T-55A Finnish Army, 1986 (1:72)

The T-55 was a medium tank with a very distinguishing 5-road-wheel chassis. There was a noticeable space between the first and second wheel and there were no return rollers. A dome-shaped turret sat on a low silhouette hull and lacks the right-hand cupola and turret dome ventilator. The T-55 was fairly well armed with a 100 mm rifle-bore main gun equipped with a bore evacuator at the muzzle. Further armament was a 7.62 mm coaxial gun and the �A� version lacked the bow machine gun. The T-55 is a very mobile and stable gun platform for the high-velocity main gun. All total there were approximately 95,000 of these tanks produced in all variants making this the most produced tank series in history.

In 1966 the Finnish Army acquired 70 Soviet T-55 tanks. A few of these tanks were T-55k Command versions along with several equipped with the BTU55 bull dozer blades. The BTU55 version of the blade was only 1.4 tonnes as compared to the 2.3 tonnes of the earlier Russian blades made in the mid 1950s. The device on the leading edge of the blade is a depth regulator that prevents the blade from digging in too far and stopping the tank progress. The bull dozer was designed for breaching anti-tank obstacles as well as other engineering requirements. In 1981 all the Finnish tanks received a new 3-tone splinter paint scheme consisting of a dark green, a light green and a black. The Finnish national insignia was painted on each side of the turret. In 1989 Finland modernized their T-55s up to T-55M standards. This meant a new fire control system FCS-FV/K, new tracks, side skirts, NSVT machine gun, Wegmann 76mm smoke grenade launchers, Lyran 71mm mortar and more. In late 1990s it was decided that the Finnish Army T-55s and other tanks were too old and outdated for yet another modernization so in 2002 an agreement was reached with Germany to purchase 124 used Leopard 2A4 MBTs to replace the Finn�s T-54, T-55 and T-72s.

T-55A Specifications

Crew 4

Weights
Weight: 36.6 tons (33203 kg)
Ground pressure: 12.66 lb/in sq. (0.89 kg/cm sq.)

Dimensions
Length: 29.5 ft (9.0 m) with gun � 21.1 ft (6.45 m) without gun
Width: 11.8 ft (3.60 m)
Height: 7.6 ft (2.32 m)

Powerplant
Model V-55 diesel, 520 hp (390 kW), 12cylinder, 38.88 liter water cooled
Power/weight ratio: 14 hp/tonne

Performance
Operational range: 248.5/310.7 mi (400/500 km) � with drop tanks 372.8 mi (600 km)
Maximum road speed: 31.06 mph (50 km/h)
Maximum off-road speed: 21.75 mph (35 km/h)
Average cross-country speed: 15.5 mph (25 km/h)
Fording depth: Normal � 4.6 ft (1.4 m)
With snorkel � 18 ft (5.5 m)

Armament
Armour: 6.69/7.99 in (170/203 mm)
Gun: 3.94 in (100 mm) rifled gun, D-10T2S
Auxiliary armament: .3 in (7.62 mm) (7.62 X 54R) Machine Gun SGM-T/PKT
Mounted armament: .5 in (12.7 mm) (12.7 X 108R) AA MG DShKM