Still requires National Markings and a vehicle number, external stowage and spare tracks, the A-frame boom rigged and a deck roof winch fitted and finally, weathering.
This started as someone else's build, a standard SU-85 decaled but not painted.
In noodling what to do with it, I came across this tidbit -
According to Weibo, when the USSR handed over the Lushun base to PLA control it left behind three SU-100T ARVs and these vehicles were very popular with the PLA. At the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing stands an SU-100 which has been converted into an ARV. Special features include winches, a redesigned radio station, replacement of the periscopes, and a firing port for Type 56 submachine guns. This vehicle appears to be a unique Chinese conversion of an SU-100. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/category/chinese-cold-war-mbts/Digging deeper,
A distinctive second ‘cupola’ in place of the original loader’s hatch. The original hatch was removed and a simple steel cylinder fitted over the hatch hole. Some of these cupolas had crudely made vision slits (apparently without optics or even simple glass) although others did not feature vision slits (meaning these are more accurately described as ‘superstructures’). On top was a crude hatch door, and a mount for a Type 54 machine gun, apparently a copy of the T-54’s mount. Some ‘Type 58s’ also had a small ‘V’ shape (as viewed from above) piece of metal welded at the front, connecting both cupolas, but not all have this feature. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/China/Type-58-MBT.php Seems to me that it fit in well with the PAVN M113, just the sort of one-off ARV that a PAVN Mechanized Infantry Regiment would have for maintenance missions.
Edited to add: no reason the Vietnamese couldn't/wouldn't have known about that Chinese ARV and been inspired to do their own thing.
Conversion required 1) lopping off the main gun, 2) building up the front glacis, 3) repurposing the gunner's roof deck doghouse into a crew hatch, 4) adding a T-34/85 cupola, 5) and a driver's periscope (on the front glacis). Last was the A-frame and assorted stowage boxes.
The lower hull needed T55-style roadwheels, so a set taken from a LINDBERG kit had the holes for their torsion bar mounts opened up.
