So, what's the deal with the Trumpeter KV-2 barrel. Every picture I've seen has just a plain barrel. The one included on the kit has those two grooves around it. Which is correct? Or, are there some KV-2's with the grooves in the barrel too?

Also, for anyone that knows anything about the Eduard ZOOM PE sets available for the KV-2... There is a "KV-2 mesh" set (TP086) and a "KV-1/KV-2 mesh" set (TP088) available. The only difference I see is that the grill that goes up under the rear of the tank in the "KV-2 mesh" set is two pieces and in the other set, it's one piece and looks slightly different. Is one of them right or could I use either? I'd like to know because the "KV-1/KV2 mesh" set comes with what looks like the same stuff, but has a few more parts. I'm thinking that maybe the extra parts are just for the KV-1, but maybe they can be used on the KV-2. Does anyone know? If nothing else I'd have some extra PE that I could maybe use on something else. Heck, they cost the same price and one comes with more.

You can see the sets under the ZOOM section of Eduard's website. http://www.eduard.com


Thanks in advance for everyone's help!

I'm not an expert in KV tanks I too was curious about the grooves on the barrel. I also have the Lionroar PE set that comes with an aluminium barrel. It too had the grooves. Anyway, I took a close look at the photo of the tank at Kubinka and the grooves are there. They are just very fine. Look closely at this photo

I would join in with the questions... does someone have a drawing or a photo or something of the interior? I am really curious what hides in that bid turret.

I have noticed that too on the Trumpeter kit , as you say on pics the grooves are there on the real thing but not as pronounced, I wonder if its just the grooves on the kit are a little overscale

But if you have any queries on Russian armour Jim Brae will be the man to answer


Ian

Welcome to the world of the KaVinci code The endless and, so far, unsuccesful search for decent interior photos of the KV-2s turret. The nearest anyone has got so far is some shadowy views of the bit just inside the rear door and IIRC an upside down turret pic showing part of the gun mount. The rear door on the single survivor has apparently been welded closed and the Russians aren't really interested in breaking the seal.

Many years ago there was an article in FSM on creating an interior for the KV-2, but that was a total fiction.

It is confusing, but, in summary, the Trumpeter barrel is NOT very good at all. I have also used the the LionRoar update set:

Review (LINK)

Now, at the danger of being amazingly egotistical, let me quote myself:




The barrel in Kubinka belonged to one of the Test/prototype vehicles, this means that (inevitably) the production barrel is actually the SINGLE groove version.

Armorguy, I recently reviewed the NEW Eduard set for the big Turret:

Review (LINK)

Now, they give, in this set, the EARLY (simplified) Grilles, which are ALSO included in the LionRoar set. In my opinion, the LionRoar set is MUCH better value and, if you want the best deal in town (POST FREE), you can buy it at

LUCKMODEL

Finally, the Interior. We simply DON'T know what it looks like. So far, no-one has been able to dig up either photos or plans. There are two glimmers of hope, firstly, that someone will dig the bluprints out of the Soviet Archives. or, and NOT outside the realms of possibility, someone will recover a KV2 from a Russian Swamp (it's happened already with a number of vehicles). However, in the meantime, if any of you want to finance an extended research trip for me to Russia, all donations gratefully received!..Jim :-)

Last word, check this out for all the reviews: Armorama's KV Resource Feature (Link)

Thank you very much for all of your help so far. So, trying to make sense of all of this...

Here is an image of the instructions from one of Eduard's KV Mesh sets. See how it shows the grills sloping down at the front and then flattened out? Is that the proper way the grills should appear for the main production KV-2's? The other way is with the uniform grills that have the half circle at both ends.



As for the barrel, yes, I see the very fine grooves on the picture that was linked to earlier. It seems that most kits might have the grooves very out of scale. So, for the main production KV-2, should the groove closest to the front of the barrel, between the 1st and 2nd segments of the barrel be filled in?

Yep. The sloped grilles are for later production - KV1/KV2s. The semi-circular ones are appropriate for the early 'Big Turret'.

Regarding the barrel, here's the LionRoar one:

Jim, given the Lion Roar barrel and the two main grooves on the barrel, should the front groove be filled in with putty for the later model KV-2s? I'm taking this from your previous posting where you were talking about the "SINGLE groove barrel".