I was wondering which actual version of the real-life tank it was based on. The original?

You mean the "T-10 JSIII"? It probably wasn't based on an actual version, rather a agglomeration IS-3, IS-3M, T-10, T-10A, T-10B, and T-10M features taken from grainy, retouched photos and without the knowledge that the IS-3 and T-10 series were completely different tanks with different proportions, dimensions, and shapes. Hell, they couldn't even sort out the name.

KL

Mind you, the actual kit was probably no better or worse than was the norm for the time.

I acquired one several years ago thinking that I could do something with it - of course, I couldn't. I kept it for a while, then bought the Navigator resin/white metal T10 version. Eventually I consigned the Tamiya one to the bin. I still have the Navigator kit somewhere although given that I now have the Trumpeter T10 I doubt I'll ever tackle it.

What I do remember was the quite impressive Tamiya box artwork, which I kept. It did beg the question that if Tamiya could render such a good picture of the beast why the kit was so very "off".

Binned it? It's a freaking collector's item!

Funny, I have a 1962 book on modern armor by von Senger und Etterlin that differentiates between the JS-3 and T-10 and has passable 1/76 diagrams.

But the ancient Tamiya T-54 was based on the malproportioned diagram of the time like the Roco T-54 was.

And then there's the ancient Aurora Js-3 and Revell T-34 in their various iterations.

Research? Nah, fuzzy photos or copy someone else's kit.