1:72 Big turret KV

Rather average model kit of not-so-great tank, plus my limited skills. Still interested?

Big turret...

When KV-1s couldn't smash Finnish bunkers into bits and pieces, Russian engineers answered to this problem with the simplest solution possible: a bigger gun. The 152mm cannon was mounted on that same, not so great chassis and turret was consequently blown to almost monstrous size. Result? Not really good and effective tank, but certainly one with the most menacing look!

There were two main versions of KV-2 produced during the World War 2, which can be easy distinguish due to the different turrets. To be precise- first type, the pre-series vehicles, was known at the time as the “big turret KV” and only now, in some sources, is called as “early”, “Model 1940” or similar.

...in small scale

Miniature of such type caught my eye one day in a small local hobby shop and I bought it on the spur of the moment. That was the Trumpeter kit no. 07236, which  is in my opinion not very well designed, just like the real thing was. Simplified details,  vinyl tracks... But hey, I'm not here to review an eight years old kit, so let's move on.

Building and painting

Short build report was published in 2015 August issue of "Scale Military Modeller International".

Finished model

The miniature depicts a big turret KV (KV-2 pre-series vehicle) from the 2nd Tank Division of the 3rd Mechanised Corps., operating in Lithuania during spring of 1941. This particular vehicle, probably factory number U-4, ended its Red Army career being stuck in a swamp and subsequently abandoned.