Pegasus 1/72 ISU-122/152 unboxing

One thing I know about Pegasus model tanks is that I like their tracks! They are hard plastic tracks and not the floppy vinyl tracks you get in other kits (like the notorious Airfix ones). Pegasus models offer low cost quick build kits that are slightly simplified and are easy to put together, and their very competitive pricing for boxes of two models makes them very popular among the war gaming fraternity.

However, unlike their biggest British competitor - Armourfast - they are not so over-simplified that they are of no use whatsoever to the modeller who is looking to build a historic piece. In fact, they are - in my opinion - a terrific starter kit for beginners like myself as they offer great value for money and moderate detail.

Anyway, let's take a look at what you get in the box...

Admittedly, I started putting one of the hulls together already...

The vast majority of parts are dedicated to the tank drive train, the road
wheels, suspension and what-not. I have already made a similar track
system to this when I made Pegasus's KV-1/2 tanks. Not suprising as the
KV tanks was the predasessor to the IS series of tanks and tank destroyers.

The upper hull of the ISU. As you can see - or  not! - the panel line detail
is a bit weak in some areas. But it's not bad for a 'quick build'.

You are fooled into thinking there are more parts than there actually are because - remember - there are two tanks included in this kit. Additionally, one of the nice things about this set is that you can build either the ISU-122 or the ISU-152 - the difference being the calibre of the gun.

Reference material...
Historically this means you can build a tank destroyer representative of tanks which took part in campaigns from the later part of World War 2 to the Arab- Israeli wars and even a few were used by the Iraqi Army during the first Gulf War! That's quite a time span and a lot of options to be able to play with!

"Both Egypt and Syria had a battalion of ISU-152 in the 1973 war, although they
didn't see action particularly. [Apparently]...the Egyptian ones were dug-in on
their side of the Suez and may have been encountered in the latter
stages by roving IDF forces." [Source: Tank Net]

Reference material for colour schemes is a little thin, though - as always - there are plenty of examples knocking about on the internet. As it happens I have the Osprey book 'IS-2 Heavy Tanks 1944-73' which has some information about the history of the ISU tank destroyers. And it just so happens that it has a colour plate for one of the Egyptian ISU-152s on the Suez Canal defensive line as pictured in the photo above.

The example depicted in the Osprey book has a rather nice three-colour camouflage scheme in sand, dark-green and red-brown...Ideal for my airbrush practise!

This very nice model of the Egyptian ISU-152 is by Jari Hemilä  and is
featured over at the Missing-Lynx discussion group.