During World War 2 the Russian army deployed a series of tanks named after their defence minister, Klimenti Voroshilov. The KV’s were known as heavily armed and armored tanks. While the KV-1 was the main heavy tank in this series, they also produced the KV-2, considered an assault tank or artillery tank. This tank mounted the M10 152mm howitzer, thus requiring the larger turret. The extra weight of the larger turrent and gun caused the tank to suffer low speeds and a very high profile. Legends have it that a single KV-2 could hold up an entire German advance.
the kit
Zvezda has now brought us this legendary tank in 1/35 scale. Being a big tank, it comes in a big box. Opening the box, I found nine sprues of green plastic packed with parts and two rubbery sprues of vinyl track for this large tank. None of the sprues were in bags or individually wrapped, thus I did find a couple of the smaller detail parts bent or broken, but nothing that could not be repaired. Also there were some pieces of the sprues in the bottom of the box.
review
Starting to examine the sprues, the parts seem to be very well molded, with very little flash. The very large upper hull is molded with good surface detail, and as one piece with fenders molded on. The lower hull comes in multiple pieces that will need to be put together - bottom, sides, front and rear plates.
The fine details, ie grab handles, machine guns, etc, are finely molded and contain good detail where expected. I feel the main gun breech is not very well detailed, and there is no interior detail. There is somewhat of an engine top that is mounted to the inside of the upper hull if you want to leave the engine hatch open.
As for track, the builder has two options: there is the old vinyl standby and there is molded length and link track. While there is nothing special about the vinyl track, the molded track I find not very well detailed. On the molded track, the inside contains several ejector marks that would need to be filled, and it might prove a little difficult for the novice builder to represent the typical sag found in the upper run of tracks on a KV.
Instructions
The instructions seem to very well laid out, and straight forward. There are some paint call-outs for detail parts, referencing colors listed in Russian and Model Master. There is only one option for markings and a single paint scheme, thus a small sheet of decals printed in white.
assembly Step layout
Step 1 - lower hull, road wheels, drive sprocket
Step 2 - suspension arms, upper return wheels
Step 3 - installation of drive sprockets and front glacis plate detail
Steps 10-14 - gun breech, barrels and turret front plate
Steps 15 & 16 - turret detail, interior and exterior
Steps 17 & 18 - construction of turret
Step 19 - final detail, mount turret
conclusion
Overall it is a decent kit, and I would recommend it. I have not seen the Trumpeter kit, so I cannot draw a comparison, I will leave it up the builder to decide.
SUMMARY
Highs: Good molding, very little flash - great detail piecesLows: Plastic molded track does not have typical KV sag and has visible ejector marksVerdict: Kit should build a good looking KV-2, and it will be big. Recommended
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I am an IT Consultant and father, with a passion for plastic models. I mostly prefer 1/35 Armor and 1/48 Aircraft. My main interests are anything Canadian, as well as WW2 German and British Armor and Aircraft. I have been building models since I was a young kid, got away from it for awhile, but r...
" I have not seen the Trumpeter kit, so I cannot draw a comparison, I will leave it up the builder to decide."
Hi Kevin!
I have one from Trumpeter, and I assure you, is far better than this Zvezda KV. An example - the molded tracks (length and link ) had the sag.
Another thing - the lower hull in in a single piece, with helps a lot in the building process.
And I don't know why all KV's manufactures include a decal sheet with soviet slogans. There's was no soviet KV's with marks like that, only the captured by Germans.
It's neat that they include part of the interior, but it seems pretty sparse. It also looks like the engine screens are the incorrect late version. Nice review!
Just picked this kit up today . You get a choice of two road wheel styles . The barrel is in 3 pieces , like the early Trumpeter version . For some reason the turret has lift hooks on the front corners and the rear over the hatch , none of the books I have show this ( TankPower KW vol 1,2,3 & the new KB-2 book by M.V. Kolomiets ) , maybe a German addition ? Interior detail concists of periscopes , machine guns , vision port covers and some detail on the gun breach and mount . But what do you want for $30. I'm gonna have fun building this , and thats what this hobby is all about . I would give this kit a 6.5 out of 10
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