Has anyone built this kit? What is it like, does it compare well to the Tamiya kit.

IS-3M

Ross

I've built it, and thought it was a great kit. I replaced my tracks with Friul to give them a nice sag, but I think the kit tracks looked good too.

About the only gripes I can think of with the kit were that the grab handles are too small for the holes leaving big pits to be filled (but all Trumpeter kits have this flaw) and the ejection bolts for the fuel cannisters were a bit ambiguous about where they connected.

Still, it looks good and menacing on the shelf, as it should!

Mika

Mahross,

A great recommendation would be to get "Modeling th IS Heavy Tank" by Osprey. The author is Nicola Cortese and he very graphically builds a bunch of kits from the IS family and one of them is Trumpeters' IS-3 # 316.

I definetly give it two thumbs up !

Hey Ross,

There's a nice review of this kit on PMMS, it has a little comparison with the Tamiya kit as well!!

Enjoy, John.

http://www.jbwholesalers.com.au/reviews/trumpeter/tr00316.htm

(1) The fenders don't fit for s__t.
(2) sprue-connection points leave a lot of clean-up to be done
(3) turret upper-to-lower parts do not mate well at all.
(4) bbl halves, when mated - require a lot of work to make cylindrical
(5) plastic in my iteration was soft, somewhat "soapy," or "flaky" feling to the touch, requiring some new skills to be learned.
(6) vinyl tracks need an aftermarket replacement
(7) aggressive-looking S.O.B. when it's done, and best Stalin-3 for the money on the market today.

Best regards, good modelling.

Sincerely -

Flange