I've finished my Trumpeter 1/35 JS-3M or IS-3M if you prefer.
The kit is build oob. Painted in Humbrol #76 matt uniform green. Weathered with oil washes. I dared a little paintchipping. It might not be the right thing, but I had to try it.
I had only a few problems with this kit. A huge gab, between the lower and upper part of the turret, had to be filled and the instructions are at some points quite vague. Nothing major though. Good reference pictures, are a must, when building this one.

















All comments and questions are welcome.

Jesper- Great job on the -3M! That Soviet AFV is sometimes forgotten,unlike the T-34,s and T-55,s. I love the turret design,it always looked like something was missing. That was the first of the "low profile" turrets on a heavy tank! Again,great job!!

Cheers- Rob

Za Rodinu!

Nice job, overall! One small point--the motor exhaust is through the smaller angled ports on either side of the engine deck behind the external fuel cylinders (really dirty diesel soot if it's run recently, heat discoloration and blistered paint otherwise), but the big central grills on the deck are the inlets and outlets for cooling air, and don't need to be discolored.
And no need to apologize for chipping the paint--the Stalin remained on the USSR's books for four decades, and many were eventually dug in as bunkers on the Chinese border. Most of the backlash against chipped paint is for World War Two equipment, when a vehicle that in reality left the factory floor just a few months (or weeks) earlier is depicted looking like a junkyard relic. The criticism is, that the paint may have suffered impact damage here and there, but there simply wasn't time for it to actually wear off. None of those criticisms apply to your subject.
Your poor, tired Stalin looks a lot like the monuments that are scattered around the former Soviet Union with it's glorious Guards Armored Brigade markings and rusty, faded paint. Indeed, have you considered posing the model in a park setting with a modern Russian family having a picnic or maybe a young couple stealing a little private time? No kidding, it looks amazingly like the photos I've turned up in my Google searches!

Not bad at all!

Rob, Gerald & Giacomo thanks for your kind words and advise.

I'll try to tone down the pastels, with which, I have discolored the inlet. Should be able to do this with a clean brush and perhaps a little water.
More soot will be added to the exhaust.

Thanks again guys.

Looking good Jesper. I Like the way you've weathered the tracks and wheels; I've seen models which look as though a lot of effort was put into weathering the uppersurfaces, with nothing much done down around the suspension - possibly in the hope that a lot of mud will hide a lack of effort. The bare metal on the steel tyres and track teeth, along with rust and dust looks really good.

Jeff W.