Evening up the fight - T-55

[Rich H]

I was going to have a break but... you know... 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Yay!!!!!
Useful in so many ways.

My PLA might even get some armour now.

[Sparrow]

Ooh .... now these have been on my bucket list for a while..... lots of uses!

[carlos marighela]

Might be a bit more useful to do the T-54 or its Chinese clone, the T-59.

[Rich H]

Struggling to work out which is which TBH.  T-55 was safer!

If you can find me a drawing that would be appreciated! 
I think the hull is the same with different roadwheels and a different turret?

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Not sure if it helps, but the George Bradford Cold War Armored (sic) Fighting Vehicles book (ISBN 978-0-8117-0678-0) has a T54a on page 20 and a T55AM on page 75.

They are only A5 size 1/72 scale.

[carlos marighela]

Mostly detail changes. T-55 typically has the (visible) anti-radiation shielding on the turret top and the absence of the dome ventilators on the turret top (necessitated by the addition of the anti-radiation lining on the T-55). Lots of other small differences but IIRC road wheel differences is entirely the product of which model of T-54 you are talking about. You could get away with the same pattern for both.

More T-54 and T-59 in the PAVN inventory and in-scale, well detailed, robust T-55s are available cheaply from China.

[Rich H]

Thanks.  I was getting all sorts of confusing contradictory info.

I can easily do both roadwheels and both turrets

[Rich H]

Had a quick look for the Chinese die cast in 1:50 and not seeing much of value, only one I found it the later mark with ERA or something with rubber band tracks...

[carlos marighela]

I have three of the buggers. They do have rubber band tracks but they are accurately modeled waffle pattern tracks. Otherwise the detail is excellent and quite good enough for gaming. The only thing worth replacing is the AAMG which is slightly flat/ 2Dish.  They are also robust being die-cast. IIRC the original model was Russian but made in China.

There's also a size comparison on this bloke's blog: http://xanderswargamingmusings.blogspot.com/2014/03/generic-143-chinese-diecast-t55.html

They scale out to  1/50 pretty neatly but you often see them listed as 1/43, 1/48 and occasionally 1/32. Used to be that you could pick 'em for for around $15-30.

The one you are looking for is this:

[Rich H]

Ok that's the one I found.  Going to draw it anyway and see.  Several variations possible too like the MT55 and ZSU-57-2

[carlos marighela]

ZSU-57 would require a major redraw of the hull and running gear, four road wheels vice five on the T-54. IIRC the dimensions are slightly different too. Probably a whole new vehicle when it comes down to it. That said, I’d love to see one. Fielding it would be interesting. They did feature in the 1972 Easter Offensive.

The bridge layer, would similarly be a mighty beast but I can’t imagine too many folk wanting one for gaming purposes. I could find a use for the BMR mine clearing version(s) for my Afghan war Soviets but I suspect I would be almost alone in that desire.

Some items that might find appeal are some Vietnamese soft skins, GAZ-69 field car, GAZ-51 2.5 ton truck or the ubiquitous Zil-131 and its Chinese clone. Good for playing truck hunting games on the Ho Chi Minh trail and useful for other post-war conflicts.

Some light AAA pieces would be nice. ZU-2, ZU-4. There was even a Vietnamese of the BTR-50 that had a shielded ZU-2 on the rear deck. The Squadron book on Vietnam armour has an illustration.

For me, I’d love to see some Chinese vehicles, the T-63 and T-62 light tanks. They didn’t feature heavily in the Vietnam War proper but did see heavy service against Vietnam in 1979. Of course someone would have to be convinced to produce a 1970s Chinese Army and I don’t fancy my chances on that front. 

[Rich H]

Waffley enough?

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Waffley enough?

Do they come with chocolate sauce and cream?

[Rich H]

 

I basically started again on the tracks as I wasn't happy with the first try. 

Now trying to understand the gunners hatch layout...