History : The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945. From the late 1950s, the T-54 eventually became the main tank for armoured units of the Soviet Army, armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and many others. T-54s and T-55s have been involved in many of the world's armed conflicts since their introduction in the second half of the 20th century.
The T-54/55 series is the most-produced tank in history. Estimated production numbers for the series range from 96,500 to 100,000. They were replaced by the T-62, T-64, T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks in Soviet and Russian armies, but are still used by up to 50 other armies worldwide, some having received sophisticated retrofitting. The Chinese version of the T-54A is the Type 59.
During the Cold War, Soviet tanks never directly faced their NATO adversaries in European combat. However, the T-54/55's first appearance in the West around the period of the 1950s (then the beginning of the Cold War) spurred the United Kingdom to develop a new tank gun, the Royal Ordnance L7, and the United States to create the M60 tank.
Kit :
Trumpeter kits generally contain easy-to-assemble parts. Very small details are molded into the main body. Some parts (handles, headlight beams, tow cable, etc.) may need to be hand-made for this kit.
Vinyl tracks are difficult to assemble and have poor detail. Realistic tracks require effort.
The barrel is plastic; perhaps a metal aftermarket barrel could be used..
Later models featured a 7.62mm PKT coaxial weapon and a 12.7mm DShK heavy machine gun on the turret roof. However, the DShK is not included in the box.
Nevertheless, it would be fun for a modeler to build a nice T-55 from this box. Examples of this are available on the miniafv blog, and a good example will be published soon.
Happy modeling,
Erhan...