PSC Plastic T-55 Kit review
By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish
Photos by the Author, except the above and left.
Plastic Soldier Company was kind enough to send us a 1/72 scale (20mm) T-55 kit for review. I decided to build it as an Iraqi T-55A, which my research indicates was of Czech manufacture originally. I almost wanted to make it a modified Type-69 (Chinese knock-off) but decided on the stock variant, which thankfully PSC has the parts on-sprue to make. This kit can make Soviet/Polish T-55, Soviet/Polish/Czech T-55A, and finally, the T-55AM which has the modernized armour on the turret and the better sensors on the main gun barrel (East German Team Yankee).
Two sprues per tank, with all the variant bits. We will not use the side-skirts nor spaced turret armour nor the ‘good’ barrel!
Hurray for ONE-PIECE tracks! A really good cast, with deep details. Also, the track detail itself is better than the BattleFront kit – but with the difference in scale (20mm PSC to 15mm BattleFront, that is not surprising).
Crisp, clean detail on the main hull. The Iraqi T-55 uses different front glacis plate than the T-55AM, and this kit has both options. Superb. Fuel tank flash was tough to get off. Why on earth would the attachment point be on the straps and not on the round parts? At least the attaching points are good and solid, was a dream to glue on the hull.
Turret assembly is two halves, hatches (variant choices) main gun is 1-piece (again, with variant choices) and stowage. The extra box on the rear infantry rail is the main visual cue that this was Czech-made.
Completed kit, right side. The turret fits beautifully in its ‘seat’ and rotates nicely.
Completed, left side. I like the deep driver’s hatch detail, on other kits, this is not deep enough and with paint, gets obscured. Nice touch. Pardon the missed flash on the track guards when this pic was taken!
Ready to hit the paint shack and then off to the Kuwaiti border!
Overall, its a great kit for gaming models, with a great price. While the detail is nice and crisp, I felt more could have been added, especially to the main hull and stowage pieces. The 14.5mm HMG (not modeled in the above assembly) was very nice, but the Iraqi’s tended to not have them on their tanks. I was able to knock this kit together in around 30 minutes, and my only gripe is the flash on the external fuel tanks. I rate this 9 out of 10 stars, excellent value.
Matt Varnish, AKA Dennis Campbell, plays Team Yankee, Flames of War, and Black Powder in the frozen wastes of Canadia. Check out my youtube channel for lots of :
Good review. I agree with your points after assembling 51 of these guys. I left off the external fuel tanks, so didn’t have to deal with that piece of assembly. The models went together well and I think they look great now they are primed. Good options too for the different variants.
The only complaint I have with the PSC T-55 is the lack of native magnetizing mount for the turret. I know you can do it with minor customization, but assembling 51 of these made me pass on doing that. That is one major benefit of Battlefront’s offering.