Saturday, June 20, 2009

German KV-1 with Pz. IV tracks - Part 01 -

Hi all and welcome to my next project!


When I discovered the picture of this KV-1, I knew I had to build it.
During my research phase I came across two other pictures showing the same tank.

This is the subject:

(For discussion only, found online)

The story behind this tank is somehow unclear.
It's an early KV, captured and used by the Germans, and it seems like the Germans tried to pull it to a new position
after the tank received some serious damage.

There are rumors on some websites that this tank was used as mobile bunker,
I've never heard that tanks were used in such manner, and the flat terrain would also make this tank an easy target.


So let's start gluing some plastic.
As base I grabbed the Trumpeter KV-1 small turret kit, rebuild the weld seams and cleaned the hull (in and outside).

It's really hard to find good interior shots of KV tanks, but my main reference for the interior are the pictures from the Tankograd books,
pictures of destroyed KV found in the internet and some pictures from the vehicle found in the Neva river.

I'm not aiming for a 100% authentic interior, therefore the available reference material is not enough.

Starting with the turret I build several interior details. There are still some things missing, the seats, some electric controls,...

Here you can see the carrier for the DT magazines.
Sorry for the bad pictures, I think I will change the background for the next ones:




I will not go crazy with detailing the hull interior as almost nothing will be seen.
To fill the empty space I rebuild the front fuel tanks and the cross beam which connects the hull sides.




I also started to build some optical instruments, the main gun and mg ball mount:




Still a lot to do, but till now I enjoyed every second. Here an overall shot, the parts are just dry fitted.




Hope you like it, stay tuned!
Cheers
Manuel

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