IDF modified T-55 ARV

A Bit of History

The T-54/55 series of MBT (main battle tank) first appeared on the world scene in 1947. As with most well designed vehicles, specialty variants were not long in coming. The first Russian ARV version was the T-54-T. The vehicle had a drop side platform but no integral winch. Warsaw Pact countries actually took the original idea and through modifications bettered it. The Czechoslovakians produced a version called the T-55 ARV, which is the point of our article. This vehicle had in addition to the drop down platform an integral winch, light crane and rear spade to assist in the recovery of stuck or overturned vehicles.

During the years that the Arab nations surrounding Israel courted the Russians, they were supplied with some of the best equipment Russia could muster. These arms included the T-54/55 and its variants. During the 1967 Six Day War, Israel captured enough T54/55s to allow her to create at least one fully equipped battalion, which saw service on the southern front during the 1973 war alongside captured PT-76s, BTR-152s, BTR-50s and OT-62 topass. After the war Israel found itself the owner of even more war booty allowing it to expand its Russian equipped battalion to probably brigade size or larger.

While there is no photographic evidence that shows captured Russian engineer equipment in Israeli use, photos of vehicles at Latrun and the storage house in Yaffo would suggest that they were indeed used. This evidence includes Israeli weapons mounts, antenna mounts, license plates and jerry can mounts; all things that there would have been no need for if the vehicles hadnt been on active duty. having said that, lets begin.

The Kit/s

The only kit on the market at the time was Botonds Kit the MT-55 Recovery, there is no kit number given. The kit calls for an ESCI T-55 as the base vehicle for the conversion. Having a Trumpeter kit on hand, I tried a test fit to see if it could be used as well but came away feeling the amount of cutting wasnt worth it. I used instead one of my Ti-67 ESCI kits, as I would need some of the Israeli parts to complete the conversion. As with most of my projects these days parts were used from some On The Mark Models PE sets for the T-55 and T-62. I also bought the Chesapeake Model Designs Russian T-55/62 Starfish wheels. This is a beautifully rendered wheel set for the T55/62 family of vehicles. A first for me was the acquisition and use Friulmodel track set. Ive always wanted try them and, as we will see, theyre worth it.

The Hull

Construction begins with the assembly of the hull. This is accomplished using the replacement upper hull from the Botond kit and the lower hull and parts C1 & C76 from the Esci kit. Be careful here as warpage on either part can translate into major problems later on. I found the fit between upper and lower hull to be quite good requiring just a bit of fiddling in order to make them mate properly. The casting and fit of the upper hull was so good in fact, that had I any reference on the interior of the vehicle I would have been tempted to build it. The surprise was Botonds requiring the use of the ESCI kits engine deck part C76. The problems with this part have long been known, which is what made it so surprising they chose to use it instead of casting their own. With the main section of the hull assembled, I installed the torsion bars and parts that would hold the drive sprocket and idlers, taking care here to fill any voids and remove any seams on the pieces. Dry fit the torsion arms before gluing and line them up with a straight edge on a flat surface. Once they are aligned glue them in place using quick acting liquid cement. In this way youll alleviate a problem of not having your road wheels all sitting aligned when mounting your track. Be careful with parts C32, these are the mounts for the idler wheels and have a tendency to angle up.

With the assembly of the basic hull completed it was time to start modifying it to Israeli standards. The first task was the removal of the Russian style mud flaps at the front of the vehicle. This was accomplished using a rotary tool with fine cutting head. Once area was cleaned up, Esci parts E17 &18 replaced the removed flaps. While The ESCI parts give a reasonable representation of the Israeli modified fenders, a little extra work really enhances them. To begin, sand off the little L rod on parts E17/18. Next scribe a new seam approximately ½ inch from the rear of both parts, adding two small hinges to each mud flap along the newly scribed line. This completed, add a small rest for the new spring to the inside of each flap (see photos). The real spring goes through two small mounting blocks. To make these take some appropriate size plastic strip and drill holes for the spring. Once you thread the spring through youll have to finish bending it to shape and glue it in place just behind the newly scribed line and hinges (See photos and drawings for help).

Esci Parts C5&C7 were used for rear fenders in lieu of the smaller resin parts that come with the resin kit. The rear fenders are a bit less difficult to modify, but require both plastic and super glues to be installed. Before installation however glue a piece of plastic strip across ESCI parts C5/7 approximately 5/16 inch up from the bottom. When dry drill out 5 evenly spaced holes and glue in metal rod to simulate the nuts and bolts that hold the rubber splashguards to the fenders. Glue the modified rear fenders in place using each type of glue as needed. To check location and position of the parts I used the kits sprocket to make sure there was enough room for it and the eventual track to fit under the fender. I chose to use PE fender supports at the rear instead of kit parts C2/3, as they clearly looked better. I finished work on the fenders with the placement of two reflectors at the lower outside corners of the rear fenders; these were made using a craft hole punch.

Bits and pieces

With the assembly of the basic hull completed its time to move onto the minutiae of the kit. The MT-55 has all of its fuel tanks as well as winches mounted in the interior. While this saves us a bit of work on fuel lines and such, we do need to build the many Israeli storage boxes that occupy their places. Starting with the left rear of the vehicle we have an Israeli style rear telephone box mounted over the rear fender (box #1). This was built, as are all the others, utilizing different sizes of plastic rod, strip and tube. The drawings that accompany this article are pretty much to scale and will give you a basis for the overall sizes for each box. Not having a vehicle to work from, I built the boxes to fit the spaces available. Just in front of the telephone box is the first Israeli storage box (box #2). The basis for which are ESCI parts E7&9. While the basic shape is correct the real box opens from the front not the top as depicted by Esci. I raised the box by inserting legs inside to allow the flap to clear the lip of the fender. Eduard hinges, OTTM latches and a scratch built handle complete the box. The box has a jerry can holder mounted on top as well as a PE tie down and attachment point for some unknown equipment.

Moving forward I used a PE exhaust ring from the T-62 set and another attachment point that came with the kit. I chose to drill out the engine exhaust to give it a more realistic look. Just forward of the exhaust are two boxes of the same size (boxes #3). They were made out of one of the unused toolboxes that came with the resin kit. I first sanded off all detail then sanded the part to size in one direction after which I cut the piece in half and sanded both pieces square and then rounded their corners. I completed the pieces by gluing a thin strip of plastic around the top edge to simulate lid of the boxes. I completed the boxes using parts from my T-62 PE set to simulate the standard method of securing things to the fender Between the two boxes I removed the existing fender brace as there is no evidence of one in my photos.

The next box in line comes straight from the ESCI kit, parts E1&2 built as per instructions (box #4). Above this I placed a fire extinguisher and antenna mounts. The former is from the Eduard M113 fitter PE set and the latter is modified from ESCI part E9. The antenna mount was lengthened and has a rod, which goes to an upright at the rear of the vehicle. Make sure to leave a bit of slack in the rod so as not to interfere with the mounting of the drop down platform. The final box comes straight from the resin kit and is part #3. This storage box is raised off the fender similar to the rear storage box. Botond actually casts the piece so it will appear to be raised.

The front of the vehicle needs a bit of work as well. I used the splashguard from the T-62 PE set and scratch built the light guard as modified by the Israelis. This light arrangement was used on all captured and modified T series equipment. One prominent feature not found in the kit is two weld seams that go across the front plate of the vehicle. The first is about ¼ inch the second about 1-5/8 inch up from the bottom. The second stops midway across the front, just short of the drivers sights. I made these weld beads using the following method. I super glued two thin strips in the appropriate locations, taking care not to get glue on the upper side. When dry I applied regular liquid cement to small areas at a time, pressing the back of my knife into the softened plastic to simulate the ridges of a weld bead.

Just behind the modified lights is a scratch built mount for either a .30 cal. or .50 cal. machine gun. Centered and just above the lower weld is a license plate. The number of the vehicle at Latrun is 130309. I made both plates utilizing numbers from an old Israeli license plate set from AEF Designs. When I make my next T-55 Ill need to make the plate a bit bigger as the small size of the plate caused the numbers to be to close together. Finishing the front of the vehicle is the addition of four more of the attachment points, Esci part C4, going horizontally on the nose of the vehicle.

Coming around to the right side of the vehicle are two stowage boxes (boxes #5 and #6) behind which are two jerry can holders. The boxes were made in the same fashion as previously described and the gas can holders are from a spare sprue from the DML M50 kit. Mounted between the to gas can holders are four tubes for carrying signal flags. Just past the fender support is one more can holder from the Eduard M113 fitter kit as well as the frame to hold the welding set. The welding set is from a Verlinden kit of an Israeli fitter. The rest of the right side follows the instructions in the resin kit.

I detailed the rear, engine deck and fold down platform based on photo reference from two sources. The Most notable changes were the addition of a solid cover on the right rear of the vehicle and the scratch built hinge for the grills. Hydraulic lines for the rear cable feed were made out of different diameter coated wire while the main tow cable is craft thread. Centered and at the front end of the engine deck is a roller built from spare and scratch built parts. This roller was probably installed to keep the tow cable from fouling on the engine deck. The two small Tow cables were made using left over towing eyes from an IS-3 kit and some picture hanging wire. The only modifications I made to the fold down tray were the addition of spare tracks, two Israeli storage racks (front right of tray) and one more jerry can holder. The Air Identification panel was made using 32-gauge aluminum/silver sheet. This can be bought by the roll in craft stores and is as useful as lead foil. Construction of the hull is completed with the addition of one more antenna mount just behind the commanders hatch and the installation of the rear spade.

The running gear

As mentioned above I used the CMD T-55/62 resin starfish wheel set, which were a vast improvement on the ESCI parts. While the road wheels needed a bit of sanding I felt they were worth the effort and expense. Just a note, read the instructions from CMD carefully, the spokes of the road wheels is not meant line up. The inside wheels spoke should be visible when looking through the outside wheels. Other wise assembly is pretty straightforward. You will have to use the Esci kit sprockets and rear idlers though. Both these parts will need quite a bit of clean up, but do however seem fairly correct.

For the tracks I chose to use Fruil track set for the T-55/62 series vehicle. I believe the T-54 used a late pattern T34 road wheel but Im not sure. The kit is supposed to have right and left side tracks, but I seem to have gotten all one side. This wasnt a major problem as it just meant that instead of having a finished bolt at the end of the track, I would instead have the end of the inserted wire would showing. This considering the location is barely visible. Assembly took me approximately two hours of brain dead drilling to prepare all the links to receive their pins. Once all the pieces were drilled out, I made a length using the Trumpeter rubber tracks as a guide, leaving the last 5 or so pins unglued so as to be able to add or subtract individual links a necessary. When using individual tracks check your references in order to find out how much (if any) sag there should be. On the T55 the track should make contact only with the middle three road wheels.

Painting and detailing

Finding references for the T-55 in IDF service is hard enough, finding photos of vehicles that would have served with our ARV, almost impossible. Like I said almost, I came across an issue of Tank Magazine that had both color and b/w photos of modified T-55s in the late 70s early eighties. This enabled me to choose Model Master, Israeli Armor Sand grey (f) for the base coat. A darker coat of a complimentary color was used for the darker areas. I used artist oil paints for the wash and progressively lighter shades of the base color for drybrushing and highlights. Graphite pencil was used in area of high use or where metal rubs against metal. I dont like adding rust to vehicles as active duty vehicles while they might have peeling paint never usually gets a chance to rust. This of course is not the case where vehicles are not maintained properly as was the case with SLA (south Lebanese Army) equipment.

For the tracks I first sprayed them Flat black. To make sure I get paint in all the nooks and crannies between tracks I paint them fully assembled and rotate them using a length of square rod. After the letting the base coat dry I give them washes of varying earth tone colors, followed by dry brushing with ever lighter earth tones. One of the nice pluses of the metal tracks, was the ability to run an emery board over the finished tracks to bring out the bright metal finish without having to dry brush with silver paint.

Markings were a different issue, not having photos of an active duty vehicle to copy from; I punted. On the left hand fender I painted black rectangle with the Aleph and the number 9 painted in white. I used this number, as fitter vehicles seem to use either the number 19 or Aleph 9 as their designation. On the right fender I used the unit tag as seen in the Tank Magazine issue for the regular T-55s. Just another note here, the black tank in a white oval as seen on tanks at Latrun seems to be a museum designation. I have not seen the symbol used on any active duty vehicle.

The Botond kit went together very well and without any major problems. I bought mine from LSA models and it cost me about 70 Pounds, including shipping. The photo etch sets were bought at AMPS and I believe are now out of production. The resin road wheels were again bought at AMPS directly from CMD, as were the Fruil tracks. Overall the kit took about three months to build and while not difficult was time consuming.

References and thanks

Tank magazine issue 1985/5
Verlinden Warmachines Israeli Tiran

Tony Englehart from AEF designs for Reference material

Claude BenShaul for his great walk around of the vehicle

Gary Norris for his photos

Botond MT-55 ARV
On The Mark Models PE
CMD starfish wheels T-55/62
Fruil tracks T-55/62

Photos of the completed model