Run! Hide your graphics card! It's the huge, mutant, gamma-irradiated forum post of doom!
Please let me know if I should...ahem...use less pictures in the future.
Anyway, on to the finale of my build of Tamiya's 1/35 JS-3. When last you saw the JS-3, I was (I think) just finished with the painting, but had not moved on to varnishing and decalling yet. In the proceeding 3+ weeks, I've completely finished the build, except for some small features which I'll have to add at some point in the future. So here's how things went:
Decalling:
The decalling stage of the build caused me a lot of grief compared with the rest of the build. After I varnished with Testor's aerosol Glosscote, I started out planning on using some of Verlinden's dry transfer decals I had (VER 488). I decided on this because I had previously experienced Tamiya's well known problems with thick decals.
Upon trying to use the dry transfers however, they drove me crazy. First of all, none of the number fonts were a direct match to the Tamiya decal font. Second, you all but sneezed on them and they would start transfering to the backing paper. This made it difficult to find a way to hold to the decal sheet while cutting them out. The fresh #11 blade also caused decal transference very easily. Then, I had to position the decals flush on the back of a piece of masking paper, which was well nigh impossible. After a lot of hair pulling, I accidentally ripped off most of the transfered decals on the second side of the turret. Needless to say, I decided to throw in the towel on dry transfers this time around.
After crossing my fingers, I applied the Tamiya decals. I was pleasantly suprised by how nicely the decals laid down, with no silvering, and no discernible edge. I think my success with the Tamiya decals is due in large part to patiently allowing the decal solutions to really absorb, react with the decal, and dry naturally. In the past I basically dabbed all of the setting and softening solutions off without letting them evaporate naturally. BTW, if anyone's curious, I use Badger's decal solutions.
Washes, Filters, and Oil Products:
After decalling but before varnishing again, I applied pin washes using Mig Productions' Deep Green Wash (P302), and Moss Green Wash (P305). After the pin washes, I varnished again (this time Testors aerosol Dullcote). I then applied a more or less uniform and unfiltered coat of Mig Productions'/Sin Industries' filter, Green for Allied Tanks (P425). This went on well, and I noticed a nice increase in tonal harmony and depth. Yes Bish, after a second look, I did notice an increase in tonal depth. Or I imagined it, I don't know 
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After the filter, I started on the streaking grime. Here, I think I may have made a mistake. I did not apply another layer of varnish to the model to protect the filter before I started with the streaking grime. I think it caused the filter to become muddled and combined with the filter a bit. If there's anyone still reading this far into the massive wall of text, could you let me know what you think on this point? Well, back to the streaking grime. I used AK Interactive's Rust Streaks (AK013) and Dark Streaking Grime for Green (AK024). Everything went as planned, except for the possible problems with the filter mentioned above.
Pigments:
After the oil products, I sprayed the model again with Testors aerosol Dullcote. I then started on the pigment weathering process. For the dirt/mud I used Mig Productions' Dark Mud (P033), Russian Earth (P034), Dry Mud (P232), and AK Interactive's North Africa Dust (AK041). The pigment I used the most was Dry Mud, as you can probably tell from the pictures. I used Mig Productions' pigment fixer (P249) for binding the pigments.
For the tracks, I basically copied Mig Jimenez's techniques from here: http://www.migjimenez.com/en/module/csblog/detailpost/14-2-finishing-tracks-with-ammo-products.html
For the rest of the lower hull, I alternated between applying the pigment fixer first, and applying the pigments first. 
Something I have noticed is that pigment fixer is only useful on areas where you are planning to have heavy mud, like the underside of the vehicle. If you use it on areas where it does not completely absorb into pigment, it gets nasty semi-glossy coffee ring effect. Does anyone else know about this? If you've read this far, and you know what I'm talking about. could you leave a reply?
After learning about the translucent glossy coffee ring effect, I ended up primarily just applying pigments straight to the surface on the upper hull and turret. Where I needed a little bit of extra grip I used some white spirit.
I added some fuel and oil spatter effects using mixtures of AK Interactive's Track Wash (AK083), Dark Streaking Grime for Green (AK024), and AMMO's Wet Effects (A-MIG 2015) thinned with white spirit. I also added a tiny smidgen of AK Interactive's black pigment (AK039) to the muzzle brake.
Here are some photos when I was still in the process of adding pigments to the hull. I have included the undirtied turret for comparison: 
After the pigments, I tried to figure out what to do about the headlights. It tried self adhesive glitter things, but none of them looked accurate to the real headlights. Then I decided to try plastic headlight inserts. Unfortunately I had lost my set of clears from the Tamiya kit. While looking though I found my completely unused clear fret from my last build, Dragon's M7 Priest Early Production (DML 6627). One of the headlight pieces was just the right size! I used a little bit of silver paint in the hollow behind the headlight piece. Let me tell you, clear headlight parts work great! I couldn't have been happier with the result.
Conclusion: I'm quite happy with the final appearance of the model, however, I believe that there are probably some accuracy issues. For starters, the 1945 JS-3 production model with toolboxes always had extra tracks mounted on the pike nose (I think). I didn't use the Tamiya plastic ones because they looked unrealistic. I would have used some extra Friuls, but there seemed to be some kind of mounting brace which did not look like something I could easily scratchbuild. Secondly, I ended up scrapping my set of Eureka XXL tow cables because, despite annealing them, they remained stiff and difficult to position. This caused them to become near impossible to affix in a realistic looking way on the model (in addition to making the plastic tow cable mountings break numerous times). So my model is missing the extra tracks on the pike nose and the tow cables. Finally, the amount of weathering I applied is probably unrealistic given that the war would have been over (especially the slightly blackened muzzle brake).
These possible accuracy issues are most likely less glaring than I am making them out to be. Given my difficulty in finding any concrete data on JS-3 production types, I'm guessing very few people will know enough about the specs to be able to call me out on any of the points. Who knows, maybe at some point in time there was in fact a JS-3 Mod. 1945 covered in dirt without extra tracks mounted? Maybe some factories didn't add the tracks? The one thing I'm most dissapointed about are the tow cables. That's something that's basically been on every tank ever, and its absence will be pretty noticeable. What do you think of these possible accuracy errors (if you have read this far)?
There are also some things I will need to add in the future, including the DsHk machine gun and the antenna. Despite all that complaining, I like the way the JS-3 turned out!
Here are the pics of the finished (but for the DsHk and antenna) build:
