PMMS
Miniarm
IS-II Turret
1:35 Scale Set #B35001

Review by Terry Ashley

This update set from Miniarm provides a replacement IS-II Turret for any of the Dragon or Zvezda IS-II kits and consists of fifteen parts cast in a grey/green resin plus a turned metal barrel.

The quality of the resin casting is excellent with just the normal casting blocks to be removed and no other blemishes present while the barrel is in one piece with a separate two part resin muzzle brake.

The turret shell is in two parts, the upper shell and lower section with turret ring and features subtle casting texture on the sides, the separate front section and mantlet. The join between the upper and lower turret sections follows the weld seam of the real turret and you may want to build up the seam a little after gluing the parts but if you use a thick cyanoacrylate and squeeze out some around the join this could do the job.
The front section also joins where a weld seam is present and the same applies here with the fit of the parts being very good with just some very minor trimming to line up the front section exactly.

The Commander’s cupola is a separate part but came pre-fitting in my set which saves a bit of time and features well defined vision slots and a separate hatch ring and hatch halves with interior detail.

There are fine casting numbers present on the rear of the turret, the side of the front armour section and on the cupola as well as separate crew hatches, central ventilator and rear MG for good details.

The mantlet is attached to the inner mounting and allows the gun to elevate and there is the top mantlet cover and front gun collar which needs to be lined up precisely with the hole in the mantlet for the barrel to fit correctly.

The two part muzzle brake is also split where there is a weld seam on the real thing and again using thick cyanoacrylate will deal with any minor gaps that may arise here and the muzzle brake fits perfectly to the barrel without modification.

On the actual turret there are five lifting hooks, two at each front corner and one on the rear which you will have to rescue from the donor kit as they are not provided in resin and the numerous grad handles will also have to be made from thin wire to finish off the turret.

A small instruction sheet has an exploded view of the turret parts but assembly is quite straightforward in any case and using good reference such as the Rossagraph IS-II book as below will solve any issues.

Conclusion:
Overall a nicely detailed replacement turret with good surface texture and easy assembly which along with the bonus metal barrel will enhance the look of any of the available IS-II kits and using the additional Miniarm sets #B35004 IS-II Wheel set and #B35018 IS-II Track set will improve things further.

Highly recommended

Turret parts and detail images
Miniarm
Miniarm
Miniarm
Miniarm
Miniarm
Miniarm
References:
Book

Heavy Tank IS 2/2M
Model Detail Photo Monograph No.6
Rossagraph
ISBN 88-916229-6-7
48 pages all in colour.

Superbly detailed photo coverage of the IS-2

Osprey IS-2 Heavy Tank 1944-1973
Osprey New Vanguard 7
Osprey Military
by Steve Zaloga, Peter Sarson
ISBN 1 8552 3986 6
48 pages, soft cover

Thanks to Dmitriy from Model Point US for the review set.
Model Point US carry the full range of Miniarm products.



Page Created 7 June 2005

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