Going to be nice one !

Dash from Canada

Lookin' good! 

And the IS-2 was just a mean looking tank, low-slung chassis and a giant honkin' gun. Looking forward to seeing how she turns out. 

I like the look of these things too. I alsways have it in the back of my mind: what might have happened if the Israelis had gotten ahold of a bunch of these things?

I like the big gun, low silhouette look.

A bit more: some basic assembly, prepping for the RB barrel, and some texturing and detailing on the front hull casting, mainly to emphasize the crudely removed casting plugs. Still thinking about how much fender damage to do, but definitely plan on some.

IMG_0426 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

RBaer

I like the look of these things too. I alsways have it in the back of my mind: what might have happened if the Israelis had gotten ahold of a bunch of these things?

My own guess is that big slow and hard to load tanks didn't fit Israeli operational strategy.

GMorrison

 

 

RBaer

I like the look of these things too. I alsways have it in the back of my mind: what might have happened if the Israelis had gotten ahold of a bunch of these things?

 

 

 

accd to Wiki, Egypt had 100 IS-3Ms until 1967 war. Israel captured 3 and tried them as turret bunkers.

 

My own guess is that big slow and hard to load tanks didn't fit Israeli operational strategy.

 

 

Agreed, no real benefit to using them.

So a bit more today, I added the mold cut on the turret and did some more texturing. I also thinned the fenders from the underside and trimmed the rear fenders.

IMG_0429 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0430 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0428 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0427 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

A bit more: fenders severely thinned from the underside, losts of shaving and sanding involved, and since the vast majority of in-action pics I have show no tools or exterior fuel tanks, I just added the brackets for each. The saw bracket is from a T-34 set, other bits are scrap.

IMG_0431 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0431 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Tojo72

Nice job on the texturing

 

That is really looking good. 

More fun: fuel tank straps, fenders damaged slightly, horn and light on and  wired, and a few fittings on the hull. I put the running gear on for the pics, and because it's too cool looking......

A few more bits on the hull and it's turret time.

IMG_0436 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0435 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0434 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0433 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Everything looks good, like the missing fuel drums. 

VERY nice! That kit looks killer--the old DML ones are a royal PITA to build--you have to put spacers in around the entire hull to raise it away from the tracks, lest they rub the bottoms of the fenders.A real dimensional snafu.

G, Karl: thanks. I'm having fun on this one, always a good thing.

Karl, I built the old Dragon kit when it was new and wondered why the tracks were up against the fenders, figured something was off. Wouldn't mind scoring another one though, I have a project in mind.....

RBaer

G, Karl: thanks. I'm having fun on this one, always a good thing.

Karl, I built the old Dragon kit when it was new and wondered why the tracks were up against the fenders, figured something was off. Wouldn't mind scoring another one though, I have a project in mind.....

 

I recall that. My idea was to mate the Tamiya lower hull to the "early" Dragon upper hull, but it might be wiser to just wait for a conversion for the Tamiya kit.

Thanks Rob. The 1/35 version is a sweet kit, very well engineered and typical late Tamiya parts fit. I'm enjoying it immensely, especially after all the fit and cleanup issues with the Academy Magach I just almost finished.

So here's a poorly focused pic of the fender-mounted tool box, with a bit of PE, all I've done lately:

IMG_0437 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

She's looking good. Those tool box handles are the sort of stuff I shoot all over the room or they fall into oblivion.

A guy on another forum pointed me towards some crazy reference pics, mainly showing some horrible casting lugs and nasty welds on what appear to be late-build tanks, but also some small details on the hull that I missed, such as turret ring drain holes and a huge weld bead and drain hole on the driver's splash guard, so I added those. I also added some rivets on the front fender mounts, then went on to the turret. I deepened the torch cuts where the casting lugs were removed and did some texturing on the TC's cupola and thinned the front of the mantlet rain cover. Geting close to paint!

IMG_0441 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0440 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0438 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0439 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

More later!

Way to go, Russ!

Those Russian tanks really do have some spots on their castings that just look terrible. Then again they wern't buildt for good looks, just to kill some Germans!

Once I was talking to a SS anti-tank unit veteran and he told me: People think it's propaganda, because we report three tanks destroyed, where the Russians only report one destroyed. But in fact it was like that - he said: We knock out a tank one day, they tow it back in the night, weld over the hole, mop up the bloody mess inside, new crew and next day the tank is back on the line, where we knock it out again, repeat. This way we knock it out N times, and they lost only one!

Anyhow - good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks, Pawel, and good, if grisly, info!

Thank you for sharing.  You're doing a great job!

Toshi

Thank you Toshi. Lotso' fun here, for sure. I really like this kind of modeling, almost dreading paint....

Anyway, here's some casting marks, made from sprue markings.

IMG_0442 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0443 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Still too windy here to paint, so I started back-dating the glacis on an old Tamiya T-72 the other day, and looking for some good plan views of the turret so I could "correct" the kit part. Oops.....

She's coming along great! 

Base coat's on, Krylon "camo green".

IMG_0446 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_0447 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Hello Russ!

Lookin' good! This tank is kinda special for me because there are a couple of them in my home town. One in a museum I used to visit with my grandpa and my pops:

There's is also a second on they have in running condition(!) at the military school:

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł