Egyptian army T-54 conversion

[frogman13]

Here is my current "on the bench" project; a 1/35 Tamiya T-55 which I'm modifying into a T-54. I've decided to do it as an Egyptian army tank as it would have appeared in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. I've added the Egyptian modifications to the baseline T-54 which included a stowage rack on the back of the turret and the big AEG Telefunken searchlight alongside the main gun tube. For the T-54 conversion I used "Tankworkshop" resin conversion kit for the back engine deck, exhaust and turret ventilator. The road-wheels are also being used as they are the early spider type and very nicely molded. I was going to use the provided aluminum barrel without fume extractor, but was advised that Egypt apparently didn't have the type with the counter-weight on the end of the barrel. I used the kit barrel. Anyway here are some photos of what I've done, up to now.

I'll keep posting photos as I progress through the project.

Ed Okun/ Frogman-13

Edited August 13, 2016 by frogman13

[11bee]

Cool subject, nice work so far. How are you going to to finish her? Overall sand?

[murad]

following

[frogman13]

Cool subject, nice work so far. How are you going to to finish her? Overall sand?

I'll probably do a multi-color camouflage pattern, something along the lines of these captured tanks seen after the 1973 war.

[11bee]

I'll probably do a multi-color camouflage pattern, something along the lines of these captured tanks seen after the 1973 war.

Noice!! Didn't think they cammo'd their armor, thought only the Syrians did. Nice choice for a paint scheme.

Looking forward to more updates.

[sharkmouth]

Ed, if the gray items are TWS and the green Tamiya, what are the Tan items, ESCI? My interest is similar but a T-62 with the SAKR rockets.

Regards,

[frogman13]

Ed, if the gray items are TWS and the green Tamiya, what are the Tan items, ESCI? My interest is similar but a T-62 with the SAKR rockets.

Regards,

Oh Yeah, I should have mentioned, because I'd been asked that before. The tan items are from the Tamiya Tiran-5 kit which I had an extra and was using as a "donor" for parts. I had bought 2 kits for a great deal when they first released and already built one Tiran, so when I needed some parts that became my source. The searchlight by the way came from the Revell Leopard-1 which was equipped with exactly the one I needed so saving some time in scratchbuilding parts. The ISKARA laser range-finder on the top of the turret was scratched up from styrene strip and putty. Here's another photo showing where I'm at with the build.

Here's the layout of one of the actual tanks as appeared in 1973 war. Knocked out and burned but with all the mods.

[sharkmouth]

The tan items are from the Tamiya Tiran-5 kit...

That explains the excellent fit!

Thanks,

[frogman13]

I had some time over the last few days to get some work done on this model and I'm already imagining which color scheme I'll apply.

That's a sure sign that I'm nearly at the finish of the project. Most of the hard work is done. Last thing I'll fabricate the smoke drums and attachment points to the back hull plate.

I'll post more photos as this moves to the finale..:-)

[murad]

now that's a busy looking vehicle. great work with the add on stuff.

Q: search light cable atop the turret has nice looking cable fasteners, did you scratchbuild those?

[r0t0rdr1ver]

Great looking build! One of my favorite subjects