Jackhmn

Hi all, The aftermarket set I've been waiting for finally arrived. It took quite a while to come, as evidenced by the dust which has gathered on the parts of my Renault. PHASE 1: CONSTRUCTION Part 2: Removing parts from the sprue and part preparation Nothing much to say else here apart from these new Tamiya kits are really stress free and a pleasure to work with. The parts in white are the aftermarket parts for the "tail". They include a nice little chain and equipment piece which is nice.

Coming along nicely John, you’re making this conversion work look easy. Also, did you glue the top and bottom of the hull together? I did but I think it wasn’t my best idea ever...getting the tracks on could be a pain despite the sprocket being a poly cap attachment.

That build is spectacular. All the little details are masterpieces of their own...and when they’re blended together...WOW. Not sure what you did to the windscreen but I think it’s my favourite bit.

Very nice job, I’m sure you’re glad you stuck with it given this result.

PHASE 1: CONSTRUCTION Part 2: Removing parts from the sprue + part preparation I got the T-55 in the mail about 4 or 5 days ago and immediately set about removing all the parts from the sprue as well as any mold marks and lines. The only bits of the kit not included are the AA machine-gun and spare ammo boxes since these were not equipped on Hungarian T-55s of this unit. Same applies to the tubular piece of equipment on the left of the turret, that was found on tanks of the USSR. Not too much work given how Tamiya are careful to locate these things in places where they a) are easy to remove and/or b) won't be easily seen once the model is built. I'm not one for spending hours on this phase so the work is probably far from perfect but I think I'm content with it. Now where's my glue...

Glad to have you along Vaastav!

While I wait for the kit to arrive I've been cracking on with the research. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than anticipated. PHASE 1: CONSTRUCTION Part 1: References As always, my first stop was the Tank Encyclopedia website for a quick but very useful insight on the T-54/55. I have also ordered a book on the T-55 which might be able to help me out during the build. Aside from this, I chose one of many walkarounds available to bookmark and use throughout the project. This Tamiya kit is slightly unusual in the way it actually only proposes one single set of markings. On top of this, the markings correspond to "an unknown unit" of the Soviet Army according to the instructions. I never like this and I always try to make a point of finding the specific vehicle I'm building and its unit and whereabouts/operations. So I started the investigation. Said investigation was based on the only two pieces of information I had. That it was a Soviet unit and that the tank had a white dot painted next to the number on the side of the turret. Not much to work with. This hunt for the correct unit led me to Afghanistan and Vietnam by way of Ukraine. Still nothing concrete...until I found this image. A breakthrough...finally. After using the handy Google search function where you put a picture into the search engine instead of words, I found someone on a Hungarian forum mentioning that these tanks were in fact Hungarian and not Soviet. To be precise, they belong the the 8th Tank Regiment of the Hungarian People's Army. I believe these images are part of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 or the preceding exercises. Anyway, mission complete. I seem to have found my unit and this enabled me to make my plan. Kit: Tamiya T-55 Russian Medium Tank - No. 32598 - 1/48 Aftermarket: None - OOB Vehicle: "No. 826", 8th Tank Regiment, 8th Motor Rifle Division, 5th Hungarian Location/Time: Forests of the Little Carpathians, Czechoslovakia, mid-September 1968 Decals: Decals in the box Finish: Produced and delivered in 1967. Has not seen combat. In exercises since its arrival. A few branches about but no other extras of note. Machine-gun removed. Number on the external tanks. No damage of note besides bent fenders. Forests in the area of operations. 18 degrees C, windy and raining heavily. Cheers, Jack

That’s a distinct possibility John, but I wrote to the website and they told me that they had no idea when they could get it to me and that they were “looking for alternatives”. I guess maybe the fact that it’s an on-demand aftermarket part might be a playing factor. Good to hear the T-55 is on the way though, I’m going to get down to that one v. soon. The research phase is causing me a lot of headaches... I hate the “unknown unit” above a certain camo scheme.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Polish postal service has suspended its international shipping. This means my aftermarket parts could be significantly delayed. I'll have to put this project on hold till they arrive. Till then I'll work on my T-55 which can be followed here.

Thanks Soeren, this one will take a backseat on the modelling bench until I finish the Renault R35. But I’m looking at potentially turning this one into a Soviet War in Afghanistan diorama once I get around to it.

Fantastic build Carius. Really love the weathering on that T-34. I especially appreciate seeing one that isn’t the usual Red Army T-34. Jack.

Hi John, Indeed it is, although not widely at all. If you’re interested, scalemates.com has a list of distributors which have it in stock here. Most of them are in Poland or not in Europe. It seems maybe the coronavirus has affected the release of this one. Jack.

Just a quick post to mention that I've completed the separation and preparation of all parts from the Tamiya kit. I'm just waiting on the arrival of my aftermarket set for the "tail" from Poland. Once it comes I'll have the whole thing constructed in a day.

Hey fellas, A new project on the horizon for me as I'm about to order the 1/48th scale T-55 Russian Medium Tank from Tamiya. I'll be working on this in parallel to my current Renault R35 project (link to that WIP). This should be a pretty short but sweet build, as I've gotten used to from Tamiya. More details to come once the research phase is complete. Cheers, Jack

Okay, a week has gone by and still no sign of the kit in the mail. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the current situation. I think it's fair to say I'm itching to get going on this one so hopefully it'll arrive in the next couple of days and I can actually start cutting some pieces off sprues. On the + side this meant I had loads of time to spend doing research, which I concluded today. PHASE 1: CONSTRUCTION Part 1: References I've ordered the Osprey Book about "French Tanks of WWII" but that has to be printed first so I'll be lucky if it arrives before the construction is finished. The first step for me in any project is to get some general information on the subject. For armour, this inevitably starts by reading the relevant article on the Tank Encyclopedia's website. This gave me a good overview of what the R35 was about. I like to "force" myself to use the decals from the box so it gives me boundaries to work within. In the case of the Renault R35 this limited me to two different vehicle markings. "Le Buffle" of the 21e Bataillon de Chars de Combat (BCC) or a tank from the 23e BCC. After hours of research, much helped by my understanding of the french language, I came to the conclusion that I would roll with the "Buffle" from the 21e BCC. This is mainly because of the pictures available below (albeit almost exclusively taken by the Germans after its capture) but also because this particular tank operated in the town of Sarrebourg, which is my mum's home town, making it all the more personal and interesting. Now, I did have one major issue with both of the markings given by Tamiya in this kit. Both the vehicles represented operated with a trench skid similar to the one commonly seen on the Renault FT. However this trench skid is not at all included in the Tamiya kit so I had to order an aftermarket one designed for an older Hobby Boss model. Hopefully I get it to fit properly on "Le Buffle". In case you're wondering why it isn't on the pictures that's because the Germans removed it upon capture. So, as I mentioned I'm going to represent this particular tank at the time it was operating in the region of Sarrebourg, France on the 17th of June 1940 during the German invasion. So, with a bunch of articles on the 21e BCC, a handy 120+ picture walkaround, a little homemade dossier of photos and a book on its way, I felt ready to set in stone my plan for the project and conclude the research part. PLAN KIT: Tamiya French Light Tank R35 - No.35373 - 1/35th scale AFTERMARKET: - French R35 Metal Track Links (Friulmodel - No. ATL-168) - "The Tail" for Renault R35 (Niko Model - NP35002) VEHICLE: "Le Buffle" No. 50836, 2e Section, 1ere Compagnie, 21e Bataillon de Chars de Combat, Groupe de Bataillons de Chars de Combat 501, Ve Armee LOCATION/TIME: Sarrebourg, France, 17th of June 1940 DECALS: Decals in the box FINISH: Produced and delivered between May 1937 and June 1939. Has not seen combat yet, reconnaissance missions for the last three/four days. No extras of note on vehicle besides trench skid. No damage of note. Fields/Forests around Sarrebourg. Presumably not much cross-country travel to date. Decent weather, light precipitations.