T-55A Rye Field Models (1/35)

[Old Wombat]

A child-soldier TC ... That's scary!

[Wardukw]

Man I wish I could paint figures like that 😫

Love it matey 👍..great stuff 😀

[frank2056]

Thanks, guys! For these figures (all African) I used a modified version of the Buzzbomb version. I used a rust color primer then mixed a darker skin tone on top of that and highlighted the shadows with an even darker wash. I used a small amount of light skin color for the eyes 9almost white) and used the sharp end of some tweezers for the pupils.

[NARSES2]

and used the sharp end of some tweezers for the pupils.

And a steady hand. Eyes, the hardest thing to paint in any scale. Great job 

[zenrat]

A child-soldier TC ... That's scary!

But unfortunately, in some parts of the world it was/is reality.

[Old Wombat]

A child-soldier TC ... That's scary!

But unfortunately, in some parts of the world it was/is reality.

I'm aware of them being used as disposable infantry but I haven't seen any images of them as tankers, that type of role's usually reserved for the warlord's die-hard adult supporters.

[scooter]

A child-soldier TC ... That's scary!

But unfortunately, in some parts of the world it was/is reality.

I'm aware of them being used as disposable infantry but I haven't seen any images of them as tankers, that type of role's usually reserved for the warlord's die-hard adult supporters.

Perhaps this particular warlord sticks his favorites in more "advanced" armor, like T-62/72, T-64; this particular child soldier has proved himself both competent and sufficiently motivated to the warlord's cause, so said warlord is grooming him for a position in his "ee-leet" armored corps.

[frank2056]

I saw a picture of a child tanker - I don't think he was a TC, but either the driver or other crew.
This isn't it - the tank is probably a wreck:

[kerick]

Are child soldiers in many parts of the world any different than kids in gangs on inner city streets? They still get killed. I live near Chicago and its a war zone.

[Wardukw]

Are child soldiers in many parts of the world any different than kids in gangs on inner city streets? They still get killed. I live near Chicago and its a war zone.

The only real difference Ken is that African child soldiers use RPG-7s ..PKM machine guns as well as AK/AKM 47s ..a few other guns that the gangs there won't have of course but I won't bother naming them
Other than that..not much difference really .

[buzzbomb]

A+ all over Frank.. that really works

[frank2056]

Thanks for all the comments!

I'm calling the tank done - before I break off the radio antenna for the fourth time...

The ammo belt for the DShK is barely visible in this picture, but the kit part - like the rest of the kit - are sharp and well molded so the rounds were easy to paint:



TC and driver enjoying some lollipops:



The track on this side is actually good - some links are a bit stiff and keep moving into a spot where they're not resting as they should:





Overall, this was a great kit. Some assemblies seemed to go on forever, but the kit is well molded and goes together smoothly. With some care, the working, movable tracks actually move and don't fall apart.


I was going to add a couple of adult figures from the Trumpeter African Freedom Fighters set, but like all the Trumpeter figures, they barely look human - randomly out of scale or have distorted proportions. I knew this going in and bought the set mainly for the excellent weapons (two of which the the child soldiers are carrying)

Two of the figures had heads that looked OK; some surgery might correct their bodies. The two guys on the left are the plastic Frankensteins: The guy with the camo pants kept the Trumpeter head and torso (heavily modified). The arms were a combination of several arms from the set, plus some generic hands. The pants are from a Heller figure set, the lower legs are from yet another set.



This is what I wanted to build, but I realized that the Trumpeter figure's chest was too flat for the arms to work in that position. Maybe if he'd been run over by a tank...:



The guy with the hoodie is using the original kit parts, except for the feet - the original feet were too big, even for a 1/32 figure. This guy had forearms shortened to human lengths and the torso shortened as well. He still looks unnatural. I ended up putting both figures aside; they were too much work, especially compared to the Minart figures:

[Wardukw]

A absolute beauty Frank 😍..the figures are superb 👍

[frank2056]

Thanks, Phill! This is a great kit and I enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

[Wardukw]

Thanks, Phill! This is a great kit and I enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

Soon ish  I'll have my hands on two Takom T-55's and I'll be quite interested to see what their like .