Compared ACE's kit is a T-55. They came with further variants, T-54, T-59 and OT-55 later. PST has released two kits: one is a T-55, the other makes a T-54 or a T-54A. The T54 is identifiable by the 10-spoke wheels, plain gun tube, DShK machine gun for the commander. The T54A uses a different gun with fume extractor at the muzzle. This gun is also used on the T-55, which has "starfish" pattern wheels, DShK not used, and a different turret. Both turrets and guns are supplied in each PST kit, but no spare road wheels, so whichever one you want buy the right one.

Parts breakdown:

The breakdown of parts is very similar for both ACE and PST. I guess form follows function. Both kits have a lower hull comprising of belly, sides and rear. 10 separate swing arms are attached, and the road wheels next. Both kits have link and length tracks, and a one-piece upper hull that includes mudguards. Both kits have similar hull detail in the form of fuel tanks and tool bins. The PST kits feature trunnion pieces to give an elevating gun, on the ACE it's DIY.

PST is the clear winner here, their kits are conventional injection molding while ACE are limited run. The ACE kit does suffer from poor molding.

Fit of parts:

A lot of work for the ACE kit. The very first step is attaching the hull sides to the belly. Only a moderate amount of cleaning up required. Next, to give the wheels somewhere to hang, are the swing arms. These need a lot of fitting. By "fitting" I mean the trade definition, removal of material by trial (dry assembly) and error to make A fit B. The swing arms are supposed to have a rectangular peg or key on the hull end to fit in the vertical slot in the belly, as you would expect from ACE the pegs are sort of round, and the slots are half full of flash. Each swing arm on the right side is further forward than the corresponding left one, this stagger is normal for a vehicle with torsion bar suspension (except Tigers and Panthers, incidentally). The axle ends of the swing arms have to be level and aligned, and while the intention of the pegs and slots is just that, in practice you need to line them up by eye.

The road wheels are somewhere inside huge amounts of flash. There are 12 inners and 8 outers, not 10 of each. There are 2 small hubcaps, to convert 2 of the inners to outers. Wheel preparation begins with filing the back of the wheels flat. There are supposed to be 5 small holes in each wheel, I put a 1mm drill through them to clean them up, and then used a second drill bit as alignment pins to line up and glue the wheel inner and outer back to back, clamped by a clothes peg. When set, there followed lots of filing to get the pair circular. More drilling is required in the back of the inner wheels because, you guessed it, this is too small for the stub axle. By this stage a test fit on the stub axles was in order. The last four road wheels on each side are supposed to be close (with no.1 spaced out more) but there was too much gap between wheels 4 and 5 and test fitting of the sprockets showed that there was a problem looming. The solution was to shift both no.5 swing arms forward.

The tracks are the worst part of this kit. They vary in thickness and there is no inner detail apart from the horns. To fit them to the sprocket it is necessary to remove half the sprocket teeth. The rest of the tracks aren't all that difficult. The rubber band trick works here too.

The upper hull fitted ok on the sides, but there was a big gap at the nose of the tank. The general technique is not to try to clamp everything at once. Instead sneak up on it. Where the hull fits, it gets glued. As long as that is in the right spot, fine. When set, force the next section into place, glue and clamp it.

PST's T-55 by comparison just about falls together. The hull belly/side assembly is idiot-proof. The swing arms slot in where they are supposed to, and you only have to check that the axles are lined up. The sprockets have teeth on one segment only, these obviously have to be installed one way. One problem I found was that the indexing of the sprocket halves was out 45 degrees, meaning that if the teeth on the inner were facing north, the teeth on the outer would be facing north-east. Other reviewers have stated that the design of PST's tracks aren't correct for the T-55. To be honest I don't know, however the detail is better than ACE's tracks.

There are supposed to be handrails on the turret sides. ACE's instructions say "make from copper wire". All you need is a 0.5mm drill bit, and a roll of fuse wire. There are dimples to tell you where to drill, I drilled right through the turret. I then put a loop of wire through the adjacent holes and bent the ends over. Easy enough. PST supply handrails, I used these on the first PST I made, but used fuse wire anyway on the next. It's just as easy and more robust.

The rest is a matter of installing hull and turret detail. The ACE T-55 has more spotlights than a hotted-up Hyundai. There is a big one on the turret front, a smaller light beside it, one on the turret rear and the commander has one of his own on the cupola. I found some photos showing these two largest lights fitted with metal covers, so they will appear the same color as the rest of the tank. There is also a stowage tube which is supposed to go on the left side of the turret, but I found that with this in place it makes it very difficult to install a turret number decal, so the tube got left off.

Two poor efforts on the PST are the 3 turret lifting hooks and the commander's hatch. These hooks just aren't right, and required a bit of carving to get in the approximate shape. The commander's hatch looks like it came off a 1/144 kit. It is decidedly undersize. Lastly is PST's main gun taper, the muzzle end looks a wee bit anorexic.

Cam and Markings:

We are talking post-war Soviet stuff here, don't expect anything exciting. Any color you like as long as it's plain green with white turret numbers. Or sand for a Gulf War A10 target. ACE's paint and decal options are pretty much just that, although there are some Arabic logos. Shown here is a suggested scheme: Polish markings with the "hot cross bun" treatment, as used in Czechoslovakia in spring, 1968.

Overlord’s note:
Newer ACE kits include improved wheel and track sprues!