Does any one know if these armor plates are bolted to the hull or bolted to stand offs welded to the hull. Thanks

It was bolted directly to the turret and hull sides. The plates were flat on the front with ridges on the backside directly inline with the bolt holes running vertically. On most plates, the top and bottom were open while the rear plates on either side of the turret were also welded closed. There were some that had the top and bottom welded on the forward turret plates though.

Hey Gents,

Does anyone know when the KV-1 armor was I guess upgrade to this. Also did the Russian KV have that add-on. This picture was taken at a museum in Finland. The tank has no markings but after doing some digging I found out the Finnish military had some KV's. Is this add on only a Finnish thing or its the picture of one of the many different types of KV's.

1940 through July 1941 was the timeframe for the add on armor plates. As for the welded tops of the turret armor plates, I have only found that it was random but was more commonly seen on 1940 and early 1941 production units.

I think the area Joe points out was only on that KV-1E, captured by finns. It's a finnish upgrade to the turret.

Thanks guys. I will be looking for more pictures of the Finn KV's. Now, I got to figure out the colors used by the Finns. CasualModeler any ideas?

Have you checked out Andreas Lärka's website yet? A lot of good photos and information: http://www.andreaslarka.net/

Aber makes a multimedia upgrade/conversion set for a Finnish KV-1E, here's a review: Link

And for the colors, the easiest choice would be Lifecolor, as they make a Finnish WW2 armor color set, XS08. Here's the Armorama review of it: Link

Hope these help.

The additional armor is called ekhrany by the Russians. This upgrade was implemented from late June until July of 1941. Threaded rods were welded to the hull and turret sides. Spacer plates separated the ekhrany armor plates from the hull/turret. The plates were secured by hex nuts to the rods. The Finnish welded the additional plates covering the top of the forward turret ekhrany.

From the information in Neil Stokes' book the vehicle was captured in October 1941 and removed to depot in the spring of 1942. It maintained its original 4bo green color until mid '43 when it received Finnish three color camo. This KV remained in service until 1945 when it was placed into storage. In 1961 it passed on to the Panssarimuseo.

Keep in mind when looking at the photos of its current condition that changes have been made to at least the stowage since it has been in service.