Takom T-55 AM2B - Construction
1
July 2, 2023Here we go... Very cool box art and a staunch looking T55 variant...2
July 3, 2023Lower hull and running gear underway...3
July 3, 2023Suspension arms are nice and tight terms of postive key into the hull, but the fit of the wheels to the arms are quite ordinary... No polycaps within the wheels, just a stub and hole affair making axial alignment and straightness across all wheels more of a chore...4
July 3, 2023Alignment pins and keyways to the road wheels, sprockets and idlers have been over looked majorly... No socket affair to mate the halves together leaving concentricity issue...How Takom missed this is beyond me... It'll just add to the alignment issues...5
July 3, 2023Surprising number of components go into the make up if the suspension... The roadwheels alone consists of 5 parts.. An outter rubbers, inner rims and a hub... The sprue gates to the rubber tyres prove annoying to clean up without partially damaging the tread pattern...6
July 3, 2023So far it's going pretty well... A few more things to bond and the running gear should be good... I'll leave all the wheels loose for the time being till I make a decision about the tracks and their separation from the hull for painting purposes...7
July 4, 2023Finished out the suspension arms... Checke the alignment on these as there's the chance of the arms being outta whack...8
July 4, 2023Upper hull pieces bonded together... The kit contains multiple decks for other variants... The joint between them is pretty good... Only a little filler will be needed toward the front as the join isn't hidden by any panel line or feature... Easy to do...9
July 4, 2023Using the lower hull half to ensure alignment of the upper hull pieces... The lower hull has a bit of taper that when opened up, will clamp onto the upper hull pieces and the corresponding tags...10
July 4, 2023There will be a little filling to do when the upper hull is bonded the the lower half at the flared regions and probably at corners where both meet...11
July 4, 2023Went to put the rear lourves into their large pocket to the rear of the deck... The PE Grills fall straight through unfortunately... The instructions suggest they get housed then the lourve panel sandwiches the lot for a neat finish but isn't the case... Will have to maybe create a small subframe within the pocket from styrene to finish things off neater...12
July 6, 2023Setting up for the individual tracks... They don't want to mate together too well... In fact they really wanna jump out of their mating connection... Had to break out the big guns and tell them whats what...!13
July 6, 2023A little brass bling..14
July 8, 2023A little bit of fill needed here and there...15
July 13, 2023Onto the turret....16
July 13, 2023Do I retexture the turret.?? Maybe a single layer of crusty putty...17
July 13, 202318
July 13, 2023Do I rework the electrical conduits...???19
July 25, 2023Lots of small assemblies build up the detail to the fenders...20
July 25, 202321
July 25, 2023Some of the tanks and boxes to the fenders overlap the PE Fender braces... Popped one locating a box... Easy fix but be mindful when you bond these braces in that future steps see these engage with other parts...22
July 25, 202323
July 29, 2023Finally the fenders are complete... Fair bit of work go into these... Seems to be some odd positional holes for other T55 variants left visible... May have to fill these24
July 29, 202325
July 29, 2023Brass bling looking good..26
July 29, 2023Couldn't help it... Textured the turret...27
July 29, 202328
July 29, 202329
July 29, 2023Rear PE grills are quite nice and fit very well...30
July 31, 202331
July 31, 2023There's a significant number of subassemblies and components to the turret... These are just a few of the larger items...32
July 31, 202333
July 31, 2023Frontal Cheek Armour and some of the larger subassemblies to the turret will need to remain off till I can get a coat on the turret under these items...34
July 31, 202335
August 6, 202336
August 6, 2023The rear plate and its associated assemblies are quite fiddly with limited purchase on its mounting locations... The instructions are pretty vague showing how it all goes together but with a little thought and study you'll make it out...37
August 6, 202338
August 6, 2023Turret Goodies...!39
August 6, 202340
August 6, 202341
August 6, 202342
August 6, 2023The rearmost engine compartment cover has a nasty injection pin mark to it...43
August 6, 202344
August 6, 202345
August 6, 202346
August 6, 2023Rear tanks aren't too bad... But will require priming separately from the tank to ensure the seams aren't visible...47
August 6, 2023Gotta admit it does look good...48
August 6, 202349
August 6, 2023Will add some additional cast texture to the frontal cheek armour and some weld seams to lifting lugs that go on...50
August 6, 202351
August 6, 202352
August 6, 202353
August 8, 2023Really taking shape...54
August 8, 202355
August 8, 2023Little more done tonight...56
August 8, 202357
August 8, 202358
August 8, 202359
August 8, 202360
August 8, 2023And a bit more done tonight...61
August 9, 2023A few more peices of photo etch to the periscopes to the driver hatch...62
August 9, 202363
August 9, 2023Added a small cable to the light mounted to the frontal cheek armour... Used 0.25mm lead wire bonded into some predrilled holes...64
August 9, 202365
August 9, 202366
August 9, 2023The supplied vinyl shrowd to the main gun fits pretty well... Bonded it bit by bit with CA Adhesive around thr perimeter... Came up quite a neat joint...67
August 9, 2023Close up of the DSK Gun... Very well detailed... Quite a few parts to its make up and the instructions are a bit vague but I got there...68
August 9, 2023Some nice peices of photo etch to the turret also...69
August 9, 2023Still got some items to go on the rear of the turret.. Very small tie down points and quite a few to go on...70
August 9, 202371
August 9, 202372
August 9, 202373
August 9, 2023Looking good... Not far off paint I think...74
August 20, 2023Few more items bonded... Been a while since being at the bench...75
August 20, 202376
August 20, 202377
August 22, 2023Side skirts on... A little gappy at the rear end tho... Hmmm... How to fill this... I think a strategically place rag might be in order... Lol78
August 20, 2023Leaving the fenders and side skirt assemblies free for the moment... Will probably have some tight areas between them and the hull making painting a little tricky... But I'm just giving myself options at the moment...79
August 21, 2023Tracks are finalised... Fortunately you can cheat and leave the upper run off as they're not seen with the side skirts in place... I bonded 28 links into a straight run... Then 15 links either side will make it around the idlers and sprockets... You could probably get away with 13 either side however... One thing that is really handy about Takom's instructions is they use a 1:1 side view of the model on their covers... You can use it to count the number of links you'll need to assist with track building...80
August 21, 2023These tracks are problematic... Your typical thin cement doesn't bond them well as the plastic has a very glossy surface preventing the cement from penetrating and biting as normal... Sanding the joints will produce a stronger joint...81
August 21, 2023Each link has 2 injector pin marks on the inner face and their fit requires some work... Each protrusion that interlocks with its mating track link needs opening up... Its not a lot but each link has 5 protrusions with 12 faces in total needing a tickle with a file or a sanding stick... Not exactly fun...82
August 21, 2023The track runs should be removable like this even with the fenders bonded in place... Giving myself some options for come paint...83
August 21, 202384
August 21, 2023Just got rhe fiddly bits to do...85
August 21, 2023The tow cables outta the box are ordinary... Doesn't help when their all kinked and twisted up for packaging...Better than string though..86
August 21, 2023Side skirts and fenders in place temporarily... Beasty87
August 21, 2023Some copper bling replacing some rails that support turret boxes... It's inevitable these will crack and break plus the original plastic parts don't appear to key into anything on the turret, just a butt joint makingnit difficult to determine their locations...88
August 21, 2023I keep thinking this thing is getting close to paint but the construction keeps on going...89
August 22, 2023Added a couple of welds not present in the plastic... Certainly no welding jedi but was fun none the less...90
August 22, 202391
August 22, 2023Most of the turret goodies bonded on...92
August 22, 202393
August 22, 202394
August 22, 202395
August 22, 2023Cluttered turret.. But it looks good...96
August 22, 2023Omg that linkage between the base of the main gun and the search light is tricky to get on..!97
August 22, 2023Close up of the light and additional cable... The weld beads to the lifting lug could have been better...98
August 22, 2023Need to replace the detail on the ammo box the the gun...99
August 22, 2023Fine PE to the hatch light... Went cross eyed doing this one...100
August 22, 2023Bit of fill on the rear tanks just to make sure... But primer will tell...101
August 22, 2023102
August 22, 2023103
August 22, 2023The light off the turret hatch is a bit tricky...104
August 22, 2023The DSK gun looks epic... Fine peice of PE to this for the sights...105
August 22, 2023Epoxy welds to the lifting lugs to the Cheek Armour... Not my finest work but it's freakishly small...106
August 22, 2023Textured the front glacis plate with a thin layer of tamiya putty thinned with airbrush cleaner... Also replaced the cable that routes from the hull to the light cage as it looked kinda kinked how Takom tried to go about it...107
August 22, 2023Fuel lines are included... Bit fun trying to clean the mould seams without breaking them...108
August 22, 2023I just noticed the holes in the Fender... Bit awkward to fill those now..!109
August 22, 2023Tracks...110
August 22, 2023More tracks...111
August 22, 2023112
August 22, 2023Tracks are quite fragile... I have several variants of this Takom kit... I dare say I'll have to invest in some aftermarket tracks in the next build...113
August 22, 2023And she's done till I can get some paint in and around things... Will bond the last items to the turret and the fenders in place as the painting progresses... For now though... All done...!114
August 22, 2023So... I'd give this kit a 6.5 to 7 outta 10... It's beautifully detailed and very crisp but it does have its failings... It comes with added perks like PE and Metal Tow Cables... But these 2 items fail a bit... The tow cables are buckled and twisted during packaging which pretty much ruins the texture of the stranded wire... 2 of the Main Grills from the PE fret are too small for their placement into the hull rendering them useless unless you spend more time trying to correct it... There are some major oversights on the Suspension and wheels that without care will lead to wonky and floating wheels...
The tracks are pretty well a write off... They simply won't bond with standard cement and will have to resort to extra thin CA to stiffen them... Their fit is also problematic even after spending time opening them slightly to improve the fit and penetration of cement...
Even with all these hiccups it does build up to an impressive beast... Recommended for patient intermediate to advanced modellers only im afraid...
Commenti
21 2 July 2023, 10:48
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Appreciate the commentary, I have this kit and I will keep watching your updates to get tips on how to approach mine. Thanks!
8 August 2023, 19:26
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Cheers Cortex... It's certainly no Tamiya kit but it's building up quite impressively... The instructions are a little vague now and then on some very small parts... The road wheels and suspension has the potential to go all outta alignment so keep a straight edge nearby... Clean up of the sprue gates has been a bit of a chore now and then also - some really odd choice of placement and size but for the most part it's pretty good especially on the small peices which made life easier..... The kit needs a little more finessing and thought invested in it but it has been quite enjoyable and looks pretty darn impressive...
9 August 2023, 15:48
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I agree, it really looks pretty impressive and you've done great job.
If you are a T-55 fan (like myself) I'd highly recommend doing the new T-55A kit from Ryefield Model, it's perfect in every way and from the feedback you gave on Takom .. RFM outperforms Takom by miles, I've enjoyed mine so much.
9 August 2023, 16:07
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Cheers Cortex... It's coming along nicely... I did spot the Ryfield Models new release... But I had this one rolling around in the stash... Who knows the stash may requre another one..! Lol
10 August 2023, 10:00
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Build of Takoms T-55 AM2B Kit