Just posted of one of the most innovative update/conversion sets produced in recent years - you want a REALLY different KV? Read on: Here....

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Very interesting, never knew that the Finns made these kinds of adaptations.

As a curiosity, one of the recommended tools is a "lightweight hammer"...did you find the need to use this on any of the set by chance?

More on the Finnish KV's:
http://www.andreaslarka.net/ps271001/ps271001.html
http://www.andreaslarka.net/ps272001/ps272001.html

You can get both turrets in resin from JS Models, as well as the stowage bins and headlight covers. The fenders would be useful in brass, but they're just as easy to make out of styrene. I've been slowly working on both these vehicles out of the Trumpeter (for the m.1942) and Tamiya (for the 'E').

Jim

I see little real need for replacement turrets - I would imagine that these were produced to upgrade with the Tamiya kits, so, with the advent of the Trumpeter series, they're pretty much redundant.

Can I also ask a favor, if a product from one manufacturer is reviewed, it's not considered in best form to start talking about another company's products..Jim

Jim

Are the bell-shaped bits the pistol port plugs?

David

David that's what i'm STILL trying to figure out - I think they probably are, but in all the photos I have of the Finnish KV1s, they DON'T feature...Jim

Judging by this photo from Andreas Larka's site, the Finns have created a slope (using a welded plate?) under the pistol port to channel the plug over the edge of the applique armour. Or is this an original Soviet feature that I've overlooked

Slope

Hi Jim,
thank you for good rewiew, i have question if its ok?
could you mesure the widht of the grating, in kv what we have in parola it is 0,5mm, and top of it, is 1,5mm and lower top is 3mm in 1/35

David, you are correct, finns did plug all the holes between the turret and extra armor..

It is nice that Aber has made this really rare kit to us =)


Regards Kimmo Siika

Very interesting review of a subject I'm especially interested in -- thanks, Jim.
At the risk of being pedantic, the conflict between the Finns and Soviets had two distinct phases: the Winter War (Nov '39 to March '40) and the Continuation War (June 41 to August 44). After the Winter War the Finns had a number of captured T-26's, T-28's, BT-5's, etc., but it was during the Continuation War that the Finns captured (or bought from the Germans) the T-34's and KV-1's that bolstered their armored force during the second major Soviet onslaught in the summer of '44. A third conflict that Finland was forced to fight, the Lapland War, was the result of the Soviets insisting that the Finns expel the Germans from their country as part of the conditions for ending the Continuation War. Although the Finns lost territory after both conflicts with the Russians, they did manage to keep their independence by viture of the their stubborn defense of their homeland in the face of overwhelming odds.