Monday, November 14, 2016

A Russian KV1 at 1/32 scale


The mighty KV1 was the most powerful heavy tank of the early war period…on paper.

Even though the Germans were badly surprised at first, the KV was never in a position to hold back the invasion of Russia. 



KV1 at 1/32
The beast with a green color...not historically accurate but fun



As quoted in Wikipedia:

KV1 at 1/32The KV's strengths included armor that was impenetrable by any tank-mounted weapon then in service except at point-blank range, that it had good firepower, and that it had good traction on soft ground. It also had serious flaws, all of which were rectified with the introduction of the KV-1S: it was difficult to steer, the transmission (which was a twenty-year-old Caterpillar design) was unreliable (and was known to have to been shifted with a hammer), and the ergonomics were poor, with limited visibility and no turret basket. Furthermore, at 45 tons, it was simply too heavy. This severely impacted the maneuverability, not so much in terms of maximum speed, as through inability to cross many bridges medium tanks could cross.

My brother chose to make the 1941 model with the cast turret. 



KV1 at 1/32



To do the work, he used George Bradford series World war II AFV plans.  The book Russian Armored Vehicles provided scaled plan of the KV.  It helps a lot to represent all the details of that tank.


 Eight were built in two colors.

KV1 at 1/32
...that's the other color more realistic




KV1 at 1/32
The KV with TSSD russian troops.


KV1 at 1/32
Our KV's haven't fight yet.  Those scenes were made for propaganda purposes only (!)






8 comments:

  1. Great job, guys! What's the material the KVs are made of?

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    1. Thank you very much Mark! Those KVs are made of wood. Wood is the material we use the most considering that we do wargames with our miniatures. Emulating guns fire with Nerf guns and balls require robust accessories.

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  2. Nicely done Gentlemen! I really like the way your brother did the turrets. Good Work!
    Cheers
    Col

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    1. Thanks Col! I totally agree with you. That's the coolest part of the tank.

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  3. I would like to see how you make your tanks. Do you make everything out of one block or do you build them up like a regular kit?

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    1. Hello stephen! Actually, we use scaled drawing to build it like you say, like a regular kit. For the KV, we use George Bradford book "WW2 AFV plans; Russian armor vehicules". Bradford doesn't provide "blue prints" per se but it is possible from the drawing to developp plan for all the pieces required.

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  4. your work is similar to what I do !!! . If you want to see my blog, you will see why I say it :
    https://einealtekriegsspiel.blogspot.com.ar/
    regards

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    Replies
    1. Yes! We have the same hobby! We can exchange one day on our work.

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