Preview: Tamiya's Soviet Heavy Tank KV-2 in 35th scale...
Soviet Heavy Tank KV-2
From Tamiya
Military Miniature Series No. #375
1/35th scale
Overall length: 204 mm
Two marking choices are included
The start of the KV heavy tanks began after the heavy tank T-35 flaws came to light. Designers were ordered to draw up new designs to become the basis of a breakthrough heavy tank needed for the Soviet doctrine. This made for a tank that was heavily armoured, but not very mobile as it was to be for siege warfare. The designs offered all had heavy armour, wide tracks, and used the torsion-bar suspension. The designs were the SMK, T-100, and what would be the KV-1 tank, which was named after the then Soviet Defense Commissar Kliment Voroshilov.
The Soviets sent these tanks into Finland for combat testing, to which the KV design outperformed in every way with its superior armour and firepower. The armour on the KV tank was impenetrable by a tank cannon in service and most anti-tank guns as well, the 76,2 cannon also gave it a huge firepower boost compared to the usual 37 mm in use by other countries. However, the design was found to be difficult to steer, the transmission was unreliable, ergonomics was poor and vision was limited, plus with its 45-ton weight, it was a very heavy tank for its time.
Despite its superiority on the battlefield, some observed that the KV-1's armament was not enough to destroy some of the Finnish fortifications that they encountered. For this, a request to mount a 152 mm howitzer on the KV-1 was made and resulted in the KV-2 with its extremely large turret and an increased weight of 52 tons. The KV-2 suffered from a very high profile, low speed, and was to turret heavy. Compared to the KV-1 height of about 9 feet, the KV-2 was at 11 feet tall. The increased weight of the tank slowed it down drastically, and the very heavy turret mixed with a low-powered traverse speed meant that the KV-2 can only traverse on level ground, as a slope would cause the turret to start turning with gravity.
The combat ineffectiveness and flaws of the KV-2 came to light and was only put on limited production due to them, resulting in only about 334 units being produced from 1939 to 1941.
During the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, the KV tanks came as a huge surprise from the Germans as they had no prior intel about these tanks, resulting in a lack of capable anti-tank weaponry that could destroy these tanks, aside from 88 mm FlaK guns. The KV-2 served alongside the KV-1 in stalling the German Offensive to Moscow. During the Battle of Roseiniai in Lithuania, a single KV-2 (or KV-1, the accounts vary) was able to hold up the entire 6th Panzer Division for a full day by firing at them from a concealed location before it ran out of ammunition, ending with about two dozen tanks destroyed.
Due to the low quantity of KV-2 produced, they didn't see much service past the opening stages of the war due to loss from attrition or mechanical failures, however, 10 were still in service with the Voronezh Front on 4 July 1943 for the battle of Kursk. These were transferred to the 3rd Mech Corps on 9 July, and by 18 July only 1 was left serviceable - Five were destroyed on 12 July, and 4 are recorded as being in repair from 13 July. Only one KV-2 is left intact as a survivor of the war, it is housed at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow.
- The kitcome s in 1/35th scale, and has an overall length 204 mm, and an overall width 95 mm. - The kit is based on the actual vehicle research, the powerful figure that surprised the German army is modeled with an attention to fidelity.
- The hatches of each part of the hull can be posed opened or closed.
- Tracks are link and length type. The slack at the top is also finished naturally.
- Two types of markings are available.
You can see more about this and Tamiya's other kits on their website...