Takom T-55 AMV

[Adam Durrant]

With the Sd.Kfz 222 build winding up I wanted a straight OOB build for my next project. I've got the Takon T-55 AMV in the stash and had read good things about it on The Modelling News. Seems like a good project



The kit is well presented with nice box top art. Each sprue is individually bagged, track links are already separated and there is a small PE set. Moulding is crisp and very detailed. Sprues are "flat" and the attachment points are huge and in some cases a bit over the top (11 attachment points for the drive sprocket alone!). Instructions are clear but with an errata sheet that I have been careful to staple into the instruction booklet at the appropriate points to prevent any dramas

Ammo of Mig provides a bunch of colour schemes and colours are called out in Mig numbers. Most of the colour schemes are variations on a green theme, but the African Union white one stands out for me and all AU T-55s I've seen on line are complete beaters so should leave room for some individual treatment and heavy weathering.




Unashamedly I am going to follow the build from The Modelling News site but take the weathering to another level!

AC Models here in NZ does a nice set of 5 African T-55 tankers so might splash out on that as they are a bit spendy

Anyway, here we go...

[Philipp Gross]

I read the build article on TMN. Quite an interesting kit and subject. This should be great

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Terrific subject Adam. Lots of weathering opportunities with it.

Vincent

[Adam Durrant]

Looking for the Russian armour experts out there. How are the ERA blocks attached to the front of the T-55? Are they bolted directly to the armour or are there racks underneath? I'm going to have a few missing and don't want "blank" space.

[Philipp Gross]

Seems like all our Soviet armour experts are AWOL right now...

I'm by no means an expert on these things but on this photo it looks like the blocks are screwed onto studs that are welded directly to the armour plate. It's the same on this T-72, and I can't quite imagine they would have used a more advanced method on a T-55. The lower glacis blocks seem to be mounted on some sort of sheet metal, probably just to mount them a little higher and thus minimize the gap to the upper ERA blocks..

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Sorry Adam, I have no idea on how they were mounted either. I think the photos Philipp provided showing the studs on the hull are a pretty good indication of how they fit. Anyway,if you model it so it looks like the photos you can't go wrong.

Cheers,
Vincent

[Olivier Carneau]

Phillip gave you the answer. Somewhere on the internet I saw some pictures of the ERA blocks removed and the T looks like a hedgehog with all those studs

[Adam Durrant]

Thanks guys, think I'll go with your advice, should be able to use some of the "micro" brass rod I have to replicate the studs. I drill into the front armour and superglue them in.

[Adam Durrant]

The kit has been a joy to build. Only down sides have been the reasonably soft plastic and the large attachment points to the sprue that need to be scraped/filed away. Takes a lot of building to reach a point where there is anything worth posting, lots of detail is going to be lost as it is all on the belly or under the fenders. Here are some pics of the modifications of done to the front to resemble damage to the right front corner,




Went with everyones advice and used micro brass tube to resemble the attachment points welded to the hull for attachment of the ERA blocks which I have omitted on the right front corner. Bent up the mounting bracket after thinning it out and drilling out the attachment points for the ERA blocks.



Gary will be proud, those are Meng nuts that I added after shaving off the poorly moulded ones supplied!

[Philipp Gross]

The secret brotherhood of Meng nuts will surely welcome you into their ranks

Great start! Looks very tempting, but I'm still waiting for someone to release the very first version of the T-54 before I give this particular tank a try

Philipp