Building the Unknown Tank #826 t-55 1/48 from Tamiya

[KayDee]

 

Heyyyyyy cool people🙂, so the clueless new member's first project is going to be a Russian T-55 1/48 from Tamiya. Ok, I had to start from somewhere so I did a little bit of research about tank number 826, so I can have some reference photos for building and painting later. Turns out a tank like this didn't exist??? There's a person on this forum who has done very detailed research about this specific tank but it seems what he could find is mostly written. Do you know what this means? Total artistic license which also means that I want to make it as if it has seen some action in a muddy environment like on the box art. Even though I won't be making a historically inaccurate tank I still want to be like the real deal. The thing is there are pictures showing different details on the base model T-55. Like the 2 elongated noles on each side of the main gun. One looks like a viewport and the other is sometimes empty. Sometimes looks like it has a machine gun inside and on other photos I have seen whole anti-air sort of attachments, so it's confusing. I mean I know that as just a modeller who replicates what he sees it's never going to be 100% historically accurate but you know if I make it like 90-95% there I will be able to sleep better at night😆.

Edited April 21, 2021 by KayDee

[Bullbasket]

Save yourself the bother as what Tamiya have included on their sheet is very basic. Have a look at these;

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=362583&code=&product_type_id=&scale_id=955&keyword_search=T-55&setPerPage=25&currency_id=

A much bigger choice.

 

John.

[echen]

to the forum. looking forward to following your build.

[KayDee]

10 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Save yourself the bother as what Tamiya have included on their sheet is very basic. Have a look at these;

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=362583&code=&product_type_id=&scale_id=955&keyword_search=T-55&setPerPage=25&currency_id=

A much bigger choice.

 

John.

That's awesome, thanks for the website. And they also included the historical reference which is nice. I like tank number 512. The markings are simple which makes them cool in my opinion. I still haven't decided on 100% where I am going with this build but I have time to think while waiting for things to arrive.

[Bullbasket]

13 hours ago, KayDee said:

That's awesome, thanks for the website. And they also included the historical reference which is nice. I like tank number 512. The markings are simple which makes them cool in my opinion. I still haven't decided on 100% where I am going with this build but I have time to think while waiting for things to arrive.

It's a great kit. I converted one last year into a Tiran 4 and was very impressed with the kit itself.

 

John.

[Vaastav]

Looks very interesting. Might I suggest you make an Indian one..... The only bit you will have to make yourself is a fake fume extractor, which we put on our tanks so that they could be clearly distinguished from the Pakistani Type 59/T-54s.

Also, welcome to the forum

[KayDee]

On 08/05/2021 at 02:47, Vaastav said:

Looks very interesting. Might I suggest you make an Indian one..... The only bit you will have to make yourself is a fake fume extractor, which we put on our tanks so that they could be clearly distinguished from the Pakistani Type 59/T-54s.

Also, welcome to the forum

Thanks for the suggestion. At the time I saw this post tho, I already had a plan for what I am going to do. But definitely will do another one...two..maybe more of these in future. Ultimately I would like to make a collection of all the variants this tank has, but since I am living the postgraduate student life at the moment I don't have the space for keeping and collecting models yet.

[KayDee]

You thought I was sleeping!????? 😆 I am back with sum progress 😝

Even though the kit is engineered perfectly the whole thing didn't go smooth at all because it's my first tank and also even though I was following the instructions I still managed to cut something I wasn't supposed to.

Also, I decided to put PE on it...And added details that I 3d modelled and printed as well as some scratch-built ones.

The images show things I immediately noticed when viewing reference photos of the real thing. There was a lot of out of scale details, oddly shaped details, missing details etc. I am sure that some of them were made like this due to manufacturing limitations.

Edited August 5, 2021 by KayDee

[KayDee]

I started with the front fenders. Since there's no PE fenders I scratch built them from a 0.1mm copper sheet. Now they are more in scale in terms of thickness and also they look more damaged/dented like the real thing.

You can also see that I started with the trials of making the fender hinges better. These went through few iterations as well if you look at the next photos.

Edited August 5, 2021 by KayDee

[KayDee]

After a lot of sanding, cutting I had space for the incoming PE. Also, I added the flame-cut marks which might not be very visible on the images, but they are there. I added the welds as well. The reason I am putting them is that they are either missing or if they are there they look very clean and when I look at the reference photos, they look more done in a hurry and heavy looking. Also started adding bolts on places where they are missing like on the coolant/fuel/oil refill caps near the driver's hatch. Please let me know what is the purpouse of these caps if you know.

[KayDee]

Next is the 3d modelling and printing details and the first was the big fuel barrels at the rear of the tank. I didn't like the Tamiya part because it doesnt look realistic and in scale. Also, it's very smooth and I don't know about you but I haven't seen a heavily used metal barrel that has zero dents and imperfections.

I was happy to see that the PE I ordered came with resin ammo boxes and indicator/position lights because that's less work for me, right? On further inspection though, they seem to have bubbles that ruined the detail so I had to do these as well.

I had a lot of issues with the 3d printed parts, like fitment/scale issues because the resin expands few microns during the printing process. There was a lot of failed prints since the details are very small. A lot of strange random cracking after the prints were done and print lines that shouldn't be there. Basically, I had to recalibrate my printer, do some printing settings changes and do A LOT of testing.

The tow cable hooks/clamps/ends not sure what they are called were flattened on the Tamiya part. Of course, this will make them easy to glue and fit where they are supposed to go but they sit very unnaturally flat on the side fenders which seems odd and so makes the model less convincing, you know.

[KayDee]

At this point, I started putting on the PE because I noticed that if I first do the plastic parts I will not be able to put some of the PE parts and so I had to work with them at the same time. It would have been nice if I could first do all the plastic and then start with the PE so I don't forget things. And also so I don't have to follow 2 different instruction manuals at the same time. Most likely that's not how you do it but hey, I am a newbie.

Things like these front fender handle things were made from 0.3mm wire because the moulded ones were too thin and in photos you can see that they are as thick as the hinges in front of them. They also stop suddenly on the edge as you can see in earlier photos or if you have built this model before. Also, used wire for the infantry handles on the turret and to do the missing fuel lines, and electrical cables here and there. Also armour texture, because the kit either doesn't have it or I damaged it while sanding previously. I cut and 3d printed new fuel container caps because the original ones were microscopic and out of scale. And many more small things that I already forgot about but you can find in the photos.

Now I started thinking a bit more seriously about whats the story of this tank. As a concept artist and designer, I know that if you want something to look more authentic and lived-in you need a story. It's not necessary to be something groundbreaking, just a story so it helps me with the process. So tank has seen action so this means that it should have some damages like bullet holes, used/missing items aka empty belts and cases, repairs done in the hurry. For example, someone tried to shoot the front fender in the hope to damage the track and immobilise the tank so it's an easier target. Some sort of damage happened to one of the big fuel barrels. So the crew tried to repair it but they quickly realised that welding is not as simple as it looks so just left it like this. One of the rear rubber fenders got torn off on the way. Maybe climbing a ditch or something. This leads me to think that the environment will be the countryside, somaybe mud, rain, loose grass and a lot of leaves.

That sort of thing you know?

[KayDee]

Next photos will be on the tank nearly done in terms of construction, but I will post them tommorow maybe becasue I fear I will get flagged for spam at this point.😆 Let me know if something like that can actually happen or I can continue with the posts.

Edited August 5, 2021 by KayDee

[Longbow]

1 hour ago, KayDee said:

Next photos will be on the tank nearly done in terms of construction, but I will post them tommorow maybe becasue I fear I will get flagged for spam at this point.😆 Let me know if something like that can actually happen or I can continue with the posts.

If I haven’t been flagged for Spam, then you won’t be

 

The folks here love photos, the more photos, the more fun 🤣

[sardaukar]

Love the level of detail around what you have done. T-55 is one of my favourite subjects at the moment, please keep it up.

Edited August 5, 2021 by sardaukar
spelling

[KayDee]

1 hour ago, Longbow said:

If I haven’t been flagged for Spam, then you won’t be

 

The folks here love photos, the more photos, the more fun 🤣

Ah that's nice then....more photos coming in😀

[KayDee]

So, I kept the smallest details for last like the little position lights, bolts on the turret mantlet cover, the missing bolts on the searchlight and what I think is snorkel rubes on the left side of the turret. Then I drilled out the main gun because the Tamiya part is with like a cap at the end, but leaving it out also would mean missing the gun edge/lip on the end. Also drilled a small hole on the machine gun which probably isn't visible in the photos. Finished the fuel lines. 3d printed the front lamps cage because after doing some soldering work on the front metal fenders I was fed up with soldering. Just the iron tip is big. It's not like a plumbing soldering iron but it isn't small enough to do this kind of work. Then I did some damages to the rubber part of the road wheels because photos show that they get damaged. Honestly, if there was a part of this project when I was totally bored, it was when I was doing the roadwheels damage. That's why I kept it only at the visible part then you mount them. Hopefully, the inner side will be in a shadow so it won't be visible that they are brand new in there. Also, I sanded the rubber marks on the edge/face/wall of the wheel, because they are too thick when compared to photos.

I kept the body road wheels and tracks separate for easier painting. Now I wanted to put some fabric so there is a bigger contrast between soft and hard surfaces. I was thinking about a rolled tarp at the back of the turret because this seems where they usually go, but that's too...stock you know? So what I am thinking of is putting a tarp with some stowage over the snorkel and infantry handle. As if the crew or infantry put something like jerry cans, bag or 2 and ammo box maybe. And that's where I am right now. I have to make a plan of the steps and layers I will be using while painting and order the appropriate paints.

[KayDee]

54 minutes ago, sardaukar said:

Love the level of data around what you have done. T-55 is one of my favourite subjects at the moment, please keep it up.

It's becoming one of my favourites as well due to the number of different types of the tank and stowage configurations it has. I have seen photos of it from stock to heavily modified to absolute Mad Max vibe. Would love to build another one or more again in future.

[echen]

Looking really good! Build developing well along with the back story of how the vehicle got to be how it is.

Edited August 6, 2021 by echen
Typo

[Bullbasket]

 

16 hours ago, KayDee said:

Please let me know what is the purpouse of these caps if you know.

You've done some excellent work on the '55. I especially like the fact that you've done the small positioning lights, something Tamiya left out. BTW. The caps are for the hydraulics when a dozer blade is fitted.

 

John.

[sardaukar]

12 hours ago, KayDee said:

It's becoming one of my favourites as well due to the number of different types of the tank and stowage configurations it has. I have seen photos of it from stock to heavily modified to absolute Mad Max vibe. Would love to build another one or more again in future.

Mad max? I take it you have seen Night Shift on Youtube's take on this kit? If not check it out. 

[KayDee]

2 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

 

You've done some excellent work on the '55. I especially like the fact that you've done the small positioning lights, something Tamiya left out. BTW. The caps are for the hydraulics when a dozer blade is fitted.

 

John.

Thanks! It makes sense now with the mounting points on the lower plate. But should I paint oil spills since there's no dozer blade attachment on this tank? Do you know if they keep the system full so it doesn't corrode/deteriorate? Or if there's no blade, then they don't put oil as well.

[KayDee]

38 minutes ago, sardaukar said:

Mad max? I take it you have seen Night Shift on Youtube's take on this kit? If not check it out. 

His videos are actually the reason I got more encouraged to start with this hobby. Years ago I remember seeing these awesome tank model images on the internet and I was like "Woah...I want to build something like this" But then I didn't know what kits were good for beginners, what paints to buy, what products and techniques to use in order to achieve cool effects. I didn't even know that tank walkaround photo galleries exist😄. As a result, the idea to do this got pushed back. Things like Uni, studies and all that got on the way too. Then years later I found his videos which explain every step of the process like tutorials. So yeah.

[sardaukar]

8 hours ago, KayDee said:

His videos are actually the reason I got more encouraged to start with this hobby. Years ago I remember seeing these awesome tank model images on the internet and I was like "Woah...I want to build something like this" But then I didn't know what kits were good for beginners, what paints to buy, what products and techniques to use in order to achieve cool effects. I didn't even know that tank walkaround photo galleries exist😄. As a result, the idea to do this got pushed back. Things like Uni, studies and all that got on the way too. Then years later I found his videos which explain every step of the process like tutorials. So yeah.

 

I'm sure you will know but others may not but I really like Plasmo on youtube too, he does similar stuff although more often in 1/72, all inspiring stuff.

[echen]

Those Youtube videos are very inspiring. I've bookmarked several. They make it all look so easy - until I try the techniques! Practice makes perfect, they say.