i need to work that out…
lower hull progressing on the MiniArt T-54… just subtle weathering this time… and used Mr Metal Color brass to touch up the shells - really nice paint
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A bit late to the party but better late than never…
T55AM2 of the Czechoslovakian Army. Tamiya kit, Legend conversion set, Miniart wheels and tracks, Aber barrell and antennas, Eureka tow cables and Takom correct rear fenders for a Czech tank, sourced from the Takom T55AM2 B kit, which is already assembled as an East German vehicle.
Enjoy and happy modelling, great works posted thus far.
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Going in hard there Nikos. Looking forward to seeing this come together.
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guys, some advice needed. What colour would the inside of the drivers hatch be? it swivels horizontally rather than opens up so thinking white vs the 4BO (if it opened up)… any recommendation?
Nikos, nice choice! Full aftermarket! It will be interesting to follow 
Robert, I have no idea, but I would go with 4BO. Not sure factories would make the distinction between swivel and nonswiveling hatches.
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And so it begins.
The legend belly armour is quite inaccurate in shape and size so I am slowly improving it.
The engine deck was an easy fit, just some chopping and sanding of the nice Tamiya plastic.
Rear fenders provided by Takom.
Some details added but much more to follow.
Photos taken side by side with a Takom kit built as an East German T-55AM2B.
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I want to explain some things and point out others.
From my not so thorough research on the subject I have come to the conclusion that the Czech Army has some T-55Am2B vehicles but the vast majority are T-55AM2 tanks. I have not managed to find photos of T-55AM2B on the web, only T-55AM2.
East German T-55Am2B tanks have some minor differences/additions that I will slowly disply by posting comparison photos between the tank I am building and the Takom kit.
At the moment I have not decided if I will build my tank as a T-55AM2B or an AM2, this will be decided near the end of the build, when I will have to add the gunner’s sight.
And some photos of T-55AM2 for inspiration…
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Interesting question. Given the number produced, you would think there would be at least one pic out there of a driver’s hatch interior, either from inside the tank or a removed part, … but I cannot find one.
The T-55 I recently saw in Cairns is 4BO, but I cannot vouch that it has not been repainted. My logic circuit says Jesper is probably on the mark when he says it is likely the T-54 ones were painted all over 4BO in the factory.
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Looks Great Dave… Nice clean build. 
The Miniart tracks are very nice but a huge pita to clean and assemble. I managed to do one side, 91 links per the instructions but they are a link too many. Since the top row will not be seen easily I kept them as is.
I have to say that the Legend conversion is a bit disappointing. The front hull addon armor was bent and a bit inaccurate in shape at the front. All major parts require huge effort to remove from their blocks eg the fuel tanks, side skirts, turret addon armor etc. Not their best set engineering wise. Also the sideskirts are 2mm shorter but since I am using different rear fenders I can disguise this by some careful cutting of the resin part that should otherwise be removed.
The sprockets are from a Tiran 6 kit by trumpeter, I remembered they were left overs since the Tiran 6 had omsh tracks
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Some more work done to my Tiran.:
Tools added:
Aber Grills (Note not all Tiran had the large rectangular brackets and some did not have the mesh on the rear right grill - it depended on the original country the T55 was supplied by.) Pry bar also added. There is a set of gun cleaning rods in a rack that needs to go in the rear bin - all that will be scratch built soon.
More details added to the turret (and a seam line on the hatch to be removed!).
And work on the front hull:
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so this is how the MiniArt T54-2 stands now… just need to complete the second run of tracks then find to paint the interior…
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I managed to find the will to do the other side of the tracks and went on to do the sideskirts too.
Took much more work than it looks. The mounts are different pieces than the skirt panels, plus some modifications had to be made to cover the difference in length between the fenders and the resin pieces.
Now I will tackle the horrible resin piece of add-on armor for the front of the hull and the rest of the details there.
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Started fiddling with the turret basic assembly. While I was checking my references I noticed that the Czechoslovakian vehicles had a different hatch on the side of the turret than the East German vehicles. So I sourced it from the left over parts of the Takom T55AM2B kit, along with the machine gun mount.
The Aber barrel is designed to fit the Takom kits but with a slight modification it fitted the Legend resin mantlet very nicely.
I took a photo of all three of my T55AM subvariants just for comparison
I am thinking of finishing all the turret details before continuing with the hull, there are some things I need to figure out first for the fender details.
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Looks very nice, Nikos. It is a great looking trio you have. 
about to start painting the turret interior… on the hatches, would they all have been 4BO on in the interior? think the kit calls for white but think that will be a bit “bright”