and trois.....

After leaving my Tamiya IS-2 to sit for a while (thanks to a cold mostly) I got on and assembled the RHS track on Sunday - this time I followed the instructions and got a better fit, though the sag between the idler and first road wheel is a little excessive. If I build another one (which I probably will) I'll cut off the pin that links the idler adjuster to the idler arma and give myself a bit of room for adjustment. The track seems fine and fitting the upper hull didn't cause me any grief.

I also tackled the Armorscale gun barrel last night. Mine didn't fit the resin mantlet either and the Tamiya one needed a fair bit of reaming and about 5mm or so cut off the butt end of the barrel before it looked right. I dry-fitted the muzzle brake halves, and it didn't look as if there were any fit problems, unlike the demo build. Have to see what it's like when the halves are glued together though.

David

Pity you hadn't got the Aber one - the muzzle brake has machined threads and fits like a dream. You probably got the Armorscale one before the Aber one was released. At least it's got a new mantlet though...

Seems JS-2's are the model many are working on this month - I've seem some really nice work here and on a neighboring website...

Charlie

I've got a couple of Dragon IS-2s and an ISU-122S in the pile, so the chances are high that I'll get one or more of the Aber barrels too. Bought the JR barrel years back and found the white metal muzzle brake a real hindrance, so even Armorscale is a step forward. Even if the mantlet is drastically smaller than Tamiya's (have yet to check it against Dragon's).

David

Muzzle brake turned out fine, fitted onto the barrel quite securely without gaps - though I'll definitely look into the Aber one. One question, is the Aber brake machined, as I wonder how the offset mounting lugs are reproduced?

David