Anthony Kesterton Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 A bit late to the party - but my first attempt at a group build where I have actually had a bit of time to stick some plastic together. I am building the excellent Tamiya 1/48 scale kit of the T-55, OOTB with the Star Decals 48B1003 set. I want to represent the Angolan tanks used during the "Bush War" in the 70's and 80's. Depending on time, I hope to put this on a suitable base to represent the type of terrain found in Angola. I have been reading up on the conflict using the Africa@War series of books, specifically the No 34: War of Intervention in Angola, Vol2. There is a nice colour view of the T-55, and a few photos. I am also using a lot of Google image searches to see if there are any pictures of T-55's. Found a few pictures of abandoned or captured tanks and not many others. I'm interested in the configurations of these tanks and what kind of things where carried on the tanks in terms of additional kit. That is where more photos would be really useful. One reference I found suggested that a long tube on the right of the turret was only put on Soviet versions of the tank, and it appears most of the T-55's where from Cuba, or even other Eastern Bloc countries. I have not seen any photos with this tube on - so assuming it is correct to leave it off. What has struck home is the ubiquity of mobile phone cameras and really cheap digital cameras today. That will change the way we can research more recent conflicts vs these times (70's and 80's). Will add photos once I get them uploaded and linked back to a future post. anthony 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 And some photos of the kit, testing the image size options as the original images are large! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Nice project to stay tuned to! Looks like a fantastic kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 Lots of progress over the last week or so - apologies for not posting as these stages where completed. First step was lots of wheels, and the lower half of the hull. The parts of the wheels are rather shall - quite hard to clean up the parts when they are this small. I am keeping a lot of the wheels separate as they need the tires painted. And I have the posted image size sorted now (I hope). Put the top of the hull on the base but not attached it yet. The wheels needs to be added but they need painting first More photos tomorrow. I meant to add, I have heard people comment that (some) Tamiya kits just fall together, very good fit, etc. This is definitely one of those kits. Some very clever engineering to make sure you don't (hopefully) get parts the wrong way, etc. It's a good idea to study the instructions carefully as the notes are often really important clues as to orientation of the parts. It's also quite fun to build an AFV for a change. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 I have two of these in the stash and if I wasn't already up to my neck in Pz. IIIs I would have been doing an Ethiopian one. I know what you mean about Tamiya engineering, I've learnt that if something doesn't fit, first check what I did wrong Andy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 Right - some progress over the weekend with the bits and pieces on the upper part of the hull, and bits of the turret stuck together. Been trying out some very old Humbrol Liquid Poly or Tamiya Cement (the white top). Both are quite viscous - and don't evaporate completely so leave a bit of residue. Found my bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin and will use that in future where I have a visible glued item. Will see what happens when I prime the whole thing. That tiny part pointed to by the pencil is used to secure the hatch on the turret. The hatch lid can then be moved - which is useful as the figure in the kit has his hand on the top of the hatch. I have glued the body and one arm together (the one holding the hatch lid). Next challenge is to find the right approach to glue the hinge without locking the hinge mechanism. Extra thin would just run right around the whole thing with the capillary action. One option is to dap some glue on the turret itself, wait a while then place the hinge+hatch. Alternatively, try a temp. dab of PVA just to get the angle right - then do a final glue into position with something stronger later. My inexperience with building kits showing through here but all good fun to experiment (in "public" here). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 2 hours ago, Foxbat said: I have two of these in the stash and if I wasn't already up to my neck in Pz. IIIs I would have been doing an Ethiopian one. I know what you mean about Tamiya engineering, I've learnt that if something doesn't fit, first check what I did wrong Exactly! There are two openings in the turret that have small enclosures built around them - I just randomly stuck the first one on, and then noticed the careful instructions on the orientation that I missed. Well - a 50/50 chance I did it right on the first one. Was ok on the second one (I think) Similarly - the figure has some keyed blobs so you glue the arm on the body correctly. I bought one of the 1/48 Tamiya Shermans too - looking forward to build that at some point. I have a very old 1/35th scale Panzer Kampfwagen II Asuf F/G part number 35009/1200 (copyright 1971!!). Will be interesting to compare these builds. A bit nervous about the tracks - but will put my faith in Tamiya 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Tidy work Anthony. You're making an interesting point about the future of reference material and its availability as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Life (well, work) got in the way of my T-55, but will carry on very slowly. I am looking for hints on the colour for the figure (Cuban or Angolan tank commander - olive drab or khaki perhaps)- hard to find any definitive colour suggestions. I primed a lot of the model (photos to follow) - and slightly stumped on the colour. Dark Green or Olive Green are the options looking at various sources. Trust me to find an obscure subject 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Kesterton Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Priming - trying Ultimate Primer (Grey) and it seems to work well through my ancient Badger 150 airbrush. Keep the wheels separate for the moment. And I need some filler on the fuel tanks (similar problem on the barrel) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 Good to see you back at this one Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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