I'm not an armor modeler, so please forgive me if this is a complete noob question. I want to do a Soviet T-54B from Operation Danube. This exact vehicle:



It is fitted with smoke canisters outboard of the fuel drums on both sides of the rear fenders. I am told variously that these are called MDK-5 or DBSh 5 smoke canisters.

The new Miniart T-54B appears to have them, but mounted differently. Tell me if this is what I'm seeing here (note the triangular handle on the end, which the fuel drum doesn't have):



Here are some other photos showing them fitted to the rear fenders:





My questions are:

1. Is this in fact what we're seeing on the new Miniart T-54 kit?

2. Has anyone ever made these available in the aftermarket?

3. If the answer to #2 is "yes" - what about the unique brackets to fit them to the rear fenders? I'm not a great scratch builder. They seem to be fairly common on T-54s and -55s, so it seems like with the zillion and six different resin and PE detail sets that exist, surely someone has done them?

I've had all kinds of half answers, but nothing firm. Does anyone know for sure how to go about accurately portraying them on a 1/35 model???

Thanks and Happy New Year!

J

Hi;

To your 1st question= "YES"
As to your 2nd question= "YES" there used to be A couple of AM sets that were available for the Smoke canisters, But; I have not seen them for quite some time. AEF, Verlinden, Chesapeake, are the ones I can remember. As to PE sets, I Don't know !! There is Not A lot of Info; on there use or the Mounting Bracket's themselves.

GOOD LUCK; MIKE.