Two Iosif Stalin 2s (IS-2) - Russian Heavy Tank - 1/48 Tamiya & 1/72 Italeri *Finished* and in the Gallery + now with Vignette base!

[PlaStix]

I've spent a fair bit of time on this today but you wouldn't think so - primarily because there's only one photo from this morning's work and the work was mostly doing jobs like painting the remaining parts with a base coat of Humbrol's Army Green and starting some weathering. This morning I also got the upper and lower hull parts glued together.

This afternoon I got some washes of Revell's Gunship Grey and Anthracite applied and then dry-brushed the turret, main gun and the smaller parts with a lightened version of Army Green - but I didn't take any photos.

More tomorrow I hope.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Ozzy]

Sometimes one photo is all you need, nice progress she certainly looks a nice tank.

[PlaStix]

Sometimes one photo is all you need, nice progress she certainly looks a nice tank.

Hi Ozzy and thank you. I've also got to thank you because, having seen the figures you are using for your T-34 build, I was wondering if there were any similar in 1/48 and low and behold - in a model shop earlier this week I found:

I was well chuffed. Not only that, they come with these:

.........some of which I will use as stowage on the IS-2.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Ozzy]

Nice find Stix,

You get 3 sets in 1 with the 1/48 set, if the moulding is like the 1/35 set then they will be an enjoyable build.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Figures eh?

[GREG DESTEC]

Good progress Stix I am pleased to see you are going to add figures to your tank. For some reason i think armour needs a figure to set it off more than aircraft models for example. It just appears to "complete" the model. This opinion is probably coloured by my youth when i carried out large battles with Airfix 1/76 tanks and figures or the old Tamiya 1/35 kits that always had a couple of soldiers or crewmen in their kits. I look forward to your next update, Cheers Greg

[PlaStix]

Nice find Stix,

You get 3 sets in 1 with the 1/48 set, if the moulding is like the 1/35 set then they will be an enjoyable build.

Cheers Ozzy - I was pleased when I saw it looked similar to your set - the figures look nice but there's quite a few seam lines to get rid of........nothing too bad though.

Figures eh?

Yep - although I won't be using all of them - got plans for more 1/48 armour builds!

Good progress Stix I am pleased to see you are going to add figures to your tank. For some reason i think armour needs a figure to set it off more than aircraft models for example. It just appears to "complete" the model. This opinion is probably coloured by my youth when i carried out large battles with Airfix 1/76 tanks and figures or the old Tamiya 1/35 kits that always had a couple of soldiers or crewmen in their kits. I look forward to your next update, Cheers Greg

Thank you Greg. I totally agree - figures do add a certain something to AFV builds and I always like it when kits include a figure or two.

I've made more progress today. This morning I carried on adding some base weathering - rust, stains, streaks etc. before I turned my attention to the stripes that needed to be applied to the turret. I decided I would mask the areas off and apply them with a stippling brush rather than actually painting them. I reckoned this might give a rougher more varied look. In the process of masking I managed to break two of the grab handles I had been so careful in fitting! These were repaired after the stripes were finished. Luckily the version I'm building had really rough stripes - these were not easy to mask!

Anyway just one photo from this morning's session - it includes some of the other bits and pieces which are almost ready to be fitted:

I did some more work this afternoon but I'll post the photos tomorrow.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Looking good.....Need to see it with that honking great gun in place to fully appreciate it's true monstrousness!

God I love those things.....I mean, just look at it!

[PlaStix]

Hi Sarge. You are absolutely correct - these do look magnificent in themselves but with that huge gun in place it was a fearsome looking beast. Later on today I hope to post some pics I took yesterday with the gun in place!

Kind regards,

Stix

[PlaStix]

Yesterday afternoon I made a bit more progress with this build, including getting the numbers on the sides of the turret. I was going to use the decals until I saw how clean and white they are compared to how I'd managed to get the stripes to look so rough and worn. I therefore decided I would paint them. The numbers and stripes on the on the original tank where obviously roughly hand painted so I figured they'd look better done in this way anyway. I painted them with a very fine brush and started with the paint extremely thinned down with water and I slowly built up the layers. I have to say I'm reasonably happy with them - I held the decal versions next to where I was painting so I could copy them - they are distinctly different on each side. Following that I did a test fitting of the gun and started to add some of the smaller parts - fuel drums, tool box, saw etc. There's still a few bits to attach.

At this point, because the light where I usually take my RFI photos was quite good later yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a few photos and got carried away! A few views from above first:

I have to say the detail on these 1/48 kits is really good on their own but I think the Hauler photo-etch has really added to the appearance. It also makes painting and weathering more straight forward.

Then I got my Spitfire display shelf down and decided to take a few photos of the IS-2 on there. My intention is to make a small display base for it but this gives some impression of what it may look like when complete:

I'm hoping to get this basically completed next week so I can start work on the 1/72 version I'm building here but going to use in the Vignette GB as well.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[stevej60]

That,s superb progress Stix,I like the track painting in particular.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Awesome!

[Ozzy]

Looking good Stix, the hand painted numbers and white recognition crosses look the part. I must get some of the background posters as they do make models look good in a natural surroundings.

[SJLR_1]

Great work! The hand painted numbers and stripes give it a nice touch! Very well done.

[CliffB]

Another cracker Stix. I particularly like the white paint runs - how did you do those?

Cliff

[PlaStix]

That,s superb progress Stix,I like the track painting in particular.

Thank you Steve - you are very kind. I seem to have got into a routine with tracks on armour builds which seems to work okay.

Awesome!

Thank you!!

Looking good Stix, the hand painted numbers and white recognition crosses look the part. I must get some of the background posters as they do make models look good in a natural surroundings.

Thank you too Ozzy. Yes I was happier with numbers than I think I would have been with the decals. With regards backgrounds I really think they help show the model off.

Great work! The hand painted numbers and stripes give it a nice touch! Very well done.

Thank you very much SJLR_1!

Another cracker Stix. I particularly like the white paint runs - how did you do those?

Cliff

Hi Cliff and thank you very much. The paint runs were done using very thinned white paint and a very fine, pointed brush. Because the stripes themselves were applied by a stippling brush, to give a mottled effect, I could start with the thinned paint over the stripes, without concern about messing up the stripes. I then lightly streaked the brush downwards trying not to get it to produce just a straight line - I wanted it to look like the paint was running around the surface imperfections on the turret. Sometimes they took a few goes to make them show clearly with such thin paint. As I'd masked for the stripes quite badly I tried to put the paint runs over the worst of the imperfections where the paint had leaked under the tape. Hope that's of some use.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Cookenbacher]

Excellent work as always Stix! I love the results from stippling the white stripes.

[PlaStix]

Excellent work as always Stix! I love the results from stippling the white stripes.

Hi Cookie,

Thank you very much for your comments. As I mentioned above, I was reasonable happy with the result of using a stippling technique rather than just painting them - I felt it had a more worn look before any weathering was applied. I have to say, as I was applying these stripes it did look, at times, a bit like winter camo - something I've avoided having a go at so far - so I may have a go at doing a winter whitewash scheme at some (near-ish) point in the future using this technique.

Kind regards,

Stix

[GREG DESTEC]

Well done on another stellar build Stix. That a great looking mudcrawler Cheers Greg

[PlaStix]

Hi Greg. Thank you very much. I'm hoping to get this basically finished this coming weekend although the base and figures may take a while longer. The Vignette GB starts the following weekend when I'm going to start building the 1/72 version of the IS-2 here and the base and figures to go with it in the Vignette GB itself.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited June 16, 2016 by PlaStix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Now we're getting to the really good bit.....Proper sized models.

[John_W]

Beautifull finish.

[PlaStix]

Now we're getting to the really good bit.....Proper sized models.

I have to say I'm really looking forward to having another go at an IS-2 - even if it is smaller!

Beautifull finish.

Thank you John - hopefully I'll get it all finished this weekend.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited June 17, 2016 by PlaStix

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Are you gonna bash it up a bit more?

[PlaStix]

Are you gonna bash it up a bit more?

No - there's a fair bit more weathering I want to do but l'm not going down your route of cutting lots off on this one! I may try a more battered version with the 1/72 Italeri version you sent me - I'll have a closer look at your photos. But that will be next week.

Can't wait!!