Tamiya T-55 Enigma - Done & on the base 8/6

Cool pic . Looks like a typical day in the sand box over there ...................

Good seeing one of my  ole HLI aquantinances again ..............

looking really good wing...i know this may not help much but here is a pic i took during desert storm of the real thing.

Thanks Andy.  This was design so close to the end of the war you  can practically call it a WWII tank.

Looking great especially the barrel!  Still following your build with interest even tho I was not really into post WWII or modern armor but things have changed. 

Thanks RBaer.  And so many more the need to be CU'ed too.

Very nice, wish I'd looked in earlier. I like the CU'ed welds.

Thanks for all the comments guys.  

John… email on the way.

Tread... I know you are the master of all things T-35, does your Russian proficiency extend to the T-55 as well?   I have found out these beasts were based on several different vehicle.  Russian, Czech and Polish.  And of course they each have their own little quirks.  Some parts in the box are good for one and not the other.  The engine deck form the T-55A kit would have been a better place to start.   I am using this one on e the Prime Portal site… http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/jean_thomas_rembert/t-55_enigma/ , A Russian chassis, as my base.  I know things get chopped off these pieces as they sit for years so I am going to get it as close in appearance to that vehicle with an assumption of operational status.  If you see anything that is horrifically out of place… feel free to chime in my friend.

Guess I'm late to the party. Ingenious methods of a fix there. Up to your normal high quality work.

looking great Marc,need ya to do me a favor I' started the 2 1/2 ton truck you sold me and its missing a outside wheel half for the tandem rear wheels if you come across it thanks

John

Marc , the results of your modification look spot on . Thats a long a$$ barrel ......................

Hummm....missed this.....glad to see you in the saddle again. Looking good....love the molding work..

Rounds Complete!!

Nice going Marc :  )

I see you are adding a good bit of hand made detail here !  and you know I got that soft spot for the Russian gear!

cool job on the barrel!

ttread

Any progress is good progress Marc!

Didn't realize it's alomost 2 weeks...

Finally some progress worth taking a few pics.  Been kind of bouncing around in the build order.  I know everything needs to get done but I am not usually so all over the place. 

I cut off the end of the Voyager barrel, added a small section of brass tube and glued on the end of the barrel from the kit.  It was then drilled out with a #34 bit to get it too a scale 100mm.  The bore was just shy of 90mm.  May not be perfect but I think it’s much better than the stock Voyager barrel 

The bits and bobs that I’ve been getting to are new fuel tank and hatch handles, welds, welds and more welds, and making a new lower front glacis since it was easier then cutting of the molded on bolts and filling the holes.

Don't sweat the "D'OH!" moment Marc! Sometimes the best discoveries come about because of that type of process. Nice work on the dust cover regardless!

Hey Slick that turned out slick

Tony lee

nice job..

Marc , thanks for showing your methods .

John, yes I did and will be sneding you an email soon.

Today I had what is hopefully my only Homer Simpson “DOH!” moment for awhile.  I had an idea of how to redo the mantlet cover so I set about making a cast of the one in another T-55 kit from the stash.  Pressed into some Silly Putty and then spent what seemed like forever sanding, filing and trimming to get it to fit the turret from that other T-55 kit.  Then I realized that I really need to make it fit the cover I cut off the Enigma turret.

THEN I realized that what I planned to do to the resin cover I can just as easily do to the cover that is already glued in place.  And that part was never going to come off anyway.

1^st I sanded off the high spots of the folds.  I masked off the turret with Bare Metal foil this because you can burnish down and see exactly where to cut out the part you don’t want.  Then I brushed on some slightly thinned green putty which was then wiped wit a cotton pad wet with acetone.  When this dries I will go over it with a micro mesh sheet to smooth it more.   Doing this took maybe 15 minutes compared to trying to get the resin piece correct to do the same thing.  Like I said… “DOH!”

Marc,looking good.Did you get my e-mail?

John

lol i see. well i have a feeling the Germans coulda used a mind like that in WWII. pretty neat idea .

speaking of ideas spawned from the dank and dark recesses of ones mind....i should really start working on my "Sledgehammer" again lol.

Thanks wildchild.  You haven;t seen that because it only existed in the dank and dark recesses of what left of my mind.

This T-55 is looking very nice indeed! the rougher hull looks very accurate to the 1:1 T-55s ive seen up close. Great Work!

wing_nut

Thanks Bill, Eric.

Eric, here is a lnk to my Afghan T-55A and nope... it's not a what if

John, I'll try to get a list worked over the weekend and send it to ya.

Not to Hijack this thread, but wing_nut, i checked out your Afghan T-55, and of course got lured ino looking at the "galleries" section. in your german aircraft, i found the FW-190 Mistel very interesting (with the ME 262s combined with an inner spar between the fuselages and 4 engines clustered beneath) i had never seen that before, very nice work!

Time and effort you're putting in are paying off Marc, nice work roughing up the edges!

I like it and i want to see more .

Question , i thought that guy in the 1st post would have been yelling "where's the women ?"..........(think recent events in Columbia )......

Spent some time CU the welds on the added armor.  Got one side got into indy pieces and was experimenting with different methods of roughing up the edges and then coat with liquid glue to soften the look.  Using a medium metal file seemed to be the best way to go making the work go a little quicker.  But tedious none the less.  Lots of edges.  I’ll take a pic or 2 when I do the other side.

The edges of the washer that are welded to the front armor were done with a micro chisel then a 0.7mm resin nut was added.

  Great going Marc!

I'm checkin this out. Texture and detail progress looking good. It's just a crazy looking tank

Thanks Marc

John