T-54/54A & T-55

Manufacturer: PST (Kitsno. 72045 & 72046 respectively)

I have long been a fan ofPST's kits, as well as of the T-55 tank, so the announcement ofthese two kits really had me excited for many months. I haveowned the ARMO T-55 kit for several years, but have never gottenaround to building it, because I have read about someconstruction hassles. I also have the ACE T-55 kit, and builtthat one recently (see Review ), so now that I have receivedthese two PST kits, my collection is complete. I would have likedto do a side-by-side comparison of all three kits, but since Ialready built the ACE kit, we'll just have to settle forindividual reviews.

These two new kits fromPST are very similar. They share three sprues of parts: the hull,turret and track sprues, but each contains a unique sprue ofwheels and other detail parts.

The hull and turret spruesare presented above. As you can see, these kits are very wellmolded, with little flash, and only a few sinkmarks (though morethan I usually like to see). The detail is very crisply molded,abundant, and fairly accurate. The hull underside looksespecially impressive, in case you want to build a diorama of anupside-down Iraqi T-55. Because of the redunancy of some of thesprues, you will have several spare parts from each kit,including almost a complete turret. The T-54 turret has a fewdetails different from the T-55, most notably the cupola for theloader's hatch. Again, the detail on these parts is molded verywell, but I have noticed a couple of deficiencies: the turretroofs lack the heavy weld-lines that make the distinctiveDouble-D pattern around the hatches. This should be easy to addon my own, either etching it in, or else using putty. And if Imess it up, at least I'll have a spare turret as backup :)

Also, I have read reviewsthat mention the small hatches on the turrets. Indeed, looking atthese scans, the hatches appear REALLY small, but keep in mindthat those are just the hatch openings, and the actual hatchesare a bit larger than the openings. The openings should beenlarged some, if you want to model the hatches open. But evenso, the hatches are still a little too small, on the order of amillimeter or so each. For the flat loader's hatch on the T-55,it's not too noticable, but it is more so on the cupolas. Bothstyles of 100mm main gun are included, both the smooth barrel,and with the bore evacuator. This latter barrel is used by boththe T-55, as well as later versions of the T-54. The 12.7mm DShKMmachinegun is pretty good, though not quite as detailed as theexample on the Roden IS-3. Great care will be needed is cuttingthe handholds from the sprue, or else you can use bent copperwire instead.

The tracks (pictured aboveand below) are a mixed bag. In some respects, they are betterthan the ACE tracks, such as in quality of the moldings, anddetail on the insides of the track, but they are also not as goodas they could be. On the lengths of track in particular, there isdetail missing on the raised portions of the outside of thelinks, but the individual links look much better. Since mostlythe individual links will be the only track visible on thecompleted model, this may not be too much of a problem. But ifthe upper track run is even partially visible, it may benecessary to carve some additional detail into each link.

Below is the sprue thatcomes with the T-54 only. It has several smaller details, such asthe spare fuel drums and tow hooks, as well as the wheels uniqueto this version. This kit comes with the "spider" styleof perforated wheels, which were introduced on late versions ofthe T-34-85, as well as the T-44. I don't yet know if there weredifferent styles of the spider wheels, but I will try to findout. It's possible that these wheels could be used for some T-34kits.

The T-55 sprue (picturedbelow) is mostly the same as the T-54 sprue, but comes withdifferent wheels: the starfish pattern, which was common on T-62as well, so these could be used in place of the horrible wheelson the ESCI T-62 kit. The wheels (on both of these PST kits) arevery well done. While the starfish wheels are better than thewheels in the early ACE kits (such as the one I built), I haveseen scans of the "new" ACE wheels included with laterreleases of the ACE T-55, and they appear to be about equal. Butthe chassis on this PST kit looks like it will be much easier toassemble than the ACE kit.

The decals are fairlycomprehensive, with six marking options for the T-54 (four Sovietand two Polish), and four options for the T-55 (one Polish, twoSoviet, and one Afghan Northern Alliance). Considering the verylarge number of nations which have used (and are still using)these two tanks in their arsenals, I hope than an aftermarketcompany will soon provide us with a larger selection of markings.

As always, these decalslook very high quality, thin, and clearly printed. I have usedPST decals in the past, and am very impressed with them. Thescans above have been altered to better display the whitemarkings.

From this initial in-boxpreview, I would say that these two kits are excellent, andhighly recommended. I am now working on building them, sohopefully I will have a construction reveiw soon.

Thank you very much toAlexander at PST for providing the review kits.

References : Bronekollektsiya #3.2000, Soviet Armour,1945-1995 , by M. Baryatinski (in Russian),Tornado Armour Book: T-54/T-55 Part 1 (in Russian), Tornado Armour Book: T-54/T-55Part 2 (in Russian), TheGreenhill Armoured Fighting Vehicles Data Book ,by Ian Hogg, The Illustrated Directory ofTanks of the World , by David Miller, and Jane'sTanks and Combat Vehicles Recognition Guide ,by Chistopher Foss.