First, here are the pictures of my recently completed Tamiya JS-2. Built OOB, I say that it is a fun model to do with minimum clean-up, excellent fit and crisp details. I hand painted all the markings cause I think it looks more realistic. I used the indy tracks and it came out quite very good with the guide provided.
Secondly, I retouched my old DML JS-2 with some scratch-built engine deck mesh/grill and clear headlight lense. I weathered it a bit more and here it is:
And finally, the two of them together… [:)]Certainly being the more recent kit Tamiya is the better of the two in terms of fit and details.
Both very nice builds, Dwight, and good kits. If ease of assembly’s important to you, then the Tamiya kit’s worth the £25 price tag. However, Zvezda have what I’m pretty certain is the Dragon kit re-boxed for less than half price (£11.99 MRP, and I’ve seen it for £10.95). I’ve got the Dragon kit in the stash, and have made the Dragon ISU-152 tank destroyer, based on the same chassis and running gear. OK, it has some fit issues, but nothing that can’t be handled by a reasonably competent modeller, and the detail’s more than good enough.
Sure the Tamiya kit’s better, but I’m not sure it’s more than twice as good.
One of the bummers about DML’s kit is that in order to get proper scale clearance above the tracks, you have to shim the entire hull with an .040 piece of plastic; otherwise the fenders sit almost directly on tops of the tracks. This is noticeable if comparing to photographs. It’s a complex operation, as the whole rear panel then needs modification to fit. Same thing with the DML ISU series.
I’m thankful that Tamiya seems to have corrected that issue at least–I’d buy Tamiya just to preclude the necessity to have to go through that tedious modification.
Fair comment, but I’d suggest that this is no more than 15 minutes’ work with some lengths of 40 thou plastic strip and superglue. You then line up the rear panel with the top of the engine deck, and add pieces of plastic strip so as to fair in the bottom of the panel with the hull underside, and sand it smooth.
In other words, real modelling, not chequebook modelling. [:)]
True, Chris–adding the plastic takes only a half hour or so, but the rear deck issue is more complex than that–the way it’s joined, it takes quite a bit of fiddling around and cutting, measuring and filling in with strip, then more putty and careful sanding so as not to remove the bolt detail. Even then, the dimensions are not 100% correct, but the trade-off with the fenders is worth it, IMO.
I’ve done three different IS series from DML using this method, and although I’ve got the technique “down” as well as one could, it’s still not an operation I look forward to!
Certainly good to see your work again Dwight. I built the Dragon one years ago as my first foray into indy-track hell. I was impressed with the kit though and thought it turned out well. I’m glad to see the Tamiya kit comes with indies (link-and-lengths with sag?)
I agree about painting the markings by hand and you did a fine job on them. Weathering is subtle and effective. Don’t wait so long with the next one!
Chris: Quite surprising that the difference in the prices of the kits is that much in your area. As far as I can remember, I bought the Dragon kit for about $18 and the Tamiya kit for about $21. As I normally build OOB, the fit and ease of construction is of paramount importance to me but I am not saying that I will go for a kit with double the price just for that. In fact I really don’t spend extra on aftermarket stuff just to correct the inaccuracies on kits as in the case of the DML JS-2 where I built it without correcting the hull height problem. But I did scratched the engine mesh/grill covers from some old strainer and coke can.
Doog: You are correct. There is almost no space between the running gear and the botom of the fenders for the tracks.
Good to see your work on the forum again Dwight! I agree with the others about the hand-painted markings, very convincing!
As far as kit prices go, things can vary dramatically from your neck of the woods in the Philipines to where Chris is at in the UK, especially for Tamiya kits. I still have very fond memories of packing my limit and that of my co-worker in terms of allowable kilos for checked baggage when I was there in Manila in 2005…the kit prices there were phenomenal for everything except AFV club kits…I almost contemplated leaving my clothes behind the prices were so cheap. [(-D]
Wow, grewat work there Dwight. Really loving the hand-painted markings. Sweet.
I have a feeling the the JS- series was never called JS by the Ruskies themselves. The tank was name after Stalin, whos name was Ioseph Stalin i believe. It was us in the west who miss pronounced or misstranscribed his name to be Joseph.
Nice looking Soviet beast you have there ! [bow] I remember reading a review of the kit in a recent issue of Finescale Modeler (April 2008, i think) and in it the reviewer mentioned that he had some problems with the tracks ,
(1) Tracks came up short 1 link
(2) He also mentioned that the directions show the left track on backwards.
Did you have any problems with the tracks like he mentioned ?
