sergeantseabass

Hey everyone thanks for the tips on painting. Bret.I did realize that a teardown in someway shape or form would have to happen. i knew that going into it at least. i'll look into the weathing makeup from Tammy. On that note I thnk that i won't worry to much about the paint for about a week or so. That way i can remind the family taht i DO live there and I'm not just some guy who's renting space above the garage. I got a 4 day break coming up where it's going to be just me and dog. Think that would be a good time to dig deep and get the paint on her.

I hope to make it back to Danville in April Not sure yet if I'll be able to might only be able to make Saturday.

thanks again to all. I'll keep the updates for this going until the JS-2 is "done enough" I say that because i think we can all agree that a tank is truely never "done" there is always something else.


Bill

Cruiser133

Awesome job! I just bought one from Banzai for $742.90 shipped to my door. With the radio, you really cant beat this deal!

sergeantseabass

Yeah I think that is pretty close to the price I got from them to. Give or take due to exchange rates always changing. I took a quick look on pricing the radio itself and most stores sell it for about $115.00US and up. So it really is a good deal. The shipping waas pretty quick for me. Took about week. From japan I call that a win.

ausf

About $100 better than I got, but that was over a year ago and the recent uptick in the USD makes overseas buying that much better. Glad to see some good deals being had all around.

Tanker 10

How long after you ordered, did you get your tracking number? I ordered yesterday, which was Monday there. It still says processing.

ausf

It was a while ago, but I think I got the tracking number a day before I got the tank. They are one of the only few Japanese stores selling overseas and it seems to be normal to be slow on communication, whether it's a matter of getting slammed with orders, language barrier or time difference. They send it EMS priority air, that's why it was so expensive, it was 2 days from them to NY with customs clearing as well, I think they sent it 2 days after I ordered.

I'm pretty sure they had a warning on the home page when I ordered about high volume and it'll take time to respond to tracking inquiries. If you ever ordered from Jason, you'll know what I'm talking about in terms of communication with Japanese stores. Can't beat the deal or the extra goodies you get.

Tanker 10

Thank you for the reply ausf.

Joe

sergeantseabass

One thing to add about the tracking number. I didn't even realize that they sent me one. It went to my spam folder. I was using Gmail. If you don't see it in a couple of days check your spam folder and see if it popped up in there.

Tanker 10

Thanks for the info Bill.

Cruiser133

I just ordered the DKLM metal tracks, steel wheels, muzzle and elevation arm for my JS. Man those parts are EXPENSIVE!!! I hope they are worth it....

sergeantseabass

let me know how the tracks work out

TheBennyB

Guessing the tracks will mate with stock tamiya sprockets/idlers? Didn't see any included with the tracks on the DKLM site.

Roboticus_Prime

Oh man, that thing is awesome! I can't wait to see it painted.

One thing's for sure, you guys are doing a terrible job of talking me out of buying a Tamiya!

Tanker 10

Yea, me too, but I have ordered one. I just have to see what all of the hype is about for myself.

sergeantseabass

if you enjoy building and don't mind dealing with screws and parts that should never be that small then i recommend that you get at least one. It is a nice feeling knowing that every screw that was put on was tightened down correctly and with locktight for most of them. Plus if it breaks there is really one one person I can blame me. Don't get me wrong I still have fun with my HL and Taigen. I'm still working on getting my Bulldog up finished, Butsometimes it just nice to build a kit and know that there isn't a whole lot that you have to do to it after it's all together. Check out Banzai Hobby if your really thinking about it.

TheBennyB

Can't go wrong with a Tammy. Get to build from the ground up and very good reliability on the battlefield. Hell, we've all had fun just WATCHING Bill get his together.

Tanker 10

As I said in my PM to you, I did order one. I received the dispatch notice from Banzai tonight. They didn't include a tracking number however, just the PP transaction number. Looking forward to my first Tamiya tank. I've built two of their Clodbusters, and another one of their off road trucks that the name of has slipped my old mind for now.

sergeantseabass

They sent me a total of two emails. The first one that you got. and then a day or two later i got the one that had the tracking number in it. Give it another day or so and you should see another email pop up.

Tanker 10

Thank you Bill.

sergeantseabass

No prob. I hope you do a thread on it. I would love to see what you do. Or heck just post it up here and we'll just keep a JS-2 thread going.

Tanker 10

I don't know if I'll do one as detailed as yours was. I have no video camera at present. I may do paint as I go so I don't have to disassemble the tank, we'll see. Did you counter balance the turret with weight, with the turret rollers I saw you install is it needed. My Taigen T-34/85 has the rollers and the turret spins fine.

sergeantseabass

Yes I did add a counter weight to the back of the turret. It's didn't have to do so much with the turret rotating as it does with the turret falling off when moved over the detach area. On the advise of some people that had built this kit earlier it was recommended to add the weight. If not then the turret can come off and tip when you rotate to the disonnect arrea. The turret does spin fine even with the weights. I added about 6 oz. it might be more than i needed but it works fine for me.

Don't worry about having a video camera even just pics would be great.

Tanker 10

Thanks, I'll keep all of that in mind during the build. Tracking number just arrived as you said it would.

sergeantseabass

sweet, glad to hear it.

Rustytrax

I have KZ1 metal tracks from MATO on mine. I found they added the weight the tank needs. The IS2 is so long and has such wide tracks it has very little ground pressure. As a result the tank would spin the tracks and not move on slight hills.

Since you have one now I'll bring mine back to Danville so you have a battle buddy.