Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

15mm modern Soviet T55 plastic kit availabe to pre-order!

5 model tanks in the box for rrp GBP 21.50. Options to build T55, T55A or T55AM2

Due for release 22nd April 2017, but preorder now to take advantage of the pre-order discount, be entered into a prize draw to win a platoon of five painted T55s (your choice of army and paint scheme), painted by the fair hand of our very own, award-winning Tim Harris, and of course to be among the first to get this sought after plastic loveliness!
check out Tim’s brushwork below and  on our Facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/ThePlasticSoldierCompany/photos/a.419352104839562.1073741828.419197241521715/1167670770007688/?type=3&theater

Available now to pre-order in the Plastic Soldier Company webstore:-

http://theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=93_94_95&products_id=1336

I wonder if Battlefront is regretting not doing their T-55 in plastic now? I can't think they are going to sell many of their resin and metal models at almost twice the cost, especially since the East German lists I've seen seem to be tending towards lots of T-55s.

Yeah, I do believe it was a serious miscalculation to not do something you can field 31 of in a normal list in plastic. At the same time, I also see where they just couldn't make it work out too. Consider:

1) The British were always going to sell strongly and needed a great deal of plastics
2) The plastics pipeline is busy with FoWv4 plastics and the new US and Soviet kit (again, strong sellers...likely more so than the DDR)
3) The WarPac was presently only the Soviets so they likely couldn't have put out say, the Canadians as a non-plastic intensive release as that'd have meant 4 NATO powers versus still just the 1 WarPac.

So if they wanted to keep TY releases going, the East Germans become a logical option, but production timeframes means they can't do the T-55AM in plastic. In a perfect world they might have been able to reach for it, but likely it's just the conclusion of a series of choices that made sense at the time backing them into the corner where it's do nothing or do resin. Good on PSC for seeing an opening in the market and getting themselves in there, IMO. I'm also likely going to end up picking these up because I just don't like large quantities of resin tanks; a handful I can deal with but more than a dozen is plastic or not happening, IMO.

I think their other similar miscalculation was the Leopard 1 in resin and the Leopard 2 in plastic. I understand the 2 is the far sexier tank and the kit itself was great, but in standard gameplay terms I can't see ever fielding more than 5-6 of them whereas the Leo1 is quite a bit more spammable and was used by pretty much every nation in that era that wasn't producing their own tanks/getting them for nearly-free. So...Leo1 next PSC?

I assume that this is for use with the Team Yankee game, right? What factions exist in that? I'm surprised they're making/made the East Germans instead of just a single book for all the occupied Warsaw Pact countries (ok.. maybe not surprised given it's Battlefront but rather disappointed).

The t-54/55 would seem to be a shoe in for a plastic kit or two given that it was both provided to many of the eastern bloc countries as well as PRODUCED in the thousands by several of them. It would seem like the obvious spammable choice in a low quality (by the 1980's setting) horde tank army and an obvious choice for a multiversion chock-full-of-bits plastic kit. Wasn't the t54/55 in all its forms and country variants the most produced tank ever beating out even the WW2 famous t-34?

 warboss wrote:
I assume that this is for use with the Team Yankee game, right? What factions exist in that? I'm surprised they're making/made the East Germans instead of just a single book for all the occupied Warsaw Pact countries (ok.. maybe not surprised given it's Battlefront but rather disappointed).

The t-54/55 would seem to be a shoe in for a plastic kit or two given that it was both provided to many of the eastern bloc countries as well as PRODUCED in the thousands by several of them. It would seem like the obvious spammable choice in a low quality (by the 1980's setting) horde tank army and an obvious choice for a multiversion chock-full-of-bits plastic kit. Wasn't the t54/55 in all its forms and country variants the most produced tank ever beating out even the WW2 famous t-34?

Presently the factions are:

1) US
2) Soviet
3) West German
4) British
5) East German

I believe it has been mentioned that the Canadians are on the roadmap, possibly in combination with the other Commonwealths. The big releases for the remainder of this year is the proper release of the US (book named Stripes) and Soviets (Red Thunder) where they're fleshing out more of the kit those nations used, and supposedly a good chunk of it in plastic.

On the T-55 itself, you are correct it is the most-produced tank of all time and was still the mainstay of most of the WarPac nations that weren't the Soviet Union. However, with the timeline being that the Soviets are the aggressors and the (very likely) scenario of NATO being almost entirely on the defensive and not pushing into Soviet territory, the T-55 would probably not be encountered as much as the proportional numbers in service suggest. Absent nuclear exchanges, it'd take a long time for NATO to burn through the Soviet stocks of T-80s, T-72s, and T-64s that would be in the spearpoint to hit the second-echelon forces other than the East Germans who would be helping "liberate" their fellows from the shackles of capitalism.

All the same, I'm glad PSC took the ball because you're also right that the #1 tank produced deserves to be in plastic.

I haven't been keeping up with Flames of War, but is PSC putting a dent in Battlefront's business? Seems like they're putting out a lot of kits for way less than BF.

I'd imagine so. Between them and Zvezda (who PSC sells via their UK site etc.), and the frequent downturn in Battlefront quality...I'd expect they're doing pretty well.

That being said, it's a double edged sword because PSC's continued business is now partially predicated on the popularity of games like TY or FoW.

 Elbows wrote:
Between them and Zvezda (who PSC sells via their UK site etc.), and the frequent downturn in Battlefront quality...I'd expect they're doing pretty well.

I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

Eumerin wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
Between them and Zvezda (who PSC sells via their UK site etc.), and the frequent downturn in Battlefront quality...I'd expect they're doing pretty well.

I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

Quantity has a quality all its own.

decker_cky wrote:
Quantity has a quality all its own.

Nice one.

***
I was going to start a TY Yugoslavia army with T-55s (using East German rules), but then discovered that Battlefront released them in resin instead of plastic. I looked at the quality and cost, and passed on that idea.

Until today. Until today.... Thank YOU Plastic Soldier Company!

Mez

Not sure how Battlefront expected people to pay $73 for 5 T-55s, but this is the outcome. Especially so considering the quality of Battlefront resins/metals have gone to crap, meanwhile their plastic kits are the best on scene.

Eumerin wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
Between them and Zvezda (who PSC sells via their UK site etc.), and the frequent downturn in Battlefront quality...I'd expect they're doing pretty well.

I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

From what I have seen it varies a lot between kits. There are some (the Zvezda M1 Abrams for instance) which is very light on detail. Others, like the BTR-80 are a really good little kit (although not as cheap as some of the other Zvezda range)

warboss wrote:I assume that this is for use with the Team Yankee game, right? What factions exist in that? I'm surprised they're making/made the East Germans instead of just a single book for all the occupied Warsaw Pact countries (ok.. maybe not surprised given it's Battlefront but rather disappointed).

The t-54/55 would seem to be a shoe in for a plastic kit or two given that it was both provided to many of the eastern bloc countries as well as PRODUCED in the thousands by several of them. It would seem like the obvious spammable choice in a low quality (by the 1980's setting) horde tank army and an obvious choice for a multiversion chock-full-of-bits plastic kit. Wasn't the t54/55 in all its forms and country variants the most produced tank ever beating out even the WW2 famous t-34?

I've got the impression that the East German release is a bit of a smaller one just to keep TY ticking over while FoW version 4 is released. I should imagine that game has swallowed up most of their production capacity, in the meantime all they have to do is release a new T55 kit, infantry and the chassis for the BDRM and Spandrel (which is the same for both kits).

Great thing is at least that there are so many other producers out there and growing for 80's/cold war; Khurosan, QRF and of course PSC.

Eumerin wrote:
I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

I agree that the Zvezda stuff isn't quite up to the same standard as BF or even PSC. IMO their main use is in cases were they produce plastic models for subjects that the other two don't. For example I just picked up a couple of Zvezda Dingo armored cars for my British Armoured Car platoon.

It depends on how much you want from your 15mm kit. The Zvezda WW2 tanks I assembled a couple of years ago were small essentially snap-together kits for about $3 a pop.

Some were sharper than others.






If you're a 15mm rivet-counter these won't sate you...as they're glorified snap-together pieces for the AoT boardgame from Zvezda. However for cheap effective tanks (particularly if you have some magic painting skills) they're completely fine.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

This is great news.

Sorry for getting this excited

but I've been waiting for something like this for ages. I've always wanted to run a UAR army for Fate of a Nation that was built around T-55 platoons, but the cost was always prohibitive.

Bless your heart PSC

One more item to note -

The new BF boxes contain cards explaining how to integrate the new vehicles into your Soviet battalions. I don't know if there's an option to do that with the T-55. But if there is, then these won't just be useful for TY NVA lists.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Pacific wrote:

I've got the impression that the East German release is a bit of a smaller one just to keep TY ticking over while FoW version 4 is released. I should imagine that game has swallowed up most of their production capacity, in the meantime all they have to do is release a new T55 kit, infantry and the chassis for the BDRM and Spandrel (which is the same for both kits).

It's more than that. Players have been complaining about the fact that there are three NATO nations, and only one Pact nation. This release addresses that.

Also, there are reasonable reasons to release each Pact nation seperately. All of them will need different infantry figures. And most of them have vehicles that are unique to that nation. For instance, the Romanians took the T-55, stretched the hull, and completely rebuilt it into a new tank.

 Krinsath wrote:
Presently the factions are:

1) US
2) Soviet
3) West German
4) British
5) East German

I believe it has been mentioned that the Canadians are on the roadmap, possibly in combination with the other Commonwealths. The big releases for the remainder of this year is the proper release of the US (book named Stripes) and Soviets (Red Thunder) where they're fleshing out more of the kit those nations used, and supposedly a good chunk of it in plastic.

On the T-55 itself, you are correct it is the most-produced tank of all time and was still the mainstay of most of the WarPac nations that weren't the Soviet Union. However, with the timeline being that the Soviets are the aggressors and the (very likely) scenario of NATO being almost entirely on the defensive and not pushing into Soviet territory, the T-55 would probably not be encountered as much as the proportional numbers in service suggest. Absent nuclear exchanges, it'd take a long time for NATO to burn through the Soviet stocks of T-80s, T-72s, and T-64s that would be in the spearpoint to hit the second-echelon forces other than the East Germans who would be helping "liberate" their fellows from the shackles of capitalism.

All the same, I'm glad PSC took the ball because you're also right that the #1 tank produced deserves to be in plastic.

Thanks for the recap on the factions. I would add though that tabletop games need/should cater to a variety of choices in army construction even in historical games. Just like you can take relatively rare tanks as a matter of course in FOW despite the rarity, the reverse should and does apply. I agree that by the 1980's they wouldn't be the tip of the soviet spear but I'm glad that they're apparently included as an option for those who may want to use them (and PSC providing a cheap plastic kit alternative).

Remember as well that Team Yankee is a representation of what is in the book, rather than what was actually lined up on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the 80's (the book author was just going on the info he had available at the time).

I believe there were a lot more T-80s rather than T-72 for instance, but this has only come to light following the collapse of the USSR.

However, I have heard that in future there will be releases beyond those of the book (BF would be fools not to release a plastic Apache at some point, for instance)

 Pacific wrote:
Remember as well that Team Yankee is a representation of what is in the book, rather than what was actually lined up on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the 80's (the book author was just going on the info he had available at the time).

I believe there were a lot more T-80s rather than T-72 for instance, but this has only come to light following the collapse of the USSR.

However, I have heard that in future there will be releases beyond those of the book (BF would be fools not to release a plastic Apache at some point, for instance)

The Apache was actually a couple of years after when the book was set. BF has indicated that they hope to get there eventually. But it's still in the unknown future. Stuff that was actually available in 1985 gets precedence.

As for the tanks in question, the tanks used has as much to do with what NATO knew as it does with what was deployed where. The game so far only has T-72s, but the primary Soviet armor in the book is T-62s (T-72s do appear, though, as do Polish T-55s). T-64s were known to NATO at the time, but not included in the novel. The T-80 will probably appear in Red Thunder, but it will be one of the earlier versions as opposed to, say, the T-80BV. The reason for that will be the same reason why the US has the M1, and not the M1A1 or M1IP.

IIRC, from previous discussions, the bulk of the T-64s and T-80s were historically in Northern Germany, whereas the US forces were further south.

Yeah, T-80 was not particularly common as it was a much more...engineered vehicle and cost noticeably more to produce and operate. As I recall, they were also in the north against the BAOR as they were viewed as the more difficult force to shift owing to terrain and equipment. Thus the "best" equipment was concentrated there.

T-55s do not appear to be being prepared for wider usage in TY as the box actually says "Panzer Kompanie" with DDR markings on it versus some boxes like the Spandrel which actually have the Soviet icons on the box art and the DDR card is in a pouch outside. It could also be they plan on "eventually" doing plastics for Poland perhaps down the road; hard to say. For me right now though, the PSC kit will be the way to go for that.

Plus, I also like that the PSC kit will make a variety of options so you can do other timeframes as well as the very tail end of the Cold War.

Eumerin wrote:


I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

If you mean the Abrams then that is by far Zvezdas worst 1\100 kit and not at all representative of their normal output. I've got a number of their WW2 kits and the quality is great. It's a softer plastic than PSC or Battlefront but once painted they look 90% as good as battlefront kits for 40% of the cost. If gaming on a budget or assembled a horde army they are well worth it.

 Krinsath wrote:
Yeah, T-80 was not particularly common as it was a much more...engineered vehicle and cost noticeably more to produce and operate. As I recall, they were also in the north against the BAOR as they were viewed as the more difficult force to shift owing to terrain and equipment. Thus the "best" equipment was concentrated there.

T-55s do not appear to be being prepared for wider usage in TY as the box actually says "Panzer Kompanie" with DDR markings on it versus some boxes like the Spandrel which actually have the Soviet icons on the box art and the DDR card is in a pouch outside. It could also be they plan on "eventually" doing plastics for Poland perhaps down the road; hard to say. For me right now though, the PSC kit will be the way to go for that.

Plus, I also like that the PSC kit will make a variety of options so you can do other timeframes as well as the very tail end of the Cold War.

You're damn right you can use T-55s in other time frames, which is why PSC will be getting a ton of cash from me.

I'm seriously tempted to blow my entire year's wargaming budget on these T-55s.

I've been waiting for these for ages. What the hell, let's live a little! Take my money!!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 LuciusAR wrote:

Eumerin wrote:


I'm not familiar with most of Zvezda's stuff, but the few examples of it that I've seen won't cause BF any sleepless nights. For instance, someone at my FLGS got both the Zvezda and the BF M1s. The BF product was clearly superior.

If you mean the Abrams then that is by far Zvezdas worst 1\100 kit and not at all representative of their normal output. I've got a number of their WW2 kits and the quality is great. It's a softer plastic than PSC or Battlefront but once painted they look 90% as good as battlefront kits for 40% of the cost. If gaming on a budget or assembled a horde army they are well worth it.

Yeah, their Ferdinand tank destroyers are quite good, and very cheap.

I have a FOW list where you can run a force which only requires a minimum of 3 Ferdinands.

At £15 it is the cheapest FOW I have ever seen. Mind you, it's horribly imbalanced, but any T-34 they hit gets turned into scrap metal.

 Krinsath wrote:
So if they wanted to keep TY releases going, the East Germans become a logical option, but production timeframes means they can't do the T-55AM in plastic. In a perfect world they might have been able to reach for it, but likely it's just the conclusion of a series of choices that made sense at the time backing them into the corner where it's do nothing or do resin.

It's another less than smart move on BF's part regarding plastics. Remember the Pzr IV fiasco? Then there's the T-34 missing a few small parts to make a fully plastic Obr-40/Obr-41, which BF released as a hybrid kit within a year of the kits release. The SU-100 kit is missing some very rudimentary parts to make an SU-100 and then there's this. The T-55 is already usable in Vietnam and Six Day War so this release would have made three armies that could use a plastic T-55. BF make nice plastic kits but they're so short sighted with their options sometimes.

Back to PSC. Good to see new stuff coming out. I hope their 15mm plastic Valentine and Universal Carrier follow soon, I have plans for a nice Lend lease Soviet force for FoW.

Zvesda's kits have really upped their game with recent releases. I have four of those Matilda IIs (in the pics above) and they're nice kits with not much detail than the BF resin. The 38(t) is a different model (Ausf D or earlier) to the PSC one but is not so great on the detail. The latest kits (like the SU-152) are really excellent.

 George Spiggott wrote:
The T-55 is already usable in Vietnam and Six Day War so this release would have made three armies that could use a plastic T-55.

That's a good point as I hadn't considered their other cold war lines/eras.

The Six Day War and Vietnam version is actually the T-54. While the external differences are pretty minor, they do exist. Something to keep in mind.

As for releasing the T-55 in plastic -

As discussed above, Battlefront already has a lot of plastics scheduled for this coming year. It's probably a logistical matter.

Eumerin wrote:
The Six Day War and Vietnam version is actually the T-54. While the external differences are pretty minor, they do exist. Something to keep in mind.

Remember we're talking about a fictional kit that BF would make to cover all three armies. However in Six Day War the UAE list (the one with Soviet tanks in it) allows for both T-54s and T-55s interchangeably and even the BF model uses T-54 and T-55 to describe the model. The BF Vietnam T-54 is identical to the Six Day War T-54/T-55, bar the external fuel tanks.

 George Spiggott wrote:

Eumerin wrote:
The Six Day War and Vietnam version is actually the T-54. While the external differences are pretty minor, they do exist. Something to keep in mind.

Remember we're talking about a fictional kit that BF would make to cover all three armies. However in Six Day War the UAE list (the one with Soviet tanks in it) allows for both T-54s and T-55s interchangeably and even the BF model uses T-54 and T-55 to describe the model. The BF Vietnam T-54 is identical to the Six Day War T-54/T-55, bar the external fuel tanks.

?

You might be.

*I* am talking about the very much soon to be real PSC T-55 kit that's being discussed in this thread, and which at least one person posting here has already stated will be the basis of a UAR army list from Fate of a Nation.

The Plastic Soldier wrote:
15mm modern Soviet T55 plastic kit availabe to pre-order!

5 model tanks in the box for rrp GBP 21.50. Options to build T55, T55A or T55AM2

Due for release 22nd April 2017, but preorder now to take advantage of the pre-order discount, be entered into a prize draw to win a platoon of five painted T55s (your choice of army and paint scheme), painted by the fair hand of our very own, award-winning Tim Harris, and of course to be among the first to get this sought after plastic loveliness!
check out Tim’s brushwork below and  on our Facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/ThePlasticSoldierCompany/photos/a.419352104839562.1073741828.419197241521715/1167670770007688/?type=3&theater

Available now to pre-order in the Plastic Soldier Company webstore:-

http://theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=93_94_95&products_id=1336

Man, if only Team Yankee was good, these would be awesome for that. Too bad Battlefront seems hellbent on not letting WARPAC have anything other than Confident Moron as a rating for the Communist Bloc

 MrMoustaffa wrote:


Man, if only Team Yankee was good, these would be awesome for that. Too bad Battlefront seems hellbent on not letting WARPAC have anything other than Confident Moron as a rating for the Communist Bloc

There are some really cracking Cold War rulesets out there. I use Fistful of TOWs for brigade or higher games and Nordic Weasel's No End in Sight for platoon level. The T-55 is also great for any sort of 20th century Bush War style games like AK-47.

On the subject of Zvezda quality, I understand they are much better with the Eastern bloc kit (they are officially licensed by the Russian Army). PSC is also pretty excellent in my opinion and I love the fact you get a bunch of different variants in the box; pretty essential considering the tank has been in use by various countries for some 60 years or something

Eumerin wrote:
*I* am talking about the very much soon to be real PSC T-55 kit that's being discussed in this thread, and which at least one person posting here has already stated will be the basis of a UAR army list from Fate of a Nation.

In which case the T-55 is explicitly listed as an option in that list.