IS-2

This is a Dragon JS2 mod.1944 that I modified with some aftermarket detail sets and some parts that I made myself. For starters the main gun was replaced by a Jordi Rubio barrel since it is better then the two halfes that have to be glued togther. The muzzle break is included in the Jordi Rubio kit is not used because the Dragon piece is better molded, so it was sawed off and used instead. Tracks and drive sprockets are from Friulmodellismo (of course) that are better then the ones in the kit. They are easier to paint, construct and hang nice between the support rollers. Amongst the parts that I made myself are all the fenderes around the tank, they have been sawed off and replaced with thin sheet metal. The metal sheet is the kind that hold caviar (metal tube, in Sweden that is), very easy to bend because it is soft. All the fuel tanks and brackets holding them have been made of the same, rolled around a cylindrical rod. Handles on the sides are from a leftover Airwaves set. Some fuelfiller caps are missing on the left sides tanks, they are plastic card pipes that have been cut. On the right side the caps are from the kits sawed off and glued on top of the tanks. The lens in the headlight has been cut away, and a socket was scratch made with plastic card containing a broken ligthbulb. The bolts that hold spare tracks in the front are from kit, I cut out the ones out and glued them to a plastic card strip.

Overall the model was first sprayed with Humbrols matt black to make the other colors better stick to the surface. At this stage I first though that the model was ruined, because the layer I applied first looked all to much thick but after some time after the paint dried it was much better. Later when I layed a dark green color (Tamiya acrylic) it was not needed to spray the model with a lot of paint like my previous models. Also the black gave some extra shades under the fuel tanks for example. Later I drybrushed the model with various paints from Testor and Humbrol, giving the model a aged and battle damaged. Tracks were sprayed with matt black and oversprayed with thinned Tamiya matt brown, treads in the tracks are later filed down to the metal surface.

Email me: turkalj.valter@swipnet.se