CyberHobby ISU-152

[Schoof]

Hey Gents.

This is my entry into this nice GB.

I first started building the ISU-152 for Coen`s Kursk GB but had to put it away after Coen told me that it was the SU-152 and not the ISU-152 that was used at Kursk.
So just before finnishing the build stage i put it away .
Now i picked it up again for this GB.


First some Wiki wisdom

ISU-152
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ISU-152 was a Soviet multirole fully enclosed and armored assault gun or armored self-propelled gun, also capable of serving as a heavy tank destroyer developed and used during World War II, with a subsequent use, mainly in the Soviet military, until the 1970s.

History

The ISU-152 marks its beginning on January 24, 1943. This was the moment of appearance of the first fighting vehicle of this family. It was designated Object 236 (Объект 236), using the same concept as the SU-152. The Object 236 was completed in Factory No. 100 in Chelyabinsk, and on the same day, January 24, underwent trials on the Chebarkulski artillery range, 107 km from Chelyabinsk. By February 7, 1943 the trials were over, passed with success. On February 14 the vehicle was adopted and put on production under the KV-14 (КВ-14) designation. In April 1943 was ordered KV-14 to be henceforth designated SU-152 (СУ-152). In time, the combat performance of SU-152, based on the KV-1S tank, made necessary the modernisation of the vehicle, using the new IS tank as a base. On May 25, 1943, shortly after deployment, the administration of Factory No. 100 ordered the beginning of the SU-152 modernization, which included an increase of the armour protection and other improvements. The development began in July 1943, under the supervision of Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin (the chief designer of Soviet heavy tanks) and G. N. Moskvin as the main designer, and in about a month the first modernized variant was ready. It was designated IS-152 (ИС-152). It underwent factory trials in September 1943, revealing a large number of different deficiencies, which sent it back for further improvement. In October 1943 a second (different) modernized variant was ready, designated Object 241 (Объект 241). It was an improvement over the IS-152. The factory trials began the same month, followed by state trials on the Gorohovetskom test range. On November 6, 1943, an order was issued for adoption of this variant, under the ISU-152 (ИСУ-152) designation, and in December its production began at the Chelyabinsk Kirovsk Plant, replacing the SU-152.

Design

On April 15, 1942 at the plenum of the artillery committee, where it was suggested the development of assault guns for support of the infantry, was acknowledged the necessity of also developing assault guns capable of destroying fortified positions. It was intended these assault guns to be armed with a 152.4 mm gun-howitzer and used for penetration of the enemy defence in the offensive operations planned for 1942-1943. This resulted in the development of the Object 236, and eventually the SU-152, which concept was later continued and further developed with the ISU-152.

The ISU-152 followed the same design as other Soviet self-propelled guns, except the SU-76. The fully armoured hull was divided into two compartments: fighting compartment for the crew, gun and ammunition in the front of the hull, and engine and transmission in the rear. The gun was mounted slightly to the right of centre with a limited traverse of 12 degrees left and right. The crew consisted of 4 or 5 men placed in the superstructure. Three of the crew were to the left of the gun: driver to the front, then gunner and last the loader. The vehicle commander and lockman were to the right: commander to the front and the lockman behind. When the crew consisted of 4 men, the loading was carried out by the lockman.

The suspension consisted of twelve torsion bars for the six road wheels on either side. The drive sprockets were at the back, and the front idlers were identical to the road wheels. Each track was made up of 90 links. There were three internal fuel tanks, two in the crew area and one in the engine compartment. These were usually supplemented with four unconnected external fuel tanks. Twelve and 24-volt electrical power supplies came from a 1 kW generator feeding four accumulator batteries.

For observation from the interior, all roof hatches had periscopes and there were two gun sights : telescopic ST-10 (СТ-10) and panoramic. For crew communication a TPU-4-BisF intercom was fitted, and for inter-vehicle communication there was a single 10R or 10RK radio. These were better than Soviet equipment at the start of the war but still inferior to German equipment.

The crew were given two PPSh submachine guns with 1491 rounds and 20 F-1 grenades for short range self-defence.

The ISU-152 was armed with the same gun as the SU-152. It used the hull of the IS-1 tank instead of the KV-1S. Later in the war the ISU-152 was further improved. It used the hull of the IS-2 or IS-2 model 1944 tank, the armour of the mantlet was increased, the gun was replaced by newer variants, a 12.7 x 108 mm DShK anti-aircraft machine gun was installed by the right forward hatch and later its ammunition capacity increased, the 10R radio set was upgraded to a 10RK and the fuel capacity was increased.

Some ISU-152s were equipped with even larger external fuel tanks, two tanks on the rear hull deck, in addition to the four external fuel tanks (90 litres each, maximum), or with two smaller additional external fuel tanks, on the hull rear. This option was probably available for the post-war ISU-152 variants.

Between December 1943 and May 1945, 1,885 ISU-152s were built. Mass production ceased in 1947, with 3,242 vehicles produced in total.

Post-war ISU-152 modernisation included installation of night vision sights, replacing of the V-2IS engine with the V-54K, the 12.7 machine gun was replaced by a newer variant, the ammunition capacity increased to 30 rounds, additional armor, automotive improvements and significant increase of the main fuel capacity.

Multirole use

The ISU-152 self-propelled gun combined three battle roles : heavy assault gun, heavy tank destroyer and heavy self-propelled artillery. The 152.4 mm gun used a number of powerful (shell and charge) ammunition. Some of these ammunition had a 43.56 kg high-explosive shell, or a 48.78 kg armour-piercing shell, or the heaviest of all, the 53-G-545 (53-Г-545) long range concrete-piercing ammunition with a 56 kg shell. The ISU-152 was used for infantry and tank support, and attack on fortified positions in a direct fire role, for support on the battlefield in an indirect fire role, and for fight against tanks with a direct fire.

here are some picks :

[Schoof]

Well from where i ended the first time until finishing the build was only a short time.



after that i went on and primed it and then i gave it a base coat of the new Ammo Russian green,





i wasn`t very impressed by the color itself but i thought it would probably turn out fine so i went ahaed and sprayed on the new Ammo Washable White camo




and then came on like a dream





after awhile i went in with water and a stiff brush to work on the washable white and it did what it supposed to do , perfectly !!!!

[hook1169]

That washable paint looks like something I need to investigate, might need to get some myself. Turned out nice.

[JayCub]

I like the idea of a washable white, the isu looks great and one I would be interested in building at some stage
Tom

[MarkVerploeg]

Another catch up thread?
It looks really great with the washable white camo
I will try this stuff on my big tiger soon , altough i already have a bottle i think i need a second for that build
Keep up the good work and i will be looking forward to the weathering of this soviet beast
Cheers Mark

[Schoof]

After letting everything dry and settle I want happy. .... The base coat was to light for my liking.
So I resprayed it all in a darker Green ( Vallejo model air bronze green) and Ofcourse I forgot to take a photo when the basecoat was done. .......

After the base Coat I applied the washable white again. ...




And after 2 days of drying I went at it with a stiff brush and some water








Next step : a streaking grime...... witch was a first for me.

I got the stuff at the show I was last October




(the pics are a bit dark. ...... Sorry for that)







And then it was time for some more weathering , taking some"steel" and dry brushing the areas that are used allot











Well enough for now. ..... More next time

[UKguyInUSA]

Cracking work so far mate!

[Yevgeny]

Yep, looks fantastic already
I like the worn look.

[Schoof]

Back again ...

After the chipping i went ahead and did the Decals ( Thanks to Coen for translating them for me ! )




I also noticed that i made a little mistake in the building fase..... the ISU-152 doesn't have a travel lock on the back plate only the ISU-122S does ( for some reason) so i needed to hide that little oops i decided to make a tarp using Magic-Sculpt ( a first for me ) and thanks to Coen ( again ) it came out pretty nice...




I then went ahead and thought i`ll make it into a German Airplane recognition Flag ( yes the one with the Swastika on it )


The red went on without a problem .....

Next i took a piece of MDF and turned it into the base for what would become a little vignette and set it all up the why i had in mind








While setting this up i noticed that i forgot the detail paint on the tools ( yeah i know.... ) so i did that next






After that i glossed it again and went over it white a Streaking for winter camo one more time....







Well that`ll do for now, more to come nexrt update

[shortCummins]

I prefer the colour of the 2nd base coat, your weathering effect is just about perfect to my eyes

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Schoof]

Here i am again with a little update......

After the chipping and scratching i tried my luck with some oil paints for the first time and tried to do some oil and grease stains on the engine deck and the hinges on the hatches






Next up where the soot and diesel stains









After this step i decided to start the dio base.....

I used simple modeling clay and a piece of multiplex

I layed down the clay and pressed the tracks into it and i did the same with the feet of the figures so i would get a nice imprint

then i did a mock-up



after everything was really dry i primed the base using Vallejo surface primer 70.611 earth green





After it dried i went to the dollar store and bought a very cheap paint brush and started to plant "grass" in the dio


(the figure is for height check)





After this was done i started to clean out the box of the kit, going over the sprues again to see if i missed something....... aaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd i did

i found pieces of the roadwheels i forgot the put on ....

sorry for the bad picture



so i reprimed and resprayed them and strated the detail paint on the Figures








Still need to figure out what to do with them eye`s and how to make straps for the weapons.....

[Paul]

Looking really good seb, liking that buddy

As for the eyes, that personal choice mate

[sef]

Fantastic. I need to get hold of some of that washable paint...

[Goose]

Wow it s killing time here.

congrats, it s perfect!

goose

[Schoof]

Little Update

As it is almost the end of the SiG i will enter the ISU-152 on it`s own without the vignette and i`ll ask one of the admin`s to move this tread to the normal build section for further updates on the vignette.

Photo`s of the finnished ISU will be on the Forum

[hansolo]

Awesome work!
I love that mig white wash! Great job!

cheers

[gosselin2112]

Nice work on the Soviet Beast. Looking forward to see the completed dio. Model on and have fun!