The Iraqi T55 Enigma in 1/35...

With the excellent reputation of their T55, it is a pleasure to see Tamiya adapt it to make this new kit for the uparmoured Iraqi version, the 'Enigma'.  They came as one of those unusual bits of armour to turn up during the first Gulf war, back in 1991.  For visitors to the Tank Museum at Bovington, there is of course one on display there since that time.  It will of course be a disappointment for those companies who made resin conversion kits for it, but Tamiya have now taken the plunge and released it in plastic.

Moulded in a sand coloured plastic, the basic kit has the T55 as before, but with additional parts for the different variant.  The upper hull is altered to have the frames for the extra armour to be fitted to the hull sides and the front glacis plate, and these are moulded onto the track guards.  The extra armour panels on the sides are bulky and add a good deal of width to the whole model.  Then of course there are the frames and extra armour blocks for the turret as well, plus the covers for the searchlights which are quite characteristic of the Iraqi operated vehicles.  Turret hatches can be modelled open of course, and tempting to do one left abandoned and later covered with graffiti, as seen on the captured examples later returned to the UK.

One or two mould seams to be removed in places but the fit of parts is excellent, as we expect from Tamiya.  Track is their usual single piece vinyl, so many modelelrs will choose to replcae them with single link metal or plastic sets of individual links. The look of the finished model is very distinctive and I think Tamiya have picked a winner with this one.  They have also added an extra commander figure to go with it.  No markings, as was common on the ones that were encountered.