1/35 IS-2 Pravda
Girls und Panzer 1/35 IS-2

Finished! Platz/Dragon's 1/35 IS-2 "Pravda" 015 from the popular anime series "Girls und Panzer".

The IS-2 was a Soviet heavy tank of the Second World War. The IS series of tanks were designed to replace the older less efficient KV series heavy tanks. The initial model was the IS-1, which was armed with an 85mm gun.

Based off the IS-1, the IS-2 featured a devastating 122mm cannon, capable of smashing through the frontal armour of a Panther at ranges even out to 1500m. Armoured with up to 120mm of sloped armour, the vehicle was surprisingly light at 46 tonnes due to efficient armour layout. An engine outputting 600 hp propelled the vehicle at up to 37 km/h, with a power to weight ratio of 13 horsepower per tonne. A total of 3,854 of the IS-2 were produced, in two main variants. The early model featured a stepped frontal armour plate and a narrow gun mantlet, whilst the model 1944 had a single piece sloped frontal plate, and a wider gun mantlet.

This vehicle is featured in the anime series "Girls und Panzer" where it is used by the Pravda school, who use Soviet tanks.

This kit is a rebox of an earlier Dragon/Cybermodel IS-2 kit, but with new decals and instructions included to build the vehicle as seen in the anime.

Despite some early setbacks with gaps in between parts, and other parts not matching those as seen in the anime, once I found my footing I fairly powered through this one, modifying parts as I went along to better match the vehicle in the show.

The kit itself is a reasonably simple and straightforward build, with only one major issue, a moderately large gap between the upper and lower front hull. I was able to fill this gap using a combination of blu-tack and superglue, in absence of a proper filler. A slight problem was the visible gaps between the upper and lower hull sides, which is a result of how the kit is molded. I solved this problem though by cutting strips of glossy card and sticking them into place, covering the gaps. These were then painted over.

Painting was very simple, as the vehicle as depicted in the show is pure white due to its use in a snowy environment. Initially I tried to use a rattlecan of Citadel Corvax White, but after running out of that (which had some unusual effects in textured areas) I switched to using Vallejo white primer, which not only worked far better than the Citadel paint, but also came out much white, making the Citadel white appear grey in comparison.

I lightly sprayed some of this white onto the tracks to make them looking slightly snow covered. I then used Tamiya black panel line accent to do the engine deck vents and exhaust details, which I think worked pretty well.

The decals were absolutely perfect, I don't think I have ever had decals which went on as easily and look as good as these, with the aid of some Humbrol decal solution, they conformed perfectly to the cast textured surfaces, and have no visible carrier film at all.

This was a very rapid build, i'm honestly shocked at how fast I got it done. But in the end I am very happy with the result.

I can definitely recommend this kit to fans of the anime, although if you are simply looking for an IS-2, you would be better off buying the original version of this kit without the anime extras.