Product teaser...video added
 

IS-2 crewmen?

More like angry commander. :)

But yes, for the IS-2, but it should fit on any Russian cupola with the split hatch.

Awesome! Did you make him or where can we get one at?

I wouldn't mind a whole crew for my SU-100 build. ;)








Jeff

It's all mine, this is the first out of the production mold. I'll be finishing up box art and revamping the website, so they'll be available to ship soon.

They'll be more crew eventually, but for now I'm concentrating on commanders. These fit right on the Tamiya apple base, so they can easily pop off for battle. This on is obviously on the JS-2, but the hands and head are poseable to adapt to other Russian hatches. I'll have a complete photo series up soon too.

A lot of stuff coming on his heels...

Nice. He looks like he might suit a T-55 as well.

Very Nice!

Thanks guys, made a quick video to get the 360 tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6OlqYnSxzI

Very nice Jeff looks like I need to pick one up in the feature for my self to put in my KV-I

Nice sculpt Jeff!!! I have only been able to mix and match figure parts to get some non-standard figures to work with some diaromas I did. To be able to sculpt a fig is really something!!!:cool:

As always Jeff first rate work and high quality. Please bring one for me to the NEAD Battleday this Sunday. I need on for a SU project. I see a trade for those Shermans coming.

That looks really cool. Well done! You mentioned box art and the like. Do you have a website and do you have other figures for German, US, or British TCs?

Thanks again guys.

Philipat, yep, I have a website but it doesn't show these yet. I'm in the process of gearing up to 1/16 armor supplies only.

These figs are designed to fit specifically on individual tanks, the next in line will be commanders for an early Tiger and a Pz IV (or III). US, UK and Panther will follow (I need to get the tanks for fitting purposes).

I'll ship worldwide at cost, so it'll be reasonable.

Looking forward to seeing them. If you're doing several German figures, some DAK, eastern and western front with SS and Werhmacht would be cool. Takes time, though. :rolleyes:

Great figure. Nice filming also - using the turret to spin the figure and not the camera - nice!

The Russians always rode "buttoned up" Chances of actually seeing a Russian TC was slim to none.
Just ask Otto Carious.

He's for road marches. He slides off the apple base and goes in your case for combat. :)

I read Tigers in the Mud too, he didn't mention Tamiya apples either. :)

I was fortunate enough to see some of these Jeff is working on up close and personal. Amazing detail and work. I can't wait until they are available.

No you are entirely correct. I'm sure he didn't mean Tamiya either. LOL .It's just really unusual to see a Russian TC. I don't even recall ever seeing many photos of any. It is a very nice piece though. I would like an American TC for my Tamiya Pershing. I like the American tank crew helmets and the hip waiter like coverall's they wore.
Yhe thing about the apple with German TC's is they did ride "heads up" most of the time in combat and the apple actually takes away authenticity for a German tank .I saw a guy that made the TC figure into an apple one time. It looked great and worked quite well too. Thats what Tamiya should do. Design new "apples" with the receivers and LED's integrated into the figure. That would be really kool I think.

I have a pile of Russian magazines that cover most of the war with a lot of subjects not found in Western ref materials (i.e., bodies, etc), but the Russians had a real knack for re-staging scenes for propaganda purposes. I have one series that shows the same knocked out Pz IV from different angles posed with different tanks and crews that claimed to have destroyed it. Most of the photos are of Russians at rest and Germans as POWs.

A majority of WWII photos aren't combat, so it's hard to say how things were approached. I've read a lot of Combat unit histories and mmemoirs over the years, but Carius was the only one I recall criticizing driving while buttoned up. If you've ever scene a photo of him, he could get pretty low in the early cupola, it wasn't like he was standing up in combat. Since the original early cupolas were switched out for their shot-trap profile and their propensity to fly off the turret when hit (commander's head still inside), I would think most of all armor forces were using the periscopes in actual combat. I have a few photos of a Das Reich commander from inside the buttoned up turret using the cupola sights and unless he's an Oscar awarded actor, he's pretty stressed, so I'd imagine it's not propaganda.

Hey, even Oddball stayed inside. ;)

In terms of the TC apple, I made 2 designs, both using an IR filter as the belt which worked (at least for both Russia and Germany since they used waist high belts), but are kind of hard to produce in numbers. One uses a pyramid like Tamiya that I could make, but I can't get the same mirror finish as Tamiya, so the range is about half. I tried Alcad, etc, but everything short of chrome dipped plastic won't work. The second uses 4 sensors, but I'd would have to sell it as a kit since the assembly would be ridiculously time-consuming. I haven't ruled out trying though, it's just on the back burner. Another issue would be club resistance in a non-Tamiya apple.

I moved on to putting the sensors in the cupola like on the StuG and Tiger I, it alleviated the need for a TC apple (and an apple itself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2uR9KtTJZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQpSZzFiF6I

And both are great, I would love to get a schematic on how it was done from you.

Yeah he mentioned that he did try to ride as low as he could. He knew you couldn't go off into battle standing straight up and even warned his other TC's not to do that. They lost one of his commanders from doing just that. Im sure we all can agree much of the stuff the Russians photoed was propaganda. They still do it today. Masters of the art of BS.