Italeri 1/72 ISU-122 Build Review

By John Kelley

Build Review

ISU-122 was the anti-tank version of the ISU Series of assault guns. Serving from 1944 to well into the 1950's, this version is characterized by a ball mantlet and muzzle brake.

The Italeri ISU-122 in 1/72nd scale is a well detailed and easily put together model. The tracks alone are a good reason to purchase this kit. Nice detailing both inside and outside. The heavy machine gun is probably the best I've seen in this scale.

You can see an in-box review of the kit here.

This kit went together very well, so I will only touch on the areas that you want to look out for. Starting with the tracks, the only issue here is with the ejector pin marks on the inside of the tracks. These can be eliminated with a file.

Starting with the gun assembly, this was one area I had the most trouble with. The gun barrel locator is too short to fit inside Part 16B. I found this out when I turned to model upside down and the gun barrel fell out. To solve this issue, I simply re-glued the gun barrel and added cement behind the mantlet so that it would stick to Part 22B (the gun housing). This prevents the barrel from moving up and down.

The next thing is the external fuel tanks. I suggest you remove the locators and sand both edges flat to reduce the seams on the tank. When I glued the end caps to the tank, there was a gap between the cap and the inside wall of the tank which I filled with Mr. Surfacer 500. I also used this to check the seams on the fuel tanks and muzzle brake.

The next item is Part 15B, the top hatch. When attached to the roof of the model, there was a gap between it and Part 14B that I filled with .010 strip styrene. The only thing that I found to be inaccurate was where the horn mounted to the front plate. Italeri has you mount it on a square of plastic which is incorrect. On the real tank, the horn was mounted directly to the plate. When you build your kit, refer to the box art as this shows the correct way for the horn to be mounted. You will also need to remove the plastic square as no ISU have this. I left it on the model so that you can see how it looks straight out the box. These really were the only issues I had.

The model was painted with Model Master and Tamiya Acrylics. I first sprayed Flat Black, then Dark Green. I find Dark Green to be more appropriate than the instructions suggestion of Russian Armor Green. Tamiya Flat Earth was used to paint the lower hull. I then applied a gloss coat overall and washed the lower hull and tracks with Tamiya Dark Brown. I then dry brushed this area with Buff. The upper hull was given a black wash to bring out the details. The upper hull was then dry brushed with Medium Green. A flat coat was applied to the entire model. For some reason, no decals were included in my review sample, so I did not add any. However, if they are anything like the decals I used on the Leopard IA2, then they should go on easily.

If you have any interest in Soviet WWII Armor, this kit is definitely for you. The tracks go on easily and with the exception of the issues I had, this was really a straight forward build. I highly recommend this kit.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!