Here are a couple of shots from my Dragon JS-2 in progress. All comments and critiques welcomed! This is only my second piece of armor, so I'm trying to learn, and you guys have been around this stuff for awhile, right?

I'm not building any particular vehicle, but rather something that might have existed as the Red Army fought their way westward toward Germany. The white air recognition stripe was suggested as plausible by Jacques. Thanks again, sir! This rookie is in your debt!



I shimmed the lower hull with 1mm of strip styrene to keep the tracks from hitting the guards. This led to a lot more work than I wanted, but in the end it was worth it. Nothing like a little elbow grease! The rear hull was the most difficult part. I had to shave off the hinges and then reattach them to the shimmed hull. Took some work, for sure. Still have to replace the bar that goes between them.



Stowage sourced from a Tamiya T-34, and an M4A3 Sherman build that is on hold at the moment. I figured a generic wooden crate would be ok. "Russians didn't have wooden crates!" Still a lot of work left to do on the stowage. I plan on adding oil cans, hammers, tools, tarps, blankets, logs, chains and the works. I'm basically taking this opportunity to learn how to do a lot of different things at one time!

My first attempt at salt-chipping. I'm pleased with the results.



Footprint- Ha. Gotta fix the horn too...




Again, thanks for the comments!

Justin - I like the dorsal stripe look ... or is it the skunk effect? Ironically, I've been thinking about this same take on the air recognition stripe(s), so don't be surprised if you see another JS-2 with this general look in the next 6-8 months.

The stowage on the front fender looks really good. I assume you're modeling it as if it were at a rest and refit point? Because a vehicle on the move would have everything secured.

Please post more photos as you go. I googled JS-2 build logs earlier today and was surprised there wasn't much out there ...

Hi, Bill.

I didn't even think of the skunk effect until I took the masking off this morning... and then that was the first thing that went through my mind. Haha. How funny. I really do like the way that it looks, though. Can't wait to see what you do with yours!

I'm going to have the tank at a stop with crew standing around it, but I would rather have most of the gear secured, if I can. How did the crews usually go about doing this? Rope? Chain? Where would they tie it to? Sorry, I'm still so new to this, and old photos tend to frustrate a modeler more than help!

Can you help me with this? What is this watering can type thing on the front left? Oil can of some sorts? On the right? A camo net of some type?

Looks good except for the airbrushed strip. Go back over it with a brush for a more realsitic appearance. You want it look a little sloppy and uneven.

As far as stowage, yes it appears to be a camo net, and an oil-can. Too big to pass as a coffee pot, but from what I've read the Russians didn't drink coffee at that time. Russians Guarding German POW's would commender coffee beans from the POW's and boil them and attemp to eat them (Panzer Commander, by Hans von Luck). You could also add looted civilian goods, as well. Tank or Tahk makes a couple of nice resin folded tarps that fit nicely on the fenders as well.

Justin,

The rear tail lights look like they're sticking out too far.....I think they should insert further in the hull sides.

The stowage looks good, but try to tie them down, pretty sure there were little loops in the hull to secure stuff like that with straps.

Looking good!

Paul

Glad to help, the stripe looks good to me. I really liked it and was going to point it out to you when I realized it was your build to begin with!

The formation lights in the back, on either side of the engine deck, are not in all the way, as noted by Paul.

SOME stowage was secured, but often times it was not. It would have been secured as good as possible, with more valuable things secured better than others. But I have seen lots of photos of Russian tanks with all manner of unsecured items across the rear decks. Usually piles of blankets, or fuel drums (fuel? or just as a holding container of stuff?), etc...

Items would have been secured with rope. You can see some of the tie downs on the top of the engien deck, right on the edge between the screens and the sides.

I like the look of the white stripe as it is right now. Not all stripes always looked beat to heck and faded away. Some of them would look new when applied and sometimes a snappy new marking over a more weary vehicle adds some nice contrast adn interest. Yours to decide.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

@Tim - The strip actually looks a little less 'tidy' in the flesh. I've seen photos of the Berlin stripes, and they definitely were sloppily applied. I will probably hit the stripe a couple of times with some drybrushed white to simulate hastily applied markings, but not too much! I think that once I hit it with some washes and such, things will look a lot different.

I'll probably scratch build that can, and come up with a few more bits of stowage. Canned goods? Boxes and other things?

@Paul - Yeah, the taillights are sticking out too far, as are the ones in the front. The Dragon instructions are a little unclear as to if they go all the way in or not. I guess that's the beauty of reference material. An oversight on my part! Thanks so much.

@Jacques - Thanks again for the comments! Fixing the lights, and going to use some string "rope" to tie a few things down here and there, but some of them will stay loose as well.

I'll post a bit more as I progress.

Looking good, but I suggest you to remark the two hatches at the rear plate (maybe a wash?). Best regards.

José.

Looks good so far.

Not to fire hose you....but this type of stripe was much more common during the Russina lighting war against Japan. The stripes used on the Berlin Stalins were around the turret and a cross on top of the turret....Paul is right about the marker lights on the rear and on the front....unfortuantely they are on backwards, the smaller diameter portion that you have glued on is the part that should be out, or not glued on.

Sorry.......

I do like the look of the kit and the paint looks great. I just finished the same kit and did the shimming too....my Stalin is KO'd with the manlet/gun cheeks half off.

The Russian tankers we big on tarps to cover there tanks....they were always making sure they had one.....I'd add a big folded tarp on the fender towards the front....that's where they were stored on the Stalin.

Again, appreciate all the comments!

@ Jose- I took these photos right after I painted the white, so I'll need to go back and wash over the area. Hopefully it'll make those hatches stand out a little more. They aren't very deep to begin with. I should have probably scribed them a little deeper!

@Greg- The markings may be wrong for a Berlin IS-2, but I'm going to pretend that this one was out farther east, and attached to a unit that Jacques has a photo of with this large stripe down the center. I just had to have some sort of color to break up the green. I may not be able to prove that this particular vehicle existed, but it is at least PLAUSIBLE! Either way, I am slowly learning a lot of history building these things, and I appreciate your input! Don't take this as me being defensive or anything.

Post a photo of your Stalin- I'd love to see it!

Also, yes, I need to work on the lights. The photos I have found show exactly what you've said: they lights are on wrong-side in. Looks like I'll be taking a few parts off. In my search for images of these lights I found a lot of little bits (hooks, loops etc) that are welded onto the rear plate that look like tie downs and such. I'm guessing that's what these are? What do you think?

No offence taken....some one please tell me how to get a picture on this forum and I will put a pic of my Stalin for you to see.

Justin I see how you tackled the rear plate join problem after you raised the upper hull...I can barely see the shim. Good idea.

I went a different route. I cut the rear pieces that are next to the rear plate, the vertical ones so the lower plate would rise up with the upper hull if that makes sense....? These are the pieces that sit above the sprockret housings....

Paul

Actually Greg, DML engineered the formation lights to go in the way that Justin has mounted them...well, in all the way anyhow. I know the light has a protruding bulb and that flipping it around as you suggested would look somewhat better...but the way it is shown is the correct way vis-a-vis the instructions.

As for the white stripe, I have a photo of a ISU-152 in Prussia with a nice wide white stripe "on the road to Berlin". It does not mean it was still in USE in Berlin, but that it was a air recognition marking used that was not the typical Berlin marking.

See, look at all the conversation started from doing non-typical markings.

Greg- I use Photobucket to store and show my photos. It's pretty easy to use. Sign up for an account, and upload your photos. After you've uploaded, find the picture you want, and you when you hover over it with your mouse, a list of options will come up on the bottom. Copy the "IMG Code" on the bottom of that list, and then paste it here. It's that easy!

Paul- Yeah, I think that your way probably would have worked out a little better, and would have been less noticeable in the end. It's hard to see the shim on mine, but it IS there if you stare hard enough. I'm still wondering how this error ever got by a major model manufacturer! Don't they build these things?

Jacques- I did go ahead and flip those light around to show the "bulb" sticking out. While not completely "scale," it at least gives the effect of the bulb being there. It seems that most of the pictures I've seen, though, have those bulbs knocked off. I'm guessing this is what Dragon modeled in this situation.

And "on the road to Berlin" is exactly what I'm wanting to model! I'll post some more progress photos tomorrow if I get a chance!

The DML 1/72 T-34/85 1944 also has markings for a unit that had this type of stripe while in Prussia.

Hi,

nice job with the tank looks great, but I am almost sure that this white stripes was painted using wide brush or even a broom made from small branches. This was not a German army, with airbrushes and other sophisticated devices

Cheers

Wojtek

Correction: It was Beylorussia, not Prussia.

ok, here we go.....

sorry for the poor picture as it was taken with my PDA as I did not have a camera availble.

Look at this photo, I was searching something like this. This stripes are totally irregular.



Cheers

Wojtek

Wojtek, this is a replacement tank and does not have numbers and insigna applied yet.

THanks for the info on the stripes.

I've already started messing the edges up a little bit on the stripe, because I agree, a mop or a branch wouldn't make such a nice little mark!

I'm simply going back with a brush, and dry-brushing the edges. We'll see how it turns out!

Thanks for the input, everyone! Definitely going to make my build a lot more accurate!

Greg-- I really like that Stalin!!! Nice!

Did you fix the hull height issue with the DML kit? It will become obvious when you put the tracks on that there asn't enough space b/w the fenders and the top of the tracks ( space will be tight) if you add 1.3 mm all the way around it will fix the height problem. Theres also the issue of the DML wheels which are undersized. All this isn't really a huge deal - it'll still look like a JS.

The Stripe: It would have be painted on and it would have been bright and thick too! The way you have it painted it does look a bit too "professionally done" I also think its a bit wide.

Stowage: I like the tarp but Im not too crazy about your US ration boxes..... also whats going on with the zip box on the LHS fender, theres no top and the sidewalls are reallly thick. The wooden crate on the front LHS fender is for 76.2 mm shells, why not remove it and beat the &^%$ out the fenders??

Wecome to the dark side.....

Chris

Additional photos here...

http://www.battlefield.ru/en/photoalbums/category/13-js1-js2.html

Wjotek

@Chris- Yeah, I did fix the height issue with some styrene shims all the way around. I didn't add exactly 1.3 mm, but I got somewhere in the ballpark, and the tracks fit a lot better now. Agreed on the road wheels. I think it still looks like an IS-2!

The stripe is getting some work done on it today, so hopefully it won't look so "sprayed on," but more of a brushed/slopped on appearance. It may be too thick, but I'm definitely committed now!

The stowage is just something that I threw on the tank. The one under the blanket is probably not going to make the team. The other generic looking rectangular box, though, will. Here's a photo I found.



Looks like a box to me, anyway.

The box on the front fender was for ammo? Dang. Well, let's pretend this crew needed a place to put some extra stuff, and so picked up an empty crate at their last stop. Also, the tool box up front will have a top on it, but I wanted to have some tarps/blankets/stuff falling out the sides. I just haven't put the top back on yet!

@Wojtek- that's an awesome site! Thanks for those photos. I'll definitely be browsing them as I move forward.