I am looking to add a Albanian Type 59 to my collection not sure if i want to deal with the Mini art type 59
and all the useless interior parts and indi track parts so was thinking on Tamiya’s T55 and converting it
other than the turret ventilator and smaller auxiliary fuel tanks on the rear is there any other differences externally?
Why not consider Takom’s or Hobby Boss’s version? That way I’m sure you won’t have to endure the extranaous interior pieces. I hasten to add I haven’t checked them out but I’m sure Scalemates will provide some answers.
i thought about that but dont have the patients for individual track links
Fair enough.
The Type 59 is a T-54 licensed copy so it is identical in all practical respects to the T-54.
To backdate the 1/35 Tamiya kit, you’d need to do a lot of small, stuff that will take time.
You’d need to add the fixed machine gun beside the driver (just a hole in the glacis), fill in the glacis weld seams and re-score them (the T-55 has a straight/horizontal weld seam along the lower part of the glacis. The T-54 glacis interlocked with the underside plate, so the weld seam is more complex, as are those along the front of the hull roof has a more complex interlocking weld arrangement. The location of the diamond-shaped access cover on the roof beside the driver would also need to be relocated.
The large stowage bin on the fender next to the driver’s hatch also needs to have the lid changing to reflect the different embossing pattern present on T-54s and all(?) Chinese ‘Types’
The rear engine deck of the Tamiya kit is not suitable for a T-54 so you would need to change the hatch arrangements.
Type 59s do not carry external drum fuel tanks of any size - what you are seeing are much smaller oil drums used for the smoke generator
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Chinese vehicles are not fitted with the mounting points for mineclearing gadgets on the front. A number of Iraqi vehicles had locally fitted equivalent mounts retro-fitted.
You commented on the turret ventilator but also consider that the T-54/Type 59 as-built, did not have the gunner’s sight housing on the other side of the turret roof and that in turn means that the small periscope adjacent to the main sight was in a different place on the roof.
The attached images show what I did to dackdate the Tamiya 1/48 scale T-55 to a T-54 (note this tank has the gunner’s sight fitted because most Soviet T-54s were regularly cycled throught depots and upgraded with newer parts). Also, for a Type 59 you won’t need the deep wading frame around the rear engine vents (but ultimately it didn’t matter for my project as most of the engine deck was submerged 
)
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How about asking around to check if someone in your part of the world is willing to swap Tamiya T-55 tracks for indy-links from some other kit?
I plan to
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