This might be a date of manufacture thing, ie T-55's made after a certain date had this finish on the turret, or it could be related to location of manufacture, ie at which factory it was made, not sure, would love more info on this if anyone knows anything.

:)

Yep, I think your right Spider, I think it's linked to T-62 production, for a guess once they started producing T-62's they started using the same finishing process on T-55 turrets that they were using on the new T-62's.

The Polish and the Czech versions dont seem to show this wave grinding finish, so only the Russian T-55's, and probably only after T-62 production had started.

Stellar build!

I'm thinking the place of manufacture has a lot to do with it. These massive cast pieces are awfully rough sometimes, and require a lot of finish grinding. Not to mention the precise machining required in some areas.

I'd bet the different factories used different material for casting, hence differenr finishing techniques.

Just an opinion.

G

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Yep, I think your right Spider, I think it's linked to T-62 production, for a guess once they started producing T-62's they started using the same finishing process on T-55 turrets that they were using on the new T-62's.

The Polish and the Czech versions dont seem to show this wave grinding finish, so only the Russian T-55's, and probably only after T-62 production had started.

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It must be exactly so. Furthermore Polish and Czech had never had T-62 and T-55 versions were made under license in Poland and in Czechoslovakia (...and that's the reason why they were slightly different from Russian exemplars) . They weren't imported from Russia, so they couldn't have the Russian twchnological upgrades

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Stellar build!

I'm thinking the place of manufacture has a lot to do with it. These massive cast pieces are awfully rough sometimes, and require a lot of finish grinding. Not to mention the precise machining required in some areas.

I'd bet the different factories used different material for casting, hence differenr finishing techniques.

Just an opinion.

G

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Yes,in my opinion, that's it. Russian tanks have always been sturdy, effective and quite rough, for sure more rough than the eastern armours. They have become to be more refined sophisticated and standardized only in the eighties. Before that time exemplars differences depended on different factories where they were made

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One thing does still confuse me though,

Why did the Poles carry on building there engine decks with a rear opening air box hatch ?, which it could be argued is a T-54 feature, the Czech's adopted the Russian side opening hatch, so it just seems strange that the Poles continued with the T-54 engine deck.

And if you upgrade a T-54 to a T-55, the front plate would still have Zig Zag interlocking welding, so in effect they were building full blown T-55's with the old engine deck, seems strange

Yep, it's that T-54 to T-55 upgrade thing that is confusing me, if you took a T-54 and upgraded it to T-55, it would still have interlocking Zig Zag welds on the front plate for a guess, they wouldnt rip off the front plate just to upgrade to T-55, or would they ?

In terms of progress, I have gone backwards instead of forwards

So, why are they are calling it a Polish T-55LD

Poland

Polish-produced tanks often have different stowage arrangements. The arrangement includes a rectangular box mounted on the left side of the turret, a smaller square stowage box on the left side of the turret-rear, and a slightly different rear decking.
T-54AD - Polish T-54A command tank with additional radios and a radio range of 100 miles.
T-54AM - Polish and Czechoslovak production of the T-54B under license.
T-55U - Polish T-54 upgrade.
T-54 fitted with stand-off armour plates fitted to hull front and wire mesh screens around the turret to provide protection against ATGM.
T-55L - New-build polish versions of the T-55A.
T-55LD - Polish T-54 tanks rebuilt to T-55A standard. 200 T-54 tanks have been rebuilt in 1975....

Hope that helps a bit.

Well, I shall show you why I am getting fed up with all this T-55 nonsense -

It's my understanding that the T-54 Zig Zag interlocking weld feature was removed to simplify production (if anyone knows different, please speak up), therefore any T-54 that was upgraded to T-55 spec would retain this Zig Zag weld feature, because once it has been done, it's done, there would be no point going back and changing it.

So any T-54 to T-55 upgrade tanks, such as the T-55LD (according to Wiki) should have Zig Zag, but they dont.

What we need is a picture of a Polish T-54/55 with Zig Zag, but I cant find any

I apologize to the other forum's readers...actually this matter could be a little bit boring
cheers

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...Polish T-55 U....with zig zag weld





Preserved at Czynu Zbrojnego Museum, Lipce Reymontowskie, Lodz, Poland

Matter has been getting puzzling

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Fantastic pictures, at last we have a Polish tank with Zig Zag, so that gives us a starting point, we know that Wiki is right about the T-55U when it says - Polish T-54 Upgrade.

But Wiki also seems to be saying that the T-55LD was a T-54 upgrade, I am not convinced about that, I got a sneaky feeling the T-55LD was a new build hull and turret.