borealis

A very interesting new product from Christian Juckenburg: a conversion kit to build a dynamic JS-3 over the lower hull of the KV-1.

The kit comes with turret ring the size of the heng long tanks, and outer wheels in plastic (not resin) for a better appearance of the drive train.

The lower hull of the JS-3 is different from the KV-1's, but this solution looks a good compromise to me.

[link=http://www.store-juckenburg.de/index.php?id_product=73&controller=product]JS-3 page[/link]

Panther F

Hmmm. Very nice and me want!














~ Jeff

Martellus

That is really cool.. it looks great

pattoncommander

Very nice...a bit narrow for a JS-III bit looks great. It was a mechanical nightmare and most never got out of the motor pool...like our M-60A2s....but it was a mean looking tank. It would be a good IDF capture and may be worth the cost.

sollie

I love that turret, Looks mean

DirtyBird69

I like it!...Just leary of how well the resin parts would hold up in combat/general RC use?

YHR

I wouldn't be worried about the resin superstructure parts at all. The chasis is stock HL, so the running gear will be as good as HL.

Panther F

Just about half of us have resin parts and conversion materials on our tanks.


Just depends on how it's put together.














~ Jeff

mustclime

I like.....very cool.....It would be nice to have a working soviet king tiger.

DirtyBird69

I wonder if this would work on a taigen KV-1....? being that Taigen has a bunch of asiatam parts I wonder if the wheel covers would fit and what not?

Panther F

I like this image the best:
















~ Jeff

DirtyBird69

me to...lol

blimp uk

Here's the original prototype build blog linky -http://rctank-forum.hu/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=1789&sid=1c6bc1fddcd03173a70 42601e65b34b0

FreakyDude

I'll let you know, I ordered a Taigen KV-1 for for a JS-3 conversion last week. My own motor pool is getting long in the tooth so I thought I could freshen it up.

ROLLIN ARMOUR

How much is this kit in U.S. dollars? I do not see a ENGLISH icon on this website. There is some very cool stuff I would like to get from this vender. HELP!

Panther F

Like the rest of us natives do: http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

Or you could email him?














~ Jeff

Martellus

google also has a currency converter, just type in "€ 219.95 in dollars" and it will convert it. Handy little tip.

ROLLIN ARMOUR

Thank You.

blimp uk

bowlman

The JS-3 used the same gun as the JS-2 so you could use the Tamiya JS-2 gun to build on .

About the Russian Heavy Tank JS III
On September 7th 1945, the allied nations were staggered by Russia's disclosure of their JS-3 heavy tank at a victory parade in Berlin. Although coded a "JS" (Josef Stalin) tank, it had a totally different appearance from its preceding models. The one-piece cast turret had a simple flattened hemispherical shape. The maximum thickness of the turret armor reached 250mm. The front hull was constructed by welding three 120mm thick armor plates, forming a shape like a ship's bow. The main armament used the same L/43 122mm gun as the JS-2. The 520 horsepower diesel engine provided 40km/h of maximum speed. With the concerted effort of the talented Russian tank engineers such as N.L. Jukhov and Z.A. Kotin, the prototype was completed in October 1944 and the mass production began in the following year. There have been a lot of controversy concerning whether or not the JS-3 saw any fighting during the Berlin campaign. At least one regiment was equipped with the JS-3 by then, but it's still uncertain if they were committed to the actual fighting. Other sources claim that it was first deployed in combat against the Japanese in Manchuria in August 1945. Incorporating several modifications, its production was continued until 1951 and about 1,800 JS-3's were produced. Its simple and effective turret and hull configuration deeply influenced not only the following Russian tanks, but also fighting vehicles of the western nations.

Thanks
Jimmy

Panther F

I still like the T-10 better. Longer and had 7 pairs of wheels instead of 6.














~ Jeff

DirtyBird69

Does Henntec make an idler kit for the KV-1....? I like their set-ups better then anyone elses with that nice cross brace..makes it good an strong.

pattoncommander

Jimmy, The JS-III had everyone scared due to it's radical new design and the pointed bow gave it the name "Pike". It had enormous mechanical problems with wheel bearings and other suspension related flaws, so most JS-IIIs just sat in motor pools and rarely participated in anything other than local parades. The T-10, in spite of improvements to suspension and gun mods did not fare much better. A dozen JS-IIIs or so were captured by Israel from Egyptian units in the Yom Kippur War but were driven back and not dragged back as combat casualties , which in itself indicates that the tanks were not deployed but kept in rear staging areas. Having been a tank commander in Germany in cold war years, I am thoroughly convinced that our M-48 was copied from the JS-III.

The M-103 developed from the T-43 120mm gun tank was rushed into production and deployed with the 33d HTB, 3d AD at Aschaffenburg as a counter to E German border tank units being equiped with the JS-III. It was concluded in the mid 60s that this was unfounded and the M-103A2s were withdrawn from service. The 103 also had severe mechanical problems in that the gun could not be run out of travel lock for any distance without causing damage to the turret gears and a rack of 4 55 gal fuel drums had to be carried on the rear to go any distance at all. Marines used them for many years after, with mods to A5, Danville has one of these rare items.

In spite of all, both were important tanks in armor history.

bowlman

Hi Pattoncommander
Nice history on the JS-III and M103 is there a book out about the history on Tanks from the late 40's to 70's .

Thanks
Jimmy

pattoncommander

Hunnicutt's Firepower covers all US heavy tanks with a lot of nice pics of M-103s. I tried to transfer to the 33d, as I had a couple buddys there and my loader had some time in 103s, but my CO wouldn't let me go. It was an awesome tank and that long telephone pole sticking out of the turret demanded a lot of respect. In a stationary position, it could sit and take out enemy armor a couple miles out...like KTs and JTs in WW II, The 120mm was extremeley accurate, but slow due to seperate load ammo. But moving cross country the gun had to be locked down. It was not designed for tk vs tk combat but more as a long range tank killer and did OK under the severe restrictions placed on it.

We ran maneuvers against them in 1961 in our M-48A2s. It brought back stories of Shermans against Tigers with umpires telling us we had been taken out 3 grid squares away when we could not see them or get within engagement range with our 90mms. As with Shermans, we had to have a coupe platoons run miles out of the way to get behind or flank them. The 103s kicked our butts.

In the mid 60s, the JS-III was no longer deemed a threat and the 33d was downsized to medium and issued M-48A1s.