Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: IS-3M, Part 2

Of all the great things you are, one of the things you are not, is the right size for a Soviet/Russian Tanker. Thanks for the sacrifice, pants and otherwise.

Batteries to the left of me, batteries to the right. Here I am, stuck in an IS-3 with you

Seems like the position of the loader was designed for a left handed, powerlifting dwarf. Population of which certainly was huge in Soviet Russia.

No Files or Grinding wheels were harmed in the construction of this tank.

“I can easily slide into the drivers position…” proceeds to make sounds as if the Chieftain was a significantly older man than he is…

"I kinda like it" The Chieftain after not having to get back in the damn thing again.

Something the Chieftain has consistently proved with the "Inside" series is: Those with any degree of claustrophobia, or taller than 5'6", need not apply to be a tanker. Thank you Sir for putting your body at such risk for us!

It is somewhat easier to work inside a Soviet tank if you have the Soviet tanker cap on because you can focus on squeezing through spaces rather than worrying about your unprotected head grinding and bashing on things. I am not arguing the tanks become ergonomic dreams by wearing the protective padding, but it does remove a lot of the literal pain and danger that amplify the discomfort caused by the lack of space.

24:18 To answer the question about the radio, at 4:07 there's a plaque near the top of the radio saying R-113 (P-113 in Cyrillic)

About when we got to the driver's position, I began to have visions of Oddball's gunner/mechanic, Moriarty, from Kelly's Heroes when he yelled "It's a piece 'a junk!"

I find it hilarious that I had to wait for Irish American to come to Belgium to watch a thorough review of a Soviet made tank because I can get nothing from Russian speaking folks with comparable quality. Thank you Chief once again =)

"A Tiger will notice if you hit it with a 122 HE" , one of the most dramatic understatements I ever heard...

I was under a sink, most of today, twisted to get at a pipe junction..... I feel your pain !

I'd be interested in a video discussing ergonomics of tanks from the Soviet Union, America, Britian and so on

I have to ask: Have you ever gotten stuck inside a tank to the point they've had to call technicians to disassemble a portion to extricate you?

Germany: Make the tanks way too heavy to achive more armor protection. Soviet Union: Make the tanks way too small internally to achive more armor protection.

Your comment about hoping the gun isn't trained directly forward brought back memories of the one time I got into the driver's hole on a Marine A1 Abrams at the Miramar Air Show. (I don't think I was supposed to, but they left the hatch open, so...) Specifically, it reminded me of the sound of me trying to get my 300-pound ass out of there without knowing the trick to getting out with the gun trained directly forward. Imagine the following series of sounds: [bonk] "Ow." [ bonk ] "Ow!" [pause, scraaaaaape] "...I think I'm stuck..." [sound of maniacal cackling from PFC in the turret there to keep the civvies touring it from breaking anything] I'm... pretty sure I ended up being a meme in that unit for a week or so...

'I know the T-34 didn't have a turret basket, but I'm sure they got to that at this point' 3 minutes later: "While the gun is trying to kill the loader, it also has no turret basket"

There are pictures out there of German panzers partially disassembled from being hit with large caliber HE rounds. Welds holding armor plates crack entirely.

this beast looks big, heavy, and intimidating, even for tank standards... it is the tankiest tank I've seen from the 40s since the tiger 2,