T-55 to Tiran 4.

[Bullbasket]

Since the lockdown started, it seems to be the fashion to go with multiple builds, so I thought, why not. The M51 will continue as it's not far off finished, and I'll do some more on the Centurion, as and when. But as this dropped through my post box a couple of days ago, I decided that I wanted to make a start on the conversion.

 

And this is what you get in the box.

X2.

 

It's certainly a very nice looking kit. Gone is the old Tamiya cast metal hull, and this one looks as though it assembles easily. Tamiya include two lengths of metal to give it some weight and a sensible method of fixing it in place. One thing that I did find strange is the fact that the indentations on the forward and rear parts of the track guards have been moulded raised instead of recessed. It's up to individual taste as to whether you correct this.

My original intention was to turn this into a Tiran 5, but getting hold of an M68 105mm main gun in this scale is a no no as it doesn't exist, and I didn't want to start scratch building one. So the alternative was to go with and early Tiran 4 as the D10T 100mm gun is included in the kit. I have the Sabingamartin book on the Tiran 4 which has a few profiles of possible candidates. I spoke with Das Abteilung with regards to whether this is possible and there are some pitfalls apparently. BUT, I decided to go ahead with the conversion and try and produce one of the profiles from the book. 100% accuracy might not be there, but hopefully it will look like a Tiran 4. I’ve got both the Miniart kit and the Takom kit of the Tiran 4, so I will be using those as a guide.

So I'll be getting this up and running very soon.

 

John.

[Vaastav]

Looks to be quite promising John.

Mind if I tag along.

 

[Bullbasket]

You're very welcome.

 

John.

[Hewy]

An interesting project john,looks like you've researched this for a bit, I'm in

[Bullbasket]

14 hours ago, Hewy said:

An interesting project john,looks like you've researched this for a bit, I'm in

'Morning Glynn. Yes, I've spent quite a bit of time on this (and I'll probably still get it wrong). But it's progressing slowly.

 

John.

[Hewy]

I haven't built any of this 48th scale armour but it does look well detailed for its scale,  and is a more friendly display size

[Jasper dog]

Good luck John, you will try these funny little scales, can't be good for the eyes!

 

Still,  I'm sure it'll turn out a little belter!

 

Atb

Darryl 

[Bullbasket]

4 hours ago, Hewy said:

I haven't built any of this 48th scale armour but it does look well detailed for its scale,  and is a more friendly display size

Give it a go Glynn. The Tamiya kits in particular are excellent.

2 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Good luck John, you will try these funny little scales, can't be good for the eyes!

 

Still,  I'm sure it'll turn out a little belter!

 

Atb

Darryl 

Thanks Darryl. I think that this is a small as I intend to go. 1/72nd would be pushing it. The idea of building the fuel lines on a 1/72nd T-55 is frightening.

 

John.

[Ernst]

This is an interesting take on an already interesting kit. I really like how Tamiya continues Bandai's legacy, I hope in time they will make a 1/48 t-72, but this one is definitely on my wish list as well. I hope you don't mind if I follow this one,

Cheers,

Ernst.

[Bullbasket]

15 hours ago, Ernst said:

This is an interesting take on an already interesting kit. I really like how Tamiya continues Bandai's legacy, I hope in time they will make a 1/48 t-72, but this one is definitely on my wish list as well. I hope you don't mind if I follow this one,

Cheers,

Ernst.

You're very welcome Ernst.

Tamiya's approach to the lower hull is IMO very good, and it went together very well.

 

And the weights are useful.

 

The first job that I wanted out of the way were the two front track guards and rubber skirts, as these were different to the Soviet examples. I removed the kit's front track guards and made new ones from card.

 

It's started to move along now, but there will be periods of slow progress, not least because I've discovered that the Tiran 4 that I want to depict had a one piece intake fan, and this, being a T-55 and not a 54, had a two piece, so the engine deck is going to require some major surgery.

Update soon. Thanks for looking.

 

John. 

 

[phildagreek]

Some proper cutting & sticking back together work, excellent!

[Bullbasket]

Thanks Phil. There's nothing that I like better than taking a perfectly good kit, and cutting it to pieces!

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

Original track guards removed.

 

My first effort was a disaster as I tried to do them in two separate pieces, so I removed them and started again, this time, making it as one piece. Success! I used .5mm card for the track guard/skirt bent to shape, and the same for the side pieces.

 

Thanks for looking, and stay safe.

 

John.

[Vaastav]

Looks great. Israelis load up their tanks like anything. 

[Bullbasket]

4 hours ago, Vaastav said:

Looks great. Israelis load up their tanks like anything. 

Thanks a lot Vaastav.

Once it was all in place and the skirt sanded to shape, I added 10thou rod for the ribbing on the skirts.

 

The hinges are 5 thou card and 10thou rod..

 

The fixings between the guards and the skirts are 10x20 strip and punched out bolt heads.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

[FrancisGL]

Hi John,

Nice progress !, a very interesting project, with the prolific T-54-55, which I love. I see that you have decided to "complicate" yourself with a scratch..lol, and as always the result is magnificent.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

[Bullbasket]

2 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Nice progress !, a very interesting project, with the prolific T-54-55, which I love. I see that you have decided to "complicate" yourself with a scratch..lol,

Many thanks Francis. Yes, I thought that this would be a straight forward conversion, but it's turning out to be a bit more difficult that I at first thought.

 

John.

[fatfingers]

Aye up John,

 

Great work as always. Looks a realy nice kit.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Bullbasket]

17 hours ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up John,

 

Great work as always. Looks a realy nice kit.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

'Morning Steve,

Thanks for the comments. I'll post some more later. I started to attack the engine deck yesterday. Fingers crossed this won't end in tears.

 

John.

[Dads203]

Missed this one John, well worth a peek though mate 

[Bullbasket]

Thanks Dan. Much appreciated.

Tamiya for some reason decided to make the indentations on top of the track guards at the front and the rear raised instead of recessed, unlike their 1/35th T-55 and Tiran 5. So I removed the front ones with a chisel blade, and scored it with an Olfa P cutter, and then cleaned it up with a file. I left the rear ones as on a Tiran they are covered by boxes. Sod’s Law came into play though when I realised that these two positions at the front are covered by jerrycan holders!

The two front tow rope anchoring hooks are in place, along with the splash guard. Early Tiran 4s only had the one headlamp, and the brush guard was slightly different. As you look at it, the RH side had two bars at the top on the T-55, but the Tiran 4’s had just a single bar at the top. I cut the two out and glued one back in place, in a central position, before adding the single headlamp.

 

Something that Tamiya have missed off is the prominent cable duct that supplies the headlamp and the sidelamps (another thing that they missed off). I depicted this with some 20thou rod, bent to shape. The two oval objects are what I think are filler caps for hydraulic oil for the dozer blade when it is attached (I could be wrong). The ones moulded in the kit are in slightly different positions to the drawings that I have for Tiran 4s, so I removed them and made new ones from card and punched out bolt heads, along with two centrally placed bolt heads. I also added a grab handle to the driver’s hatch from .3mm wire.

 

Final job at this stage are two jerrycans and their holders, courtesy of The Tank Workshop. These were fixed in position over the indentations that I’d previously scribed.

 

I've since found that there are some 3D printed side/running lights available, thanks to scanmandan, so I'll be ordering some of those. (Thanks Dan).

 

John.

[Jackhmn]

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. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Major Wardaddy

[ijs302]

looking good so far , can i take a seat and follow this i am starting to get some 1/48 armour its just the right size i think ,all we need now are some leopards , challengers , ww2 soft skins a/cars etc

[pierre Giustiniani]

Hello John

Terrific detailing !! Congrats !!

[Bullbasket]

Thanks Major.

Yes, I did glue the top and bottom together. I hope that it won't be to difficult to get the tracks and wheels on at the end. Fingers crossed. Also, it would have been more useful to me in the next stage that I'm at ; removing the to piece fan cover and fit a one piece.

 

John.