Really bad weapons...

[dragoon500ly]

The owner said he had a choice between a T-54 and an M48A3 Patton and decided on the former due to cost concerns and parts availability. Also, the steel tracks were replaced by rubber-shod Centurion. He was specific (and proud) of his baby and spent time talking about engine rebuilds and the boxes on the turret sides and pretty much everything, it's difficult to see it was originally a training tank not coming up.

Well, what you have here is your basic T-54A, with some modified storage boxes. May even be a Czech copy, although you need to look at the rear deck for sure. Not sure about the Centurion tracks, at the very least it would require major replacement of the sprokets which could lead to trannie issues.

The position on the right side of the turret is the loaders.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Well, what you have here is your basic T-54A, with some modified storage boxes. May even be a Czech copy, although you need to look at the rear deck for sure. Not sure about the Centurion tracks, at the very least it would require major replacement of the sprokets which could lead to trannie issues.

The position on the right side of the turret is the loaders.

Lee,

Well, there you go. The tank was licence-built by the Czechs, and the tracks were from a Centurion. I don't know if he had problems with them or not!

Tony

[dragoon500ly]

There is a story that floats around about the difference in quaility control between made-in-the-USSR and those copies made in Poland/Czech Republic.

When the first T-54s were sold to the Warsaw Pact, the engines were blowing at fairly short intervals.

The story goes that a Polish engineer, ordered to fix the problem, took apart several of the Soviet-made engines, and discovered, about 15kgs or so of metal grit, burrs, and other debris in the engines. It was reported in some engines, that it looked like the Soviet factory workers drilled holes into the metal, and instead of sweeping the debris away, simply pushed it into the interior of the engine, some of the oil lines were so blocked with debris, that oil could not flow.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

There is a story that floats around about the difference in quaility control between made-in-the-USSR and those copies made in Poland/Czech Republic.

When the first T-54s were sold to the Warsaw Pact, the engines were blowing at fairly short intervals.

The story goes that a Polish engineer, ordered to fix the problem, took apart several of the Soviet-made engines, and discovered, about 15kgs or so of metal grit, burrs, and other debris in the engines. It was reported in some engines, that it looked like the Soviet factory workers drilled holes into the metal, and instead of sweeping the debris away, simply pushed it into the interior of the engine, some of the oil lines were so blocked with debris, that oil could not flow.

Lee,

Ha, the guy told me the same story, literally! Not surprising, I guess.

Tony

[HorseSoldier]

I've heard similar on Soviet ATGMs -- story being that after the Wall came down US technical intelligence guys got their hands on a lot of them care of the former DDR. Test firing them yielded a surprisingly high dud and misfire rate, owing to apparently very low end quality control.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

I've heard similar on Soviet ATGMs -- story being that after the Wall came down US technical intelligence guys got their hands on a lot of them care of the former DDR. Test firing them yielded a surprisingly high dud and misfire rate, owing to apparently very low end quality control.

HS,

I heard the same thing as well for US-supplied M72 LAW rockets that had been stored in Egypt for over a decade. The warheads and fuses were fine but the rocket motors misfired at a high rate. Not to say the Soviet-built weapons weren't rubbish, but apparently rocket motors have a very high failure rate over time due to chemical processes.

Tony

[HorseSoldier]

Strangely, I used to date a girl years ago whose mother owned a company that made pretty good money doing surveillance on warehoused rockets and missiles, mostly (from what I gathered) watching for signs that the fuels were decaying or leaking. Apparently a pretty involved process.