#72012 KV-1 Heavy Tank

This kit represents a KV-1 Model 1939 with early welded turret and 76.2mm L-11 gun.  The kit includes optional parts allowing you to build a KV s malenkiy bashniy manufactured prior to November 1940 with the pistol port in place of the bow machine gun, or a true KV-1 Model 1939 from November or December 1940 with the armored machine gun mount.

The kit includes two-part resilient road wheels, though these are the cast wheels with reinforcing ribs between the lightening holes on the outer disc.  These wheels were not introduced until mid-July 1941.  Photographs suggest that they were rarely if ever fitted to the Model 1939 except in the case of rebuilt vehicles.  The correct wheels for this variant would be pressed steel two-part resilient wheels with either eight cooling vents on the inner disc (for a vehicle completed prior to September 1940) or six cooling vents (for a vehicle completed after September 1940).  The kit parts can be modified to represent the pressed steel wheels with six vents but it will be a tedious task to remove the reinforcing ribs from the outer discs of each wheel.

The kit includes pressed steel rubber-rimmed return rollers without the reinforcing ribs.  While these rollers were seen on Model 1939s from the very end of 1940, cast steel rubber rimmed return rollers with six reinforcing ribs were more common.

The upper hull is molded as a single piece including the fenders and fender mounting brackets, with all hatches also molded integrally.  The fender mounting brackets are molded solid, and you may wish to replace them with after-market items to represent the early skeletal brackets that were typicaly fitted to the KV s malenkiy bashniy and the KV-1 Model 1939.

The upper hull also includes the protective armor fillets welded to the hull top immediately aft of the turret ring, which were intended to provide rear-quarter protection for the turret race.  These fillets were typically only fitted to late production Model 1940s, and to most if not all Model 1941s and Model 1942s.  They were rarely if ever seen on the KV s malenkiy bashniy or the KV-1 Model 1939.  For the sake of accuracy, you should carve the fillets from the upper hull molding.

The hull provides the regular curved rear overhang, though all KV s malenkiy bashniy and Model 1939s were fitted with the earlier creased curved overhang.  It is quite simple to modify the part with a file or sanding stick to add the crease to the top of the overhang.

The engine access hatch provided in the kit is the domed type with the central inspection port.  The inspection port was not introduced until the end of 1941.  The KV s malenkiy bashniy and KV-1 Model 1939 typically carried the domed hatch without the inspection port, but it is again a simple matter to remove the port with a small file.  The hatch is a hybrid of the early and late patterns with three lifting eyes molded on the upper surface.  Remove the two outer lifting eyes for a correct early pattern hatch. 

The radiator intake screens are the correct early pattern.  They are molded solid, but with a convincing mesh representation.  The hull crew hatch and transmission maintenance hatches represent the early pattern with a flat top and curved edge.

The turret sprue (sprue ‘C’) is common to several PST kits of the early KV-1 variants, and includes not only the parts for the early welded turret but also the different mantlets for the 76.2mm L-11 and F-32 guns, along with the 45mm gun and flame projector used on the KV-8.  The longer gun barrel and mantlet for the ZIS-5 gun are included on sprue ‘B’, so it is theoretically possible to build a KV-1 Model 1939 with L-11 gun, a Model 1940 with the F-32 gun or an early Model 1941 with the ZIS-5 gun using this kit.  Ehkrany appliqué armor parts are also included on sprue ‘C’ but are naturally not required for the KV s malenkiy bashniy or KV-1 Model 1939.

The turret shell provided in the kit represents a hybrid between the early welded turret with butt-welded corners as introduced in May 1941, and the uparmored variant with repositioed rear-facing episcopes introduced in late July.  Neither of these variants is correct for a KV s malenkiy bashniy or KV-1 Model 1939 however.  To create an accurate representation of a turret from 1940, you should remove the weld seams from the front and rear of the turret sides, and reposition the rear-facing episcopes approximately 1mm inboard of the rear edge of the turret roof plate.  The front face of the turret also features the rectangular reinforcing strips alongside the trunnion bulges that were only added when the F-32 gun was introduced in January 1941.  You should remove these for an accurate KV s malenkiy bashniy or Model 1939.

The small decal sheet is shared with kit #72013 and includes markings for two vehicles.  These are simply turret numbers but check your references because most photographs of KV s malenkiy bashniy and KV-1 Model 1939s in service show them without any discernible markings whatsoever.