Howdy All,

Was just by my LHS yesterday and saw a 'new'(?) Italeri kit #6427, a T-55! I was unaware that this was coming out. Does anybody else have any input, or know anything about this kit??
I guess my question is, is this an old re-box or what?

The price was excellent too!

Tread.

I hear it is the Esci T-55 kit reissued.

Thx Rob....that would kinda make sense. I was a litttle surprised at the low price. But the old Esci was a decent 'base' kit, I think.
In a comparison between the older Trumpeter line (Ti-67 for example) of T-55's and the old Esci, which do you think is the better version?

And no, I'm not interested inputting any batteries in my Ti-67! :-)

Tread.

I've had the Esci T-55 and T-55(M) but not the Ti-67. I do not know how the IDF parts looked. If it was anything like Esci's IDF Blazer fittings, then I wouldn't think too highly of the Ti-67 parts. Overall, I was fairly pleased with the old Esci T-55 and T-55(M). Of course, I bought them at an Odd Lots closeout store for $4.99 and less in the late 90s. This might account for Italeri re-releasing them at bargin basement prices. They know that the modeling community will quickly be aware of the kit's lineage. Why pay big bucks when you can get an AMT/Ertl kit dirt cheap. They probably re-released the ex-Esci M60A1 at a high price because it still brought a good amount of money in on the secondary market.

This is ESCI’s T-55A(M) kit re-released! A very good review on the Italeri T-55 by Peter Brown is posted here:
http://pmms.webace.com.au/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it6427.htm

Reviews on Trumpeter’s T-55, also by Peter Brown, are posted here:
http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/modern/trumpt55.htm

I bought this kit mainly because it has link & length tracks and because it is cheap. Mine was cheaper than Trumpeter’s offerings!

The road wheels in this kit are truly just Awful! The detail is not close to Tamiya’s but seems better than the original ESCI’s, just as with the M60 kits.