hello has anyone built dragons kit of the IS-1 item no 6052 if so can you please let us know if the front fenders on the additional sprue are used as no supplementary instructions were included also would a aluminium T34/85 barrel be suitable as we can not find one listed for a IS-1.
MANY THANKS

Hi Jonathon. In the box is basically the JS2 kit with an extra sprue for the JS1 parts and an extra (loose) sheet included inside the usual folded instruction sheets. Check if you have this ... if not .... PM me with your e-mail address and I can scan it for you.
Below is my unfinished version ... been sitting like this for ~ 3years.

IIRC, dragons IS tanks have a problem with the hull being a couple millimeters too low, resulting in the fenders sitting too close to the tracks. I remember reading an article on some site about fixing it but I can't recall where it was.
It was basically as simple as gluing strips of styrene to the lower hull to raise it.

hi there,i have the osprey book on the IS-2/3 Tanks its certainly does improve the appearance of the basic kit,but typically i did not have this info when i built my first 2 about 5 years ago,though i have corrected my later builds

Armor Scale offers a metal barrel and resin mantlet suitable for a KV-85 or IS-1. Available with free airmail postage from Lucky Model in Hong Kong.
Wydawnictwo Militaria in Poland has a book in their Tank Power series (volume 273) on the IS tanks with pull out 1/35th scale plans of all versions, including the IS-1. I got mine from J. J. Fedorowicz in Canada (they list the publisher as "Polish Militaria" in their online catalog). Polish with English captions and summary. Includes 30 color marking schemes for Stalin tanks, including several IS-1 units. The same author has an all-English book on the Stalin tanks, though the book doesn't have the 1/35th scale plans.

Yeah, the gap between the track guards and the road wheels on the DML Stalins is pretty tight.
If you don't shim the lower hull, you'll have a heck of a time getting the indie tracks in properly.
Luckily, the Stalin tracks are some of the best fitting ever produced by Dragon and they almost snap together and need a minimum of glue.
If you dont want to shim the lower hull, the next best thing to do is to build the lower hull with the tracks in place and then glue the upper hull afterward.
Painting's a little bit more complicated but you can achieve the correct track sag seen in Soviet tanks.
Cheers

jjumbo