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I won this kit in the club
raffle. Rather than take it home and throw it in the closet, I
chose to build it right away cause I found the subject
interesting and thought it would be a great break from building
planes. It was!
Background:
The first major engagement between modern Soviet and
American/British built tanks took place in June1967 when Israel
took on and defeated the combined strength of Egypt, Syria, and
Jordan during the Six Day War.
With the Egyptians pouring troops
into the Sinai and Syria and Jordan also making preparations for
hostilities, the Israelis chose to strike first with a
preemptive strike that virtually eliminated the enemy's air
forces on the first day of the war. Israel's army struck hard at
the Egyptian forces while initially fighting a defensive action
against the Syrian/Jordanian forces. The Israeli's made a three
pronged assault, moving so fast through the Egyptians' forward
defenses; disrupting command/control and logistics that the
morale of the Egyptian forces broke down so, that many units
just ran away leaving their armor and equipment on the
battlefield. Victory over the Egyptians was achieved in three
days capturing about 80% of the Egyptian army's
armor/guns/vehicles.
The Syrians and Jordanians were
also handled roughly, both losing most of their tanks as well as
Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Israel took all of this captured
booty and used it to increase their military strength. Chief was
the several hundred captured T-54/T-55 tanks that were taken and
modified into the Tiran 4 (T-54) and Tiran 5 (T-55), called
Ti-67 (Tank Israeli-1967) in the west. The main difference
between the two versions is the main gun armament. The Tiran 4
having a 100 mm main gun and the Tiran 5 having a 105 mm main
gun. These tanks were used against their former owners during
the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and later assigned to reserve units
to be replaced by newer tanks as they became unserviceable
The Kit:
With this kit you can build
either a Tiran 4 or Tiran 5. The decals and marking guide
provided are for a Lebanese militia Tiran 4 or an Israeli Tiran
5. I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to build any version of
the T-54/T-55 you wish cause there are a huge number of extra
parts. There are at least 40 parts listed in the "parts not
used" list.
First impression was wow there
are a lot of parts!! There are 2 large, 3 medium, and 6 small
trees of parts, the lower hull with a little battery powered
motor installed, a piece of mesh screen, and the two one piece
flexible tracks. The plastic reminded me of the kind that was
used to make the little green army men that you would play with
as a kid, olive green in color with a kind of oily surface only
not as soft. Detail was overall good but there are a lot of mold
seams that are going to have to be sanded down, particularly on
the wheels.
I built this "out of
box" with only a couple of changes. First, I removed the
motor from the lower hull. Because this removed the rear axle
with it, I just fashioned one out of some evergreen scrap and
cut to fit. The second alteration was the rear deck on top of
the hull. It comes in one piece and when installed, it kind of
sits at an awkward angle. So I cut along the front edge of the
forward vent at a natural hinge line and then glued it in place
so there was now a step between the forward and aft rear deck.
Third the instructions show the heavy machine gun being
installed on top of the turret mounted at the top center of the
main gun mantelet. This might be right for the Soviet version
but I mounted the .50 Cal. just forward of the commander's
hatch.
The rest of assembly was
straightforward per the instructions. Fit was generally good as
long as you pay attention but there are times when the
instructions are vague as to the locations of certain parts. A
couple of the tool/storage boxes on the fenders, if glued where
the instructions show, will interfere with the turret ability to
rotate. You might want to test fit then sand the boxes down to
allow the turret to rotate freely. I just positioned mine where
it was clear. Some extra locater holes on the upper hull will
need to be filled. The short antenna is a kit part, while the
long one is a piece of stretched sprue.
The kit was painted overall
Israeli Armor Sand/Grey (Model Master). Decals applied (no
problems there). The various detail items getting their certain
colors (water/oil cans, machine guns, wheels rubber part, etc)
and then everything was dry brushed several times, each time a
lighter shade of the base color, Sand/Grey.
The tracks are the one-piece
flexible type that you interlock the pins/holes, and then melt
the pins with a heated screwdriver. It took this and superglue
to get these things together. That and the fact that it was a
chore to get the things to appear to sag like they do in real
life was a major test of my patience, I might have to spring for
some aftermarket tracks on my next one…The tracks were painted
rust, then dry brushed Polly S Mud and MM Steel. They're then
installed with the track forced down and glued to the top of the
wheels to give me my sag…
Conclusion:
In my opinion this was a good kit! It has its flaws but they're
correctable and overall it was a fun break from what sometimes
can be the grind of an airplane modeler's life. It was my first
Trumpeter kit but not my last. With the awesome list of kits
they're due to release in 2002, I will be making some more
investments in this company's products!! And I will build
another of their T-54/55 kits too. After watching all of the
coverage of the war against the Taliban, the diorama ideas just
kind of jump out at you…. Hmmmm a T-55 with some Alliance
fighters being interviewed by Geraldo… yeah, that's the ticket… |
