COBI IS-3 Soviet Heavy Tank Set 2590

COBI's IS-3 is a 1:28 model built from 1,170 blocks, 35.5 cm long, with a removable turret over a reproduced interior, a brick replica of the W-11 engine under the service hatch, printed periscopes, working tracks, a rotating turret and an elevating barrel. A Soviet tank driver figure in the navy-blue suit is included.

Built to be seen

The IS-3 arrived too late for the fighting and was aimed at a different audience. On 7 September 1945 the Soviet Union sent fifty-two of them through Berlin in the Allied victory parade, past American, British and French officers who had never seen anything like them.

The shape was the message. Instead of flat plates the IS-3 had a pike-nosed front and a rounded, flattened turret, so that almost every surface was angled — a shell arriving from any direction stood a good chance of glancing off rather than penetrating. It carried the 122 mm gun of the IS-2 on 45 tonnes that moved better than they had any right to.

The effect on the watching Allies was exactly as intended. Western heavy tank programmes that had been winding down were restarted, and the British Conqueror and the American M103 both exist because of what officers saw in Berlin that afternoon. The IS-3 shaped a decade of Western tank design without firing at any of it.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,170 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:28
Model dimensions: 35.5 × 13 cm (14.0 × 5.1 in)