T55 Part 3

<<<<T55 Project Finally Completed>>>>

I must tell you what a relief this is to me as the T55 has always been a favourite amongst collectors world wide, no wonder, its the most produced tank in history of modern warfare.

The project wasn't as smooth sailing since a lot of the Marmite mask did not dissolve in the hot water, and it being a partial resin kit, it is very susceptible to hot water distortions. So, it took a lot of brushing with the toothbrush and things break off, particularly, the hopelessly fragile Aber detailed lights. I have since discarded and replaced some of them. I have also painted the IR light black after this photos are taken.

The tank in its final finish, albeit with rain marks, chips and sand etc.

The track area, where the earlier CA glue formed the lumps and simply washed with Vallejo and pigments. The tension, since this tank is mainly used in urban combat, was set a little higher, touching only 3 road wheels, from here you can see the tires all battered.

I did put in a lot of parts into this MG. Can't believe that there were actually 27 parts added and it took me 3 days just to assemble the MG and paint it! Sometimes, working with Aber PE parts are a real chore! I also added the anchor points for the wire, two "u" shaped parts and a lot otheres. The mantlet is a resin part from Blast and I reinforced the rear with wires and a whole tube of CA glue just to make sure it does not crack and buckle under heavy stress.

The magazine box alone is about 10 parts of PE. I hand painted it then weather it and chipped it along with orange yellow wash to show new rust. Bolts and nuts also accentuated this way plus a little of oily sheen to make it a little more metallic in look.

Another look of the finished tank. The right fender is left off to create a point of interest in the model.

The turret has been textured heavily and I added in a hand built epoxy sandbag to increase the interest and variation to an uninteresting front. I also added the PE part and put in the power cable to the lights in front.

The traffic sign is from the Aber kit and the track is weathered and bolted on with Sprue. It is alsp painted in black, brown, orange, yellow and green to give it a weathered look without looking too crusty, as you would in a very old weathered abandon tank. For this look, I refrained from using pigments, but only Vallejo paints. To break the monotony, I also weathered the decals on the stowage box.

I added in some stowage at the anchor points. These are resin parts I took from my spare box of Legend Stowage materials. For the exhaust, as per my last portions, we roughened it with CA and then Tamiya putty diluted. Then its painted the same way as the track.

This photo shows the mantlet, painted with my black, white and wash method which is described in my earlier article on the GRANT CDL.

To further distract the point of attention, I added a Russian Oil tank colours and one Shell drum colours behind. They are painted on with Vallejo by hand using colour wheel modulation and damp glazing. Once it has dried after 20 coats, which took 4 days, its left to dry for 2 more days to cure the paint. Then I added in the chips and colour toning in various harmony colours.

Another look at the sandbag that I made with Tamiya Epoxy Putty. Note the wiring for the driver's periscopes, which are real gems from BLAST of Rue Chateron in Paris.

One good view of the Tarp I made using the same putty as the sandbag, the clips were made with Aber parts and steel wires to hold the tow cable lug. Care must be taken as the small 1 sq mm of CA will not hold the tension in my brass wire tow cable, so, I have to glue the tlug onto the body as well. I also glued on the chain from a Gundam shop.

A good look at the removed fender showing mud stuck at the release mechanism area. The cable is weathered and chipped to resemble a little more neglect.

Aber's excellent barrel

T55 Project Part 3

At Long Last....some paint. I painted the whole tank in Ferrari Red with 2% to 3% of yellow added to give it the Ferric Oxide undercoat.

Then I dabbed on the Marmite.

Then I over coated it with Gunze 123 with 5% black added. Then lightened the green with Gunze 123 with 10% Sail colour.

To get back the red, I scratched the bubbles with the craft knife and toothbrushed it with some hot water to dissolve the Marmite.

Then went on the Microset for the decals, which were pressed in with cotton bud and then dabbed on with some MicroSol to conform them to the details. As I roughened the surface with Tamiya Putty diluted with Tamiya thin cement earlier to simulate the sand casting, the decal conformed very nicely onto the tank surface with this age old process. When it has dried for 24 hours, I took the knife and with its point, gently scrape away the carrier film and break up the numbers. This not only eliminated the sheen, it also gave the decal a little battle damage.

I then chipped in the Vallejo German C. Black for the chips, this will be out lined later with Red Vallejo paint to give it a good miltiple depth chipping on the paint.

The surface was also Panzer Grey filtered and Sand Filtered and it recieved a layer of brown wash. Here you see the Calibre 35 engine set. I would have preferred to use the Verlinden set, which has a splendid wealth of details over this simple set. I detailed the set with some parts from scratchbuilding evergreen cards. All the fuel lines did not come as a photo etched part as in the Verlinden kit. The hatch top isn't very detailed, just a 100% knock off of the Tamiya part.

To make things interesting, I used the Aber clip for one of the magazines, there are two boxes with the Tamiya part and the final one, I used a part from Blast with associated fabric sock. I also added in an 18 litre tin, a wooden top box from Academy accessories set, added two fabrics made from Tamiya Epoxy Putty.

I also added a tow cable made from brass wires that had been twisted to form the cable. I put in a brass chain as well.

See the brass chain and the cable in their pre-weathered stage.

My favourite part of the T55 had always been the exhaust area. Here I painted it basic with German C black, dust some PVA added with MIG Rust, dab in some Andreas Orange, then when all things are dried, draw in the lines with black Vallejo that has been heavily dilute.

This portion still needed some drybrushing of soot using charcoal chalk.

Next up the red chips and green surface fading and bit mapping varitones.