Braille SCALE

 In aircraft and armored vehicle scale modeling, Braille scale commonly means 1/72 or 1/76 scale . 

 The term was coined by the owners of Missing-Lynx web forum in 1998. Other forums have taken a liking to the phrase since then, and incorporated in their own websites.( source Wikipedia)

 Obviously this is not an official designation, but rather a kind nickname, given to these little kits, which, of course, will end up blinding those who mount them, considering their hopelessly too small size. 
 There are debates about what this term really means (which scales) but in the end, as a scale can always be smaller or larger than another one, it's of no interest, so we'll consider the 1/72 scale while recognizing that the term can be applied to any other scale according to everyone's taste. 

T-55 / T54

The T 54  / T 55 tanks are USSR produced  Main Battle Tanks that were designed and entered into production after the end of WWII.  They eventually became the main tank for armoured units of the Soviet Army, armies and  Warsaw Pact countries, as well as many others countries. 

They were produced in the USSR, of course, but also by Poland, Romania, and even by the Chinese industry, under the designation Type 59, and Type 69 for the improved versions.  It is estimated that in total between 86 000 and 100 000 chassis of T-54 and T-55 were built of which 70 000 MBT. 

T-54s and T-55s have been involved in most of the world's armed conflicts  of the second part of 20th century, cold war, decolonisation and Midle East conflicts. 

Projects

Travelling, seeing, understanding, witnessing history, wanting to share it, without taking sides, taking away emotions, transmitting them while being creative

Starting from a photograph, known or unknown, linking history to creativity by telling a story, while being precise, and faithful with both history and model.

 Contact  : [email protected]  

https://t-72.jimdosite.com/
https://pz-iv.jimdosite.com/

Ace Model (2002)

The first T-55 Kit at 1/72 was released (almost simultaneously with PST) in 2002. Ace Model  started by the basic version of the T-55, the T-55 1958 Model, easily identifiable by its absence of cupola and Doushka MG.  the Ukrainian manufacturer then developed, as usual, this basic kit in multiple versions covering most of the evolutions of the T-55 and T-54, developed by the Warsaw Pact countries, but also other countries that manufactured it under license. Named a version, Ace produced it!

The main advantage of the Ace Model range, therefore, is the multiplicity of versions, and kits usually accurately reproduced in their general form and details.

However, in 2002, the manufacturer still had a limited production and did not have the production tools available today. As such, these first kits don't reach Ace current quality standarts. These  "short run" kits required time, sanding paper, and certain qualities of experienced modelers, to reach at a quality level comparable to what could offer the big manufacturers at that time. 

Very often, the Ace Kits have been mixed (kit bashing) with PST Kits, less accurate, but offering a better quality of molding, with the use of after market detailling kits from Part or OKB (Tracks)

Short run kit, no EP set provided, plastic tracks early version 

PST (2002)

In 2002 PST released two kits, allowing to build  2 versions of the T-54 (A and B) and a version of the T-55, the 1958 model T-55. Later on, PST released, using a missile launcher produced by another manufacturer the S-125 "Neva" an anti-aircraft missile launcher on a modified T-55 hull, used by poland and Cuba.  PST released as well  in association with Zebrano other versions with resin turrets, which will therefore not be described here. 

Comparing to the ACE kit, the PST T-55 / T-54 was easier to build and the quality of the production was better, better molded (but still below big manufacturer standarts  and requering less sanding and less "cleaning" of the pieces. 

On the other hand, the kit that was only developed in very few versions is less accurate, and especially the turret with its  closed hatches is almost unusable, lacking details and with undersized turret cupolas. At hull level, the engine deck also lacks details and is not not accurate, the tracks  are under-detailed and too thick.

In short, the easier-to-assemble PST Kit was less accurate than the Ace model, and was often used, in combination with the use of aftermarket detaillings sets, to "kitbash"  Ace kits; The classic schema, being the use of Ace turrets with modified PST chassis. and EP Ace or OKB traks. 

Injected plastic, no EP set provided, plastic tracks early version

Trumpeter (2008)

In 2008, the Chinese manufacturer Trumpeter released a kit of T-54 B, followed by a  T-55 Model 1958 , which in turn will be declined in 2009 with accessories,  a KMT-5 and a BTU-55 buldozer blade. The T-54 and T-55 share almost the same pieces. 
With the release of the T-55 Trumpeter, the make-up artists finally have a kit of molding quality and ease of assembly allowing any modelers to assemble a fair T-55 kit. Accessories (BTU-55 and KMT-5), then non-existent on the injected plastic walk, are also an interesting addition to the range. 
However, this kit is not free of defects and errors. First of all, the main issue, recoverable, is the engine deck (common to their T-54 and T-55 kit), a mixture of diferentes versions and which will have to be redone by modelers who would have the ambition to mount a correct kit. Secondly, much like the PST Kit the domes of the turret lack details and appear undersized. Finally, Trumpeter had the bad idea of represent the mould line of the rubber tyres on the road wheels. not only those mould line  are usualy only visible when the road are brand new, but even for the 1/35 scale, it's over done and too big. It's easy to solve, but take time, as those mould lines have to be removed by sanding.  To sum up, not a bad kit, but it will take a bit of work to reach a correct kit, and the "Kitbash" with an Ace model turret is still relevant.

Injected plastic, no EP set provided, soft plastic tracks early version

Revell (2016)

Revell released his T-55 A/AM in 2016 creating a lot of hope. the AM2B version is released in 2017, and T-55A/AM with KMT-6/EMT-5 in 2020, the 3 being inspired by T-55 versions used by the former East German Army. 

As expected, the Revell Kit shows precise and quality molding and is therefore easy to assemble, and within the reach of all modelers.

Unfortunately, this ease of assembly is often at the expense of the finesse of the parts and many will have to be replaced to obtain a finer kit (eg. protection of headlights, handles on the turret, luna search light support, rear part of the engine deck simplified). however, all these small defects can be easily solved without requiring high level modeling skills. 
On the other hand, the turret seems too high but this has not been checked on plan.  

The real problem of this kit (the whole series), like the T-72 previously produced by revell is that it is based on a T-55 used by the NVA, probably manufactured under license (Poland?) and therefore not able to represent without modifications  a soviet manufactured T-55. Finally, the tracks are of the late model (similar to the T-72), which will also limit the possibilities of representation / decoration to the late version of T-55.

In short, a good base of T-55 that will need to be improved but which  only allows to build (without modification or kitbash), a late T-55 manufactured under license outside of the USSR

Injected plastic, no EP set provided, plastic tracks late version

Mig / Ammo (2019)

Produced in 2019, this is without a doubt the best T-54 kit available on the Market. Not only it's very accurate representation of the T-54 but also easy to assemble and very thin and detailed . An EP  set is provided with the kit, as well as metal tow cables, a lot of possibility of decoration (all look to be accurate) without mentioning the nice instruction sheet in a booklet that gather as well some reference pictures of the T-54 B. It has everything you need in the box to easily represent an early T54 B.

And this is probably its main drawback, it only allows to represent (without modification or addition of external parts) an early  T-54 B  but finally it's maybe why the kit is so accurate. 

To modify this kit in T-55 it would be necessary to redo the welding on the front hull (typical of the early T54 ), to modify the engine deck, and the placement of the various Equipment and boxes on the fenders. As well later version have biger fuel tanks instaled on the rear of the hull.  On the turret, the principal modifications would be to remove the ventilator on the roof of turret and to place differently the lifting hooks at the back of the turret, placing one at the center, rather that one at each side, as for the T-54. Obviously, the extend of modifications, would as well depend of the version of the T-55 that  one want to build. 
In summary, a very good kit (the best to date), without defect, delivered with accessories (EP set and metal cable) but which will only allow to realize an early  T54 B. We are looking forward for the release of the T-55 version !

Injected plastic, EP set and metal cable provided, plastic tracks early version

Italeri (2020) 

One could wonder the interest for Italeri to release in 2020 this T-55 which finally does not offer much more than the other kits already available. In reality, no, let us not sulk our pleasure with the release of a new T-55 but especially it is the first kit to propose the opening of the engine hatches and to provide a base to fill the engine compartment 

The kit is otherwise globally of quality and allows to represent a T-54 A. The arrangement and the shape of the boxes of arrangement on the mudguards and other accessories are rather typical of the models manufactured in Poland or in Czechoslovakia.  The molding is of good quality and the parts are fine, even if experienced modelers will be able to detail it and refine some parts: handles, headlight protection etc..

On the other hand the kit suffers from 3 large defects, of which some are redhibitory: The rear part of the engine desk is not correct for a T-55 A and will have to be remade, the mantelet of the gun is deprived of its protection (which is the case only on the wrecks having burned) but especially the tracks, of the earlier type, are too approximate and thus unusable. 

In summary, this kit is mainly interesting because of theunique  representation at this scale  of the engine, but it will have to be modified to be totaly accurate , and will require the addition of the protection of the gun mantelet protection  and the replacement of the tracks. 

Injected plastic, no EP set  provided, plastic tracks early version, detailed motor interior