IS-3

[Angus Tura]

Hello.

 

Here is a late entry. I hope it will fit the rules.

 

The IS-3 was introduced in 1945 and while it only might have seen service in Europe by 8/5/45, it was certainly in service in Manchuria before 15/8/45. 

 

 

 

I was planning to build it as it appeared at a victory parade in Berlin on 7/9/45 but as it seems to have been unmarked and unweathered, I would hope that can be OK too.

 

I was planning to build it entirely OOTB including the vinyl tracks. I have some new (to me) glue which will stick the vinyl I understand, and some plastic primer which, according to polythene plastic figure sites, should let me paint the tracks with acrylics.

 

Alan

Edited July 9, 2020 by Angus Tura
typos

[franky boy]

Nice choice Alan.  Good to see some more armour. That looks a beast of a tank. 

 

James

[Vaastav]

Looking forward to seeing this come up. Interesting subject

[Angus Tura]

Hi. A little update, largely because I'm enjoying this kit so much:

 

 

The thing I like best about it, I think, is the separate bottoms for the side parts of the hull over the tracks. One of them is held on here with blu-tack and tape. The previous 1/72 tanks I've made have all had this part molded onto the tops of the lower hull sides so, if one wants to paint the top run of the tracks, one has to cut these free to add them to the upper hull so that they're not in the way. I've put the sprockets together using the tracks as a former. The domed hubs on the sprockets are separate parts and the sprue gates meet up with them where they are recessed into the sprocket. Getting them on was a bit of a trial. The road wheels and the return rollers are all cleaned up and reduced to one connection to the sprues so that I can paint them on the sprues. the last connection to the sprue can be where they contact the tracks.

 

Just a top kit!

 

Alan

[Angus Tura]

Did I say this was a top kit? I have cooled towards it a little. I thought, having prepped the wheels up that I could just build it and paint it...

 

There are three problems.

 

The first, I knew about having read on-line reviews.

 

 

The holes for the grab handles around the turret are too far apart to fit the very carefully-cleaned-up grab handles.

 

The second is a peculiarity of the particular kit I bought:

 

 

The trunnions to hold the main gun have been broken off. I think this must have happened at Roden's end. The trunnions weren't floating about in the bag of parts and it hadn't been opened before I opened it.

 

The third is only really a problem because I want to paint the hull top and bottom separately so that I can paint the top run of the tracks when they're on:

 

 

There shouldn't be a step between the glacis plate and the front plate. The top of the front plate is molded with the glacis and its not wide enough.

 

All fixable but irritating, and eroding Zinnfiguren painting time!

 

Alan 

[Angus Tura]

Another irritation!

 

 

The mantlet protrudes too far from the turret on the right side of the tank. There is a very good walkaround on-line (http://data4.primeportal.net/tanks/carrey/is-3/images/is-3_006_of_106.jpg) where it's clear that the problem is that the turret is too short on that side. It should come as far forward as the additional bit of the mantlet on the left side.

 

I'm going off the kit a bit, but I do love the subject.

 

Alan 

[Angus Tura]

Hi. This is an up date on the fixes needed to this IS-3.

 

The bow plate fit problem was a bit of a production, frankly.

 

I sawed the top of the bow plate off the bottom of the glacis

 

 

and glued it to the top of the bow plate

 

 

and extended the width with some scraps of the kit plastic and filled the step with multiple layers of Mr.Surfacer 500. I should have used magic-sculp but was concerned that it might not stick well enough.

 

 

The photos of these tanks in Berlin 1945 show that they didn't have track links on their glacis, hence the filled holes on the glacis. I just had to look up the plural of glacis and apparently it's glacis! The sanded-down end result is pretty cool:

 

 

and all of this travail lets me have separate top and bottom of hull to paint:

 

 

The fix for the lack of trunnions was easy. The top trunnions are present although they don't have any positive locators for the cannon. I've trued it all up to the mantlet and the barrel, and then blobs of "proper" cement and a couple of reinforcing sprue numbers have done it.

 

 

The grab handles have just had a new hole each drilled out and the old one filled with Mr.Surfacer.

 

 

The fix for the fit of the mantle was the trickiest, but also the best!

 

 

The mantlet has been covered in clingfilm and taped on and then the front of the turret reshaped roughly with magic-sculp. The clingfilm stops the magic-sculp sticking to the mantlet and when the magic-sculp is dry its pretty easy to carve and sand it to the right shape based on walkaround pictures.

 

 

There should be a large bolts in each of the four depressions in the front of the mantlet. I haven't figured out how to put them on without breaking IPMS SK rules. 

 

So, this is my current state of play:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Alan

[Angus Tura]

Another GB DNF. As Windsor Davies would say: "Oh Dear, how sad, never mind"

 

Doing the OOTB detailing has taken me a lot longer than I thought.

 

The muzzle brake comes with a weird moulding issue on the right only where the inner layer of the mold seems to have sat one or two off for the muzzle break only, while the barrel seems pretty well moulded:

 

 

I've wedged a bit of sprue into the defect in the back hole of the muzzle brake, and stuck a bit of tube in the end and after much careful carving and scraping it's quite presentable:

 

 

The periscopes are not very detailed and I've carved them out so as to be able to paint them better and put some mirror decals in them. Here's two of them carved out and one of them not:

 

 

The exhausts too are a bit solid. Here's one carved out and one not:

 

 

The fuel tanks on the engine decking are devoid of detail except for their filler-caps. The photos I have of these in Berlin 7/9/45 show them to be devoid of detail except on their ends. Here is some detail going on:

 

 

The right hand one has two disks of masking tape added and then Mr.Surfacer 500 blobbed on. The second right has been sanded flat. The second left has had its masking tape discs removed and the left one is half way through absent-minded-oversanding-repairs(!) I'm going to make some handles for the ends out of magic-sculp.

 

The cast-texture on the turret and glacis I've done with Mr.Surfacer 500:

 

 

I was surprised how long this took. I could only do little bits at a time to stop it looking too patchy. It is a pretty nice way to fill joints and to blend in the new right turret front.

 

So my state of play now is this:

 

 

I'm sorry I didn't get there. I have enjoyed the build so far a lot. I have an ongoing T-34 in the T-34 GB and I'm planning to paint it and the IS-3 together. I'm also looking forward to dealing with the tracks.

 

Here is a good, eco-friendly, solution to the problem of the dreaded end-opening model box. The top is also a good place to practise one's cast turret Mr.Surfacer technique (above)!

 

 

I hope it's OK to keep posting here till its done?

 

Alan

 

[Angus Tura]

Very slowly getting there. 

 

 

This is now ready to prime and paint. Its pretty hard work. There's a lot of very fine detail but the mold quality is sufficiently off that it mean a lot of clean up. I gave up on getting any relief onto the ends of the auxilliary fuel tanks. I couldn't get it petite enough. So, the ends of these fuel drums have been returned to being flat discs again. I'l try painting on the handles later.

 

I'm going to continue this in the AFV WIP.

 

Thanks for a top GB.

 

Alan