Lindbergh T-55

Kit of the year when it came out, but that was nearly 20 years ago....20 years, imagine that.

If you're new to this, it's a good practice kit before getting into the Tamiya T55 which is just super.

Anyone else know anything about this particular kit???

 

It's a bear.

I have one that's been in progress for maybe 10 years. It's simplified and not extremely accurate.

The plastic is not terribly responsive to regular glue, either. I'm using a bunch of parts from a Tamiya T-62 to try and liven it up a little, and a set of Friuls as well. It would have been a lot easier to go ahead and buy the Tamiya kit, but I'm stubborn that way. Also, the Lindberg  kit's tracks are pretty much unusable. They're very stiff and poorly detailed.

Mine is eventually going in a dio, being shoved aside by a Magach 'dozer so I'm not hugely concerned with ultimate accuracy, as it will be covered up in rubble......another project that's been in progress for a number of years.

I built it when it first came out decades ago. My first modern Soviet armor kit! I can remember that I was really excited about building it, until I started building it. Detail isn't that great, with lots of stuff missing. I remember that the tracks were terrible! I built the Lindberg T-80 around the same time and was  more impressed with the details on that kit. But, at the time those kits came out they were the only game in town for modern Soviet except for the Tamiya T-62, which has problems of it's own. It will take a lot of work to make the T-55 really look good, in my opinion. You'd be better off stealing parts from an old Esci kit and doing some kitbashing. If you're interested, I've got some leftover Esci spares if you want them.

I have sent email begging for parts.

 

 

good to know about da' tracks.  i may get another kit of different tracks, depending.

 

The Esci ones are link and length, and they build up fine. I'll send those and the other parts out ASAP.

Have fun!

I built this one a few years back and as has already been mentioned the kit tracks were not usable. On my copy the gun tubes were square rather than round, but I was able to save one of them using my trusty flex-i-file. I had a few minor fit troubles as well, but with a set of tracks from Tamiya's T-62 and some paint it turned out okay. Tamyia's T-55 is the state of the art kit now, but the ESCI kits build up pretty good as well. Oh, I had to shorten those T-62 tracks to fit, they are vinyl so it wasn't a big deal.

Luckybob - Fer-got to mention in that email reply that upon reception I will send to you some buckage for shipping - a 5-spot seems fair?

I built this kit shortly after it first came out, sometime right after Desert Storm. I remember you could build it into either an Israeli version or standard Warsaw Pact version. It was an interesting kit, but it was rather rough. I was happy just to have a current Soviet style tank in my collection. It was not a very good model though.

A fiver should cover it.

Thanks!

I got all excited when I saw it come out in the hobby stores in the eighties. But I noticed after a few months that the same stores started putting them and the T-80 kit on sale. When they were about 4 dollars snagged a couple. At the same time ERTL started marketing T-72s and those were on sale also.

I finally started gluing the thing together. Alot of sanding was required. Suffice it to say that most of them ended up being wrecks in Desert Storm dioramas. The ESCI kit can be purchased for the same price and will give you a better build, after fixing the fuel tanks, engine deck etc.

Overall the reviews are not too kind to pre-Tamiya T-55 kits. ESCI is probably the best, Trumpeter has problems but at least includes Chinese and Iraqi versions, dozer blades, mine rollers, etc. From what I understand the worst is the SKIF version T-55A(M). However if the hull is easily fixed there are certainly plenty of conversion sets out there, like A.E.F. Designs. Twelve bucks plus a cheapo resin AM scored on Ebay would put you in the price range of the Tamiya kit, though those tracks will have to go....