Soviet Tank Josef Stalin III

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

Here’s an old build I did over thirty years ago. Its German title is, Wilhelmshavener Modellbaubogen, Sowjetischer Panzerkampfwagen Josef Stalin III, or in English, Wilhelmshaven Model Building Sheet, Soviet Armored Fighting Vehicle (Tank) Josef Stalin III, in 1:20 scale.

The model is in pretty good shape for being so old. True, there are a few dings and a bent mudguard, but it’s a fair survivor of my early paper modeling days. I thought you might like to see some recent photographs of the big tank.

In the last picture, I’ve included a Russian, Series 1938, Three Ruble Note for scale, as I was fresh out of bananas.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Viator]

Nice model and really a very well preserved one. Big flat areas are still flat.
The design is nice, too. I like especially the pre-printed light reflections on the wheel caps.

[Ahab]

Very nice survivor.The colors also look good after more than 30 years. I like the simplicity of the Wilhelmshavener Modellbaubogen.
Greetings
Claus

[rockpaperscissor]

What a nice looking older model! No sags, no bags. Obviously a very well built model.

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And thank you Andrew, Claus and Don for your encouraging comments. I still have a number of models from my early days as a paper modeler and I might put together a thread showing some of my better efforts.

Enjoy the coming Spring.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Michael Mash]

Very good looking model. Does not appear to be old at all.
You did a terrific job with the photography.
Mike

[Butelczynski]

This a very good model. I love the shadows on wheels and tracks that add up to 3d illusion. I'd love to have track like that for some other builds . Some of old Kranich models did similar effects but not to such a degree.

[Isaac]

This is a great build of a very old paper model ( probably from the 60's ).

I am not a tank expert, but I have seen the IS-3 tank in person ( see attached of a captured Egyptian tank where my brother and I are standing next to ).



The IS-3 had a very rounded turret with no real flats on it.




Most probably they did not properly design it on purpose because it is too difficult to build out of paper.



I know, I built an IS-3 tank years from Maly company, and completely re did the turret using plaster. I did not finish the model thou. Here it is as well




Isaac

[Viator]

For sure the model is slightly simplified, but IMO they represent a cast turret of the IIIrd version correctly; at least it differs much from the turrets of other IS versions (mostly resembling T-35 shape) and resembles the much more advanced after-ww2 tanks like T-62 and T-54. I like it very much!

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And thanks Mike, Butelczynski, Isaac and Andrew for your observations. And yes, I always liked the tracks and wheelset on this big paper model.

A few quick notes for the uninitiated. The impressive hull of the late-war IS III was set on pre-war KV running gear. During the conflict, the heavy-duty KV wheels and tracks served on a number of KV and IS armored fighting vehicles. The internet will reveal hundreds of photographs of these varied units.

In my thread, I repeated the name of Wilhelmshaven’s model as Josef Stalin III. To clear up any confusion, the tank is better known as the IS III. As there is no J in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, Stalin’s anglicized name is spelled Iosef, and pronounced as Ē Ō SEF.

Reportedly, the West’s introduction to the IS III came during the Moscow Victory Day Parade on June, 24, 1945. The tank had not been seen on the battlefield, and the sight of this modern monster with its powerful 122 mm gun caused considerable concern among the ranks of Western observers. The thought of hundreds of these heavys blasting through the Fulda Gap caused many restless nights for post-war planners.

Wikipedia lists the tank in service from 1945 to 2002. However, in 2014, an IS III was pressed into service by Ukrainian forces. Serving as a war memorial in the Donetsk Oblast, the rebels managed to start the tank and drive it off its plinth. As the main gun had been spiked, a machine gun was fixed to the turret. The tanks crew attacked a military outpost, retreated and then abandoned the tank.

Such ends a brief history of the IS III…for now.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog