Hey Guys,

Browsing through Sprue Brothers website for ideas on a new kit project, I saw Tamiya's JS-152, love this big ole warmachine and was wondering if anyone know of any reviews on the kit, etc,

ISU-152.... buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it........ It can be a little pricey ( I paid $60.00 for mine) but its a WONDERFUL kit and builds out without a snag. You do have to take care when building the return rollers to make sure they are lined up and not out of round and when joining the front and rear upper hull pcs but toherwise I haven't found any problems.

HTH
Chris

Thanks Chris, how is the barrel on that kit? with the muzzle break? easy to clean out all those vents?

The muzzle brake is a single slide-molded component and there is not one iota of flash in the vents on either of the two kits I have.

Cheers,

Neil

You'd be hard pressed to find a recent release Tamiya kit that isnt good. But personally id wait a bit for the kit to go on sale so you can snag it for cheaper, with Eduard PE details and a metal barrel. But thats just how I role...

Its a solid kit. Im beating it up and taking almost all the fenders off. THere are a number of barrels for it - just stay away from the CMK Hotbarrels one its too short and has aton of flash. THe kit barrel has no flash just the seam and its not bad if you line it up properly.

I'm thinking about adding panzerfaust screens......

Chris

Funny you should ask Thomas, as I was just researching this kit a month ago.

I'm going to tell you straight up, BUY IT!! It's one of the few kits I ever felt really good about getting.

Here are a few articles on it for you:
-Michael Benolkin's review and build
-Bill Koppos' review/build
-Mark Aldrich's review and build
-Brett Green's comparison to the Italeri kit

You will notice that both Mark's and Brett's articles compare the Tamiya kit to the older offerings from other companies, and the Tamiya kit wins by a landslide. I got mine with a metal barrel as a packaged deal, but I'll be honest with you, the Tamiya kit really doesn't need it unless you want the textures of the rifling and such inside the barrel, or you just prefer not to mess with kit barrels in the first place. If you would like to see what's in the box just let us know.

Great ! thanks to all of you who replied, if the barrel is that good, looks like I'll be saving a few bucks not having to buy a metal one.

It certainly seems to be. I think you'll really like this kit if it's what you are looking for

Ok guy's, so I'm sold on the Tamiya JSU-152, and I have an idea on what to do with it but need a little more help in the research department. I have a black and white photo of one of these beasts from an old World War Two magazine, just the photo unfortunately, the angle I can not see the markings as there covered by troops riding on the vehicle. The scene shows the JSU-152 with infantry riders on top, looking at an abandoned Japanese tank as they roll by it on, what looks like a country road. I thought this would be an interesting vignette, so what research I have been able ot discover is that the Tank army that participated in the Manchurian invasion was the 6th Guards Tank Army, but I have not been able to find any reference to marking for that particular army. Anyone know of any good sites I may be able to find out more information? TIA

That's a toughy, there isn't much out there regarding Russia's "Eastern Front". It sounds like an awesome scene

Some interesting info after a quick search:
Wikipedia history
August Storm, a brief overview
Wikepidea article on invasion, apparently the 6th Guards were in the Western Front of Manchuria
Organization of Soviet SPG units

I can't for the life of me find any useful information regarding markings. What's even more painful is that it seems most of the decals are for unidentified units. I doubt we are going to find any useful color plates either, but let's keep our fingers crossed.

You may want to send an email to [url=http://www.aberdeenbookstore.com/index.htm]Aberdeen Bookstore[/ur] and see if he has any suggestions.

Thanks for the other links,Jeremy, ya I got the wikipedia links, that is one of the sources I found out what tank unit fought the Japanese, the photo I have, looks to be a monotone color so I assume it is the basic Russian green, there are what looks to be large white numbering on the sides, but like I said I can't make them out as their mainly blocked by soldiers riding on the vehicle. If I cannot find any firm sources for numbers I might just try to go with generic Soviet style numbers? But not giving up quite yet.. lol.. this is one of the fun parts of modeling!

It is fun, as long as it doesn't become frustrating
Would you mind posting the picture for us? Maybe somebody can get creative and shed some light for you.

Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, the 152's were all green just like you were thinking, but don't take my word for it.

Yes I will as soon as I find it.. lol , took it out of an old copy of WW2 magazine a couple of years back, it is somewhere in my black hole of a closet in my hobby room.