Good idea! Here’s what you got for your rubles — well, mostly. The model is supposed to be motorised, but that whole part is missing in mine.
Here’s the box lid once again:
The prices written on the lid are 45 and 25, the former crossed out, but I have no idea what currency this indicates — I suppose guilders, but it could be euros, though I
think I’ve owned the kit for longer than we’ve had the latter. Even then, I’m not sure what I paid for it, if I paid anything at all, and who I bought/got the kit from
On one side of one of the long ends is some information about the kit:
The text transliterates as:
EKSPORT
SDELANO W SSSR
Sbornaya model-kopiya tanka IS-3
Artikul MG 085-01-4326
I don’t speak Russian, but nearly all of this is easy enough to translate:
EXPORT
MADE IN USSR
<something> model-copy of IS-3 tank
Article MG 085-01-4326
So was this made for export only? If so, I suppose only to other Soviet-sphere countries, because even if this is a 1970s model (I’m not sure), who would have wanted one in a country where
Tamiya and Italeri kits were available? OTOH, of course, those didn’t have IS-3 kits.
On the other long side is a short overview of the real tank:
Unfortunately the box on mine is badly damaged, so it’s hard to read. Either way, though, I’m going to leave trying to decipher it as an exercise for the reader
Upper and lower hulls, the latter with a ruler for size:
Note the lower hull has large cutouts for no real purpose, other than perhaps to save some plastic.
Several parts have come (or been cut) loose, but I put them back where I think they went for the following sprue shots:
And the tracks:
With a close-up to show their fine detail inside and out:
The complete instructions, in the order you would leaf through them:
The first page indicates the manufacturer at the very top: Modelskiy Opytno-Eksperimentalynyy Zavod “Ogonek”, which means something like Model Experimental Factory “Twinkle” (Google Translate to the rescue for the middle words and the actual name
).
The instructions certainly seem adequate. A bit wordy, but the exploded diagrams alone should be sufficient for anyone who doesn’t speak Russian. I like the parts list (step 4, on page 4) that tells you what each thing is and how many there are in the kit. Since there is one motor per track and the battery pack has three leads, I suppose this means the model can’t just go forward and back but can also turn.
Finally, the
decals:
Unlike most kit
decals, these are “inside-out”: the side you can see if the one that goes against the model. Quite why they saw a need to print a green backing to the turret number, I’m not sure, though.
