I have a Skif T55 with lousy roadwheels and fuel cells. I can buy a el cheapo Tamiya T62 and was wondering if those bits would be suitable for the Skif kit.
Just priced out some miniart T55 roadwheels and some resin fuel cells and that combo ain't cheap.
Any ideas?

The Tamiya T55 roadwheels are better than Tamiya's T62s. In fact, I used many of the Tamiya's t55 parts on the T62.

Very true. Unfortunately here the T62 I was thinking of getting is 1/3rd the price of the T55.

I'd go for it Rod. You will probably need to do some work on the axle arms to get a decent fit, but that should be fairly straightforward to do.

Sounds good Paul, Out with the hand drill n bit then. LOL.

Be forewarned that the Skif T-55 also has some underscale parts so the wheels may not be a drop fit there too. One of those old cheapo Trumpeter T-54/55 kits would also be a good alternative for parts and would also provide some missing turret bits.

Here's another option:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/miniart-37058-t-55-t-55a-wheels-set--1120165

EDIT: Sorry - realised after I posted you want the fuel cells as well.

Do be aware that Tamiya's old T-55 and T-62/62A kits seem to, FAIK, all share a common fault with their road wheels...

On the real things, the rubber tires have small-but-visible-and-distinct raised radial ribs on the side-walls, and on new rubber tires before wear... ribs across the tire track-contact surface. These ribs "stand proud" of those main tire surfaces.

More-modern T-55 / 62 kits, as from Trumpeter, Takom, etc., all capture this feature (sometimes to exaggerated degree, requiring some sanding to reduce the rib size... ) with proud ribbing. Likewise, all, FAIK, AM wheel kits capture this feature.

Those old Tamiya kits all have "inverted" wheels, with those supposed ribs being produced as grooves in the tires... So, NO ribs, but instead radial grooves on tire side-walls. There is no practical way to get those Tamiya wheels to look correct - you would need to fill all the grooves and add on ribs.

So... IF you wish to replace SKIF's poor-looking wheels... AND you want the rib feature to be available for any tweaking, reduction, etc., you don't want to use Tamiya wheels. AM wheels, wheels from Trumpeter kits, etc., but not Tamiya wheels.

It's one of the few real disappointments I've found with Tamiya kits!

Cheers! Bob

Hi,
the T-55 of Skif is full of defects, there is no reason to spend so much money only to replace the road wheels and the fuel cells. The upper shape of the turret is too triangular too.
Besides the wheels of the T-62 of Tamiya are oversized and badly detailed, it is debatable if they are better of the ones of the Skif.
In my opinion, it is better if you build the kit as it is, without spending further money on it if your aim is to have fun, or that you buy a new and better kit if you want a quality model.

Thanks people. Loads of great advise which I really appreciate.
Just looking at the various sites on the www there are some amazing Tamiya T62 builds all faults withstanding. Funny old hobby.
Think I will sourse out some Trumpeter kits or the like. Or just make the Skif kit as it is. Warts and all.
Once again thanks to all

The fact that a kit has "issues" regarding accuracy doesn't in any way prevent a modeller from doing a great job with it.
You can still "go to town" with painting and weathering.
Maybe try your hand at some scratch building
to fix those fuel cells.
The cost of failure, on the other hand, is small since it isn't an expensive kit to begin with. You can't lose really
/ Robin

Thanks Robin. Very wise words. Truth is I build for myself and may put some on display in the local branch of IPMS from time to time. Over the years I have built Esci, Lee, Trumpeter, Lindberg versions of the T55 and had lots of fun. Those items are no longer in my collection. I am rather sorry that I sold them off now. Wisdom after the fact.

Guess that is what modelling is about. As you say, scratch-building, conversion etc.
Mind you I have to build Takom, Tamiya versions. Who knows, I might mix and match. Just had another look at the Skif kit. Personally I think it is doable. Might not be perfect but a reasonable paint job, all loaded up and crewed, in a diorama, may look the part.

As they say, beauty (in this case perfection) is in the eye of the beholder.
Example. Received this Roden item poorly made, missing parts so I reworked it and it turned out okay.

I think that I remember that some of the new T-55 kits (Takom or Miniart) comes with two variants of the fuel cells.
Could be worth checking ....
/ Robin

Thanks Robin. Will do

Links to Miniart product pages where instructions can be downloaded:
https://miniart-models.com/products/37057-t-55a-early-mod-1965/
early and late fuel cells, one set of road wheels

https://miniart-models.com/products/37060-t-62-wheels-set/
If you decide to spend extra cash on this T-62

https://miniart-models.com/products/37041-tiran-4-late-type/
Two sets of roadwheels, different types, only one set of fuel cells

https://miniart-models.com/products/37027-t-55-soviet-medium-tank/
early and late fuel cells, one set of road wheels

https://miniart-models.com/products/37019-t-54b-early-production/
Two sets of road wheels, no extra fuel cells.

The links above are just a few examples. The contents of the individual kits varies so you would need to download the instructions (pdf-files) and check the sprues.
Fuel cells are on sprues T and We respectively, one is the early type and one is the late.
The wheels are the "usual" type and the earlier spiderweb type.
Like these:


How about this: Use the spider web wheels for the T-62 and paint them with Alclad chrome

/ Robin

Robin:

Perhaps you are young and feel immortal and "have all the time in the world"?

Me? I don't myself want to spend all sorts of additional time trying to make a sow's ear into some simulacrum of silkiness. I'm an official "senior citizen" now, and actually value my TIME much more than the really rather modest additional money maybe needed to get a better kit to start with. It takes me a LOT of time to do a model anyways, even when the kit is pretty good in all the important aspects - so, as I see it, I hope to find a good starting-point for my efforts, so that I'll maybe arrive at my desired end-point sooner!

I'm sure that some like the added challenge of wrestling with a poor kit to make something substantially pleasing out of it - probably one of the core tenets and trends in our hobby - And when younger, my occasional bent and choice, too - and I am simply wowed and impressed by these folks! But I'm older now and much more interested in getting the good outcome then in fighting prolonged, costly uphill battles with poor stuff to get there!

Hence my heart-felt final suggestion to all, like the OP, who raise questions about how to address their cheaply-bought "sow's ear" kits: IF you value your modeling time AND your modeling money and want to get to a pretty nice end, just skip the stuff which simply imposes more cost in time and money (and still will be off in some important aspects) and find the better kit to start with!

Cheers! Bob

For the OP looking to build a nice T-55... I strongly encourage you to go get one of the later Takom or Miniart T-55 kits - they are really nice, mostly pretty accurate, well-detailed and well-molded, and mostly go together very nicely. Just MHO, of course!

Hi Bob
I am 55 and change, and I don't have all the time in the world, especially considering my stash
I do however take a few minutes to do something else when I am bored with what I should be doing (cleaning, doing th dishes, writing up meeting minutes).

The OP seems to want to try his hand at fixing the Skif T-55.
I would have built it "as is", done my best but nothing more (the Skif, Miniart, Takom and Tamiya ones are also in the stash ...).
I have one of the Miniart ones with roadwheels to spare so I might decide to toss the Skif wheels and use the redundant Miniart wheels, one with spare fuel cells is also in the stash but the fuel cell are probably headed for a Tamiya kit and those might go to the Skif kit.
I also have a few Tamiya T-55's to be used with conversion sets which provide resin wheels so those are another source of redundant wheels (toss the bad ones or the slightly better ones, hmmmm.. tough one ...)

I also had a few minutes to spare, was bored with the task I should really be doing so I did something more rewarding, and spent a few minutes checking the Miniart instructions to refresh my memory about the contents of those Miniart kits.

The OP now has the choice of
a) spending minimum time on the Skif kit
b) getting one of the better Miniart kits (maybe one that yields useful spare parts)
c) getting the old Tamiya T-62 and raid it for the wheels
d) building something completely different.

I do not make choices for others, I simply draw the maps and describe the options, then the traveller has to choose his own path Who knows where it might lead

One thing I am very certain about is where all the rubber and/or DS-tracks are headed
/ Robin

Thoughts etc. I too am a senior citizen. I have Takom and Tamiya T55 family.I also have Miniart kits. When compared to the poor old Skif excuse there is no comparison.
However in saying that Takom and Miniart, to me have loads of parts. I am not a rivet counter. Never have been. Maybe I am a bit of a duck.

So cost, plus time on assembly etc are important to me. Plus my main thing is figures on or in vehicles.
Anyway people, each to their own.
And nevermind about bits of the pigs anatomy. At the end of the day a purse is a purse.

On a side note I have not had much joy with Miniart plastic. Maybe it is the green top Tamiya glue I am using.