Greetings, frieds and fans of braille-scale modelling!
Today´s the tine for another review of a 1/72 Russian tank. This time it is the largest tank to be built in the Soviet Union - the mighty IS-7. Let´s get into it!
The vehicle:
Starting in 1945, engineers of the factory No.100 began the development of the Object 260 - the result from an initiative for a new modern heavy tank that stated in late 1944. In 1946-1947 the 65-68ton tank underwent some changes until the first prototypes were built in 1947. The tank had an impressive 130mm armament and a extremly good top speed for its size (60kp/h). Trial were conducted in 1948, but at the end the vehicle was deemed obvious due to the large size and weight. The following tank, labeled the IS-8 or T-10 was the last serial produced heavy tank of the Soviet Union.
I also worte an in-depth article about this vehicle. Check it out here
The kit:
Released earlier this year, the Trumpeter plastic-injection kit first offered an alternative to the expensive OKB Grigorov and Cromwell Models IS-7/Object 260 resin models. I got mine from a lokal hobby store here in northern Germany for about 17€.
The boxart shows an assembled and painted model, that has some streaking on it.
Inside the box are several plastic bags containing the two track-sets, the lower hull, the upper hull and a sprue for the turret and other details.
The tracks seem somewhat like those found on wargaming-models, but are well detail and the are only some casting-remains to be removed on the outer side of the roadwheels. They can be painted seperately, which makes detail-painting much easier.
Upper and lower hull parts have details such as tools cast on, but those aren´t suffering from being totally "smooth". Engine grills are very well detailed, but all the hatches are closed (unfortunately). The front hull has the characteritic pike-shape of the IS-3 and the T-10.
On the big sprue included you can find the turret and several details. gun and turret represent the original really well. The AA machinegun is (although one piece plus ammo-boxes) reasonably crisp and I won´t replace it, as theres no need to do such. There are also some machineguns on the hull and turret, but as they look quite sparse in reality due to their box-housings, ther isn´t much detail that could be replicated. Shock absorbers for the hull are also included as well as the inner roadwheels and idler-/drive-wheels for the inner side of the tracks as well. All of them look fine.
When it comes to the towing-hooks, they aren´t that nice because they are completely solid... nothing that can be fixed with a drill/knife either.
Decals seem to be a generc set and I don´t know if you realy have to use them as tthe prototype vehicles looked quite sparse.
The build:
As in the instructions the first thing I did was to fit the smaller details to the suspension and the upper hull. All of them slotted in neatly and make the tank look more interesting. If you wonder what the smaller "barrel" on the rear is, it is (if I recall right) a small naval auxiliary generator.
The inner wheels also fitted well. Just be careful to add the roadwheels the right way around.
The upper hull...
... and the lower hull including the wheels are finished quickly.
Next I added the hull and turret machineguns (I wonder who had the idea that a tank would need that many fixed machineguns...).
After that I added the rest of the turret details and fitted the turret halfes together. The muzzle break didn´t need any drilling, which is a nice thing. Also I drilled the lifting hooks and repaced one with a spare part without the ring to add a little variety.
The turret looks very IS-7-ish... I left the AA gun off for painting it seperately. Then I joined the hull halfes together.
When I test-fitted the tracks, the slotted in very well but I´ll leave them off for paiting the details.
It should be fun to paint it... I will try to get something done this weekend.
Conclusion:
While there might be (rightfully) arguments about the overall quality of older Trumpeter kits in their 1/72 afv-range, this new release is of good quality comparable to Italeri or Zvezda in many aspects. Although still suffering from solid towing hooks and having closed only hatches, it definetly is a reasonable plastic-injection alternative to the way more expensive resin models if you want to build the later IS-7 prototypes.
Rating: 8/10 - very interesting subject made accesible for most modelers and maybe even wargamers while having a good amount of detail.
See you soon,
Tom
->On scalemates
Today´s the tine for another review of a 1/72 Russian tank. This time it is the largest tank to be built in the Soviet Union - the mighty IS-7. Let´s get into it!
The vehicle:
Starting in 1945, engineers of the factory No.100 began the development of the Object 260 - the result from an initiative for a new modern heavy tank that stated in late 1944. In 1946-1947 the 65-68ton tank underwent some changes until the first prototypes were built in 1947. The tank had an impressive 130mm armament and a extremly good top speed for its size (60kp/h). Trial were conducted in 1948, but at the end the vehicle was deemed obvious due to the large size and weight. The following tank, labeled the IS-8 or T-10 was the last serial produced heavy tank of the Soviet Union.
I also worte an in-depth article about this vehicle. Check it out here
The kit:
Released earlier this year, the Trumpeter plastic-injection kit first offered an alternative to the expensive OKB Grigorov and Cromwell Models IS-7/Object 260 resin models. I got mine from a lokal hobby store here in northern Germany for about 17€.
The boxart shows an assembled and painted model, that has some streaking on it.
When it comes to the towing-hooks, they aren´t that nice because they are completely solid... nothing that can be fixed with a drill/knife either.
The build:
As in the instructions the first thing I did was to fit the smaller details to the suspension and the upper hull. All of them slotted in neatly and make the tank look more interesting. If you wonder what the smaller "barrel" on the rear is, it is (if I recall right) a small naval auxiliary generator.
The inner wheels also fitted well. Just be careful to add the roadwheels the right way around.
Next I added the hull and turret machineguns (I wonder who had the idea that a tank would need that many fixed machineguns...).
It should be fun to paint it... I will try to get something done this weekend.
Conclusion:
While there might be (rightfully) arguments about the overall quality of older Trumpeter kits in their 1/72 afv-range, this new release is of good quality comparable to Italeri or Zvezda in many aspects. Although still suffering from solid towing hooks and having closed only hatches, it definetly is a reasonable plastic-injection alternative to the way more expensive resin models if you want to build the later IS-7 prototypes.
Rating: 8/10 - very interesting subject made accesible for most modelers and maybe even wargamers while having a good amount of detail.
See you soon,
Tom
->On scalemates
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