Which T55?

[Phil1960]

Hi All, I'm a little confused.

Looking at Miniart catalogue, only are the following T55 

 

37016 T55 Early Mod. 1965

37018 T55 Mod. 1963

37023 T55 Late Mod. 1965

37024 T55 Mod. 1981

37026 Type 59 Early Chinese

37027 T55 Soviet

37057 T55 A Early Mod. 1965

37064 T55 Mod. 1970

37068 T55 Polish

37074 T55 A Czechoslovak

37084 T55 A Czechoslovak

37088 T55 A Croatian

37090 T55 A Polish

 

Plus 

 

37041 Tiran 4 early lodel

37044 Tiran 4 Late model

 

I'd like to built my T55  but I'd like to understand first the minute differences from a model to another.

Do you know a definitive book about T55?

Many thanks for your kind help.

Ciao

Filippo

[John Tapsell]

37026 Type 59 Early Chinese - The Type 59 is a licence-built T-54 rather than a T-55

 

The Chinese did not manufacture the T-55 - They developed their own upgrades (Type 69 etc) separately from the Soviet/Russian T-55 prgramme.

 

I don't think there is a single definitive book that covers every aspect of the T-55 family, particularly the production differences between Soviet, Polish and Czech manufactured vehicles. Many earlier vehicles were also re-manufactured to later standards, so the whole subject is a minefield.

 

"Soviet T-55 Main Battle Tank" by James Kinnear Stephen Sewell is probably the closest you are likely to get as a single volume publication (they also did a similar book on the T-54) - published by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978-1-4728-3855-1)

 

John

[Phil1960]

Thank you, John.

Ciao

Filippo