55. The Eduard PE set does correct this. I disovered this error after I have already done the preliminary assembly. As you can see from the pic, the kit is still in-prog, and is at the point of introducing PE Engine Grills, and the correct vent arrangement. I'm well aware that the kit is missing the external fuel lines on the aux fuel cells on the fenders. I may attempt these with wire, but I'm not sure at this point.

I'm enjoying the build, and its been a while since I have completed a kit. Back on track now.
Thanks for your interest. Cheers !!!

Robert