International Scale Modeller

Hey guys!

I will enter this GB with the Klimenti Voroshilov KV-2 tank "Dreadnought".



The KV-1 is a regular heavy tank and the KV-2 is variant equipped with a 152mm MT-10T assault gun/howitzer. In order to fit the huge 152mm gun a larger box-shaped turret where developed, the turret weight where 12 tons. Total height of the tank was almost 5 meters(!)

Due to its size and armored strength, it was nicknamed “Dreadnought” by its six man crews. The KV-2 first saw service in the Winter War as a prototype, as did many other vehicles. However, they were too late to test their might against the more fortified Finnish defenses, as they had already been overrun. Despite this, they still destroyed some remaining enemy bunkers and AT guns. Finnish AT guns were ill-prepared for the KV-2’s strong armor, and even reportedly stopped firing after three non-penetrations.

In the opening years of WWII, when the KV-2 operated in vast numbers, it was virtually invulnerable to direct fire from all but high velocity weapons at horrifically close-range. The best the enemy could hope to was force the KV-2’s crew to abandon the vehicle by disabling it, such as by hitting its tracks and wheels, but this did not always go to plan. A clear example of this was in June 1941, near Raseiniai. Roughly 20 KV tanks of the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps met the assault of the 6th Panzer Division, with approximately 100 vehicles. A single KV-2 tank managed to hold off the German advance for a full day while being pummeled by a variety of antitank weapons, until finally the KV-2 ran out of ammunition and was finally knocked out.

Having said this, the KV-2 paid a high price for its immense gun and vast armor. Its mobility between engagements and during battle was heavily restricted by many of the initial gear and transmission problems that the KV-1 faced. This situation was made even worse by the fact that the vehicle now weighed 53.8-57.9 tonnes depending on the model, as well as by using the unimproved 500 bhp V-2 diesel engine



Ok, I will build the Zvezda 1/35-scale version of the KV-2, which is the second variant of the called KV-2A, also named the KV-2 M1940, or KV-2 MT-2 turret. This model featured the more common and boxy turret, featuring a second DT machine gun in a rear mount, and an improved rear turret hatch that made resupplying ammunition easier. The armor was kept the same, but thanks to the removal of the angled turret front, it had a much roomier crew turret, meaning that working conditions were better for the crew, especially the loaders.

I will add some aftermarket parts to the kit; Friulmodel white metal tracks and a turned barrel. I might build a diorama if the build progresses smoothly and I feel that I have time to complete it before the GB ends. In that case I might add some ammunition and figures from Miniart as well.
I would love to have a dio for this behemoth of a tank!

The boxart:
20151230_161504 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Turret and gun sprue:
20151230_161800 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr
20151230_161829 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Tank Hull sprues:
20151230_162132 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Misc stuff, decals, nylon wire and clear parts:
20151230_162415 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Roadwheels and tracks:
20151230_162559 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Instruction Manual:
20151230_162704 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The details seems quite good and after watching a couple of build-reviews it seems that the build goes together quite easy. The Instruction Manual is a bit unclear in some cases, but - "Hey, who reads instructions anyway ?!"

The Friulmodel tracks also includes metal sprocket-wheels, which will give the model some more detail.

Can't wait to get this started....

Cheers!

Tommy

Nice one, the KV-2 was a real beast!
The tracks don't look to bad...


Good luck mate!

patrickroos wrote:Nice one, the KV-2 was a real beast!
The tracks don't look to bad...


Good luck mate!

Thanks Patrick!

Nema problemas! They will look great after being soaked in mud pigments...

There's a reason why I bought the Friulmodel tracks.....


Tommy

KV-2 with its 152mm derp-gun. Great choice!

Best of luck with this kit, i had it a while ago and got so frustrated and annoyed i ended up throwing it away which is a real shame as the KV-2 is my favorite Russian tank. Come to think of it though when i got the kit i was still very much new to modeling so its probably not as bad as i make it out.

Can't wait to see your end result!

papatika wrote:KV-2 with its 152mm derp-gun. Great choice!

King of Derp!

kozzybear wrote:Best of luck with this kit, i had it a while ago and got so frustrated and annoyed i ended up throwing it away which is a real shame as the KV-2 is my favorite Russian tank. Come to think of it though when i got the kit i was still very much new to modeling so its probably not as bad as i make it out.

Can't wait to see your end result!

Thanks for the information, I will proceed with the build carefully and double check everything.

Cheers!

Tommy

Cool kit!!!!
Looking forward to see this kit comming together

This will turn out great!!!

Thanks guys!

Ok, everybody seems eager to start building and I am no exception, but a prominent headache caused by yesterdays New Year celebration resulted in a slow start... Conveniently enough the first steps where quite easy; assembling the lower hull and the running gear.

First assembly of the lower hull tub. Inconveniently designed as 4 parts that are glued together - for the sake of saving tooling cost ofc.
20160101_190452 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The linkarms needed a lot of work clearing flash and adding a lid to the shaft that goes into the hull (dont know the proper name for it). Linkarms will be glued into the hull at a fixed position. So if I build a dio it needs to be standing on flat ground basically. Bummer....
20160101_190348 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

There where some ugly sinkmarks on a couple of parts that needed some filling, I used "liquid sprue" for that (bits of styrene dissolved in Tamiya Extra Thin). It needs to cure for a couple of days before I can sand it flush.
20160101_203303 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Also I had to make a descision if I should use the metal sprocket-wheel or not. The plastic part does look atleast as good as the metal counterpart and the metal wheel needs a modification of the connecting axle to fit. So I will use the plastic sprocket-wheels.
20160101_223815 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

So right now doing the tedious work of clearing up flash and injection ports from the wheels. Sprocket, Idler, return rollers and a couple of roadwheels are completed, so I'm happy with the progress sofar!

One interesting thing is that there are no nylon tubes to the wheels in the kit, but the instruction manual (see picture at top of this post) shows an "invisible" part F3
Maybe they have deleted that from the Bill-of-material to cut cost, but forgot to remove it from the instruction manual...

Cheers

Tommy

Hi,

The build is progressing quite good and I have completed the lower hull today, not the tracks of course

The lower hull is quite flimsy, so I'm thinking of adding some inner walls to make it more rigid...
20160102_225047 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The caps for the roadwheels had the wrong number in the I/M. It says E10 but it should be C6.
20160102_153614 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Small stuff and wheels on stick waiting for the spraybooth...
20160102_221812 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have started to work on the upper hull now. Some details are freaking small
20160102_212908 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The problem is that Zvezda tries to do stuff that other manufacturers may pull off. But the parts does not fit due to flash/burr and mismatches between pins and holes, so they kind of not pulling if off - if you get what I mean

...so you have to do a lot of cleaning of the parts before you can put them together - which slows down the build, increase the probability of a fu**up and makes old men like me grumpy....

20160102_215102 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

To cheer myself up I had to do some research on the Internet:







Look how happy you get if someone gives you a KV-2 ! Now I'm happy again....

Tomorrow I will continue with the upper hull.

Cheers

Tommy

I did some detective investigation about the missing nylon tubes and it seems that there where a sprue of nylon parts in a previous release of the kit (tracks, cables and tubes) as a complement to the molded styrene tracks.

This was later removed from the kit and the instruction manual changed; the reason for this might be saving cost and since most modellers used the styrene tracks. So it made no sense to have "moving" parts.

Cheers

Tommy

Hey guys!

Managed to get some more done on the KV today and at the same time keeping two bored children happy

This kit is not playing ball in a nice and pleasant way... This is an example of where the parts dont fit, in this case the pin that goes into the inside of the front hull for the machinegun doesnt fit - and it also causes a collision so the MG can't move sideways.
20160103_132522 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

There are very small parts that needs to be attached to the hull. I will probably add them after weathrring, since the will fall off if I mount them now. The support for the fender is also an example of a what happens when a tooling designer have no clue how to build a kit himself... Insane ejection pinmarks and the injection port is on the outside (visible side) of the part.
20160103_151117 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Ok, 'nuff ranting... let's talk about the engine instead.

The engine is a V12 diesel, Kharkiv V-2K with 600 hp. It's basically the same engine that is used for BT-7, KV-series, IS-series, T34, SU-series and the ISU-152, with a power output of 450 - 700 hp depending on the model.

I was double-checking the paint callout for the engine when I realised that I have mounted the exhaust-tubes the wrong way, so I had to pry them lose, cleanup and make a correct assembly.
20160103_165645 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

While doing that I added some detail to the engine as well. I used small boltheads as fuel-injectors and lead wire as fuel pipes.

20160103_175038 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr
20160103_180047 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr
20160103_200303 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr]

Engine primed and ready for flat aluminium and some detailpainting.
20160103_202844 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Cheers!

Tommy

Great work with the hatches and the motor! Keep it up!

Okey...

Not much done today, just some small bits and bobs... Some bits are VERY small and fiddly, so I had keep them on the sprue to clean them up.

20160104_135407 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

But the look nice when they are in place:

20160104_195628 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160104_195651 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have painted the engine with XF-16 as a base for further chipping and weathering.

20160104_185718 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

But XF-16 didn't do the job for me with the large headlight.



So I decided to use ordinary kitchen alu-foil and glue it with PVA as a reflector. I used a cotton-bud to get the right shape.

20160104_190102 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

It ended up like this, I'm happy with that!

20160104_223454 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Cheers!

Tommy

MassterOzymandias wrote:Great work with the hatches and the motor! Keep it up!

Thanks mate!


Tommy

Hello!

I have started to work on the interior och the turret. Please note that it's not a fully detailed interrior, but there are enough details that I want to give it some attention. I will probably leave the top and back hatches open.

First part of the interior is the gun breech and elevating mechanism. I will use a turned metal barrel from ABER for the build, but it is designed for the Tamiya or Trumpeter kit. I was aware of this when I bought it and also prepared to make some scratchbuilding to make it fit.

20160106_190734 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The issue is that the metal barrel is ~6 mm longer that the plastic barrel from the kit.
20160106_190906 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

So i had to shorten the plastic part of the gun that meets the barrel to make it look good.

20160106_203313 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Here you go. The barrel have been adjusted to the inner flange protrudes a couple of 1/10th mm from the mantlet.

20160106_210133 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Cheers!

Tommy

Amazing work!!!!

I like this tank have not built one yet. Very Iconic tank design failiure. Good luck

Very nice extra detail you added on the engine. Didnt see all that at first.

Scaleman wrote:I like this tank have not built one yet. Very Iconic tank design failiure. Good luck

Very nice extra detail you added on the engine. Didnt see all that at first.

Thanks!

Yeah, it was a support-tank meant for taking out fortifications not fighting other tanks.


Tommy

TomasGould wrote:Amazing work!!!!

Thanks Tomas!


Tommy

So many builds going on here I had a hard time finding yours. Since I am building the KV1 I have much interest in this build - maybe you could get a "from the front" shot posted up as I am curious how your kit looks compared to mine from that angel?

TheTroyster wrote:So many builds going on here I had a hard time finding yours. Since I am building the KV1 I have much interest in this build - maybe you could get a "from the front" shot posted up as I am curious how your kit looks compared to mine from that angel?

Yeah, this GB is insane right now... there are so many cool builds

Pics are below, hope they are what you requested

Ok, I have been ranting about the quality of this kit, but there are some good things about it. The construction of the upper and lower hull and the joint between them is one thing.

20160108_200642 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160108_200738 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160108_200816 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have drýfitted the parts and the fit is good, but the seam will not be invisible. That's no big deal since I will cover that area with pigments anyway....


Tommy

Yea I am going to need to do some filler after looking at these pictures - kind of odd the strong points on your kit are weak on the Trumpeter and vice versa.

Thanks for posting those Tommy.

Hey guys!

I have decided to do some detailing of the turrent interior, after some consideration. I haven't really found any good pictures of the inside of the turret, so I will have to improvise a bit to get something that looks like a convicing interior. But, hey - that's more fun for me !





First of all I need to clear the insides from ejection pinmarks so I can apply wash without the risk of highlighting "details" that should not be there. So I will not make the surfaces supersmooth, only remove the hard steps.

20160109_171931 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I will basically finish the interior completely with paint and weathering before I assemble the turret and start working on the outside. I will glue the hatches with PVA-glue so I can pry them off later and mount them in open position.

The rear turret hatch hinges are working. Instead of using my "weapon of choice" Tamiya Extra Thin i used a thicker standard glue from Tamiya that makes it easier to control where the glue goes. TET would probably have flooded the hinges and jammed the whole thing...

20160109_181603 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have scratchbuilt som stuff in the turrent:

20160109_202221 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Finished. Time to hit the interior with primer!

20160109_213142 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr


Tommy

Great work Tommy that scratch built interior in the turret is quite amazing.

Smiffy wrote:Great work Tommy that scratch built interior in the turret is quite amazing.

Thank you, Matt


Tommy

Small update today. Came home late today from work and didn't land at my bench until 9.00 pm

I painted the white base color of the interior, preparing it for the detail painting.

20160111_224634 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Not a super-interesting update, but atleast it proves that there are some progress


Tommy

The KV is looking great, super job with the added detail too

Brill build so far mate

OliveDrab wrote:The KV is looking great, super job with the added detail too

Nige201980 wrote:Brill build so far mate

Thanks Olive Drab and Nige201980

I have started to detailpaint the interior and also paint the "door-post" of the rear hatch (before I close it).

First some masking.
20160112_214829 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Then put on some XF13. I plan to use XF13 as the base color and then postshade with XF-65, to get some variation in my 4BO Green.
I also painted the insides of the pericopes, since I will mask them to avoid painting over the lenses.

20160112_230050 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Some details.

20160112_230239 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr


Tommy

I'm loving the level of scratch building here and concentration on detail, I'm new to armour building, really like what you did with the engine and the injector pipes, top job

Terry

TheSmoo wrote:I'm loving the level of scratch building here and concentration on detail, I'm new to armour building, really like what you did with the engine and the injector pipes, top job

Terry

Thanks Terry!

Tbh I'm quite new to armour also - this is the second model I build (in this scale) ... Let's hope it turns out ok

Cheers

Tommy

Some very nice scratchbuilding inside the turret.Good luck with the rest of the build, i will follow it closely.

panzerjager wrote:Some very nice scratchbuilding inside the turret.Good luck with the rest of the build, i will follow it closely.

Thanks Panzerjager!



Ok... I did some chipping of the interior today. I used XF-63 and Vallejo Dark Rust and stipple painted using a small piece of sponge on a stick.

20160114_212658 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Next step will be to glosscoat and apply some wash to bring out details and maybe add some streaks. I will probably also put some dark pigments there as well.

Cheers!

Tommy

Hey guys,

I decided to mess up the interior a bit more using som oil-wash and lumps of oilpaint (burnt sienna) to bring out some details and apply some streaks. I decided not to add any soot or dirt pigments, because the inside of the turret will be quite dark and I want to preserve some contrast. So I have sealed it with Micro Flat and will put them aside for now....

20160116_214429 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160116_214555 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

The hatches will be closed using PVA glue, to make it possible to pry them open after the paint is down. The hinges are fully operational, but I will glue them in place (some how...)

20160116_214524 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160116_214510 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

So next up is the gun, front plate and gun mantlet.

Cheers

Tommy

Awesome weathering on that interior so far.

Hi fellas!

When I first saw the proposal for a Russian GB on ISM forum, my first thought was that I would build the KV-2 - it was the first thing that came to my mind... And during this build I have thought about why. The KV-2 was definitely not a good tank. Too weak engine and lots of designflaws, for example it needed to stand on level ground to turn the turret. And the turret was easy to hit because it was so big.
But it had a very unique look and the Battle at Raseiniai secured it's place in the history of WWII.

For me it's probably World of Tanks that started it all, I remember the first time I saw it in the game when I was driving around in a BT-7:

- "Hmm, wonder where I should go..... Wait ! That tank over there has a funny profile, let's get closer and have a look"

- "BOOOM!"

- "Geeez, I was one-shot - I need to get myself a KV-2 ASAP"

Ok, 'nuff rambling....

I have worked on the gun today and after primer I painted it with XF65

20160117_185606 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have done som chipping using XF63 (applied with a sponge on a stick) and I have used a graphite pen to add some shine to the edges.

20160117_204045 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

While I had the primer loaded in the airbrush I also primed the wheels.

20160117_153753 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Cheers

Tommy

hansolo wrote:Awesome weathering on that interior so far.

Thanks hansolo !


Tommy

Hey guys!

Short update today. It's time to close up the turret and proceed with the rest of the exterior now.

First I have glued the hatches with a couple of dots of PVA-glue, so I can open them after the tank have been painted.

20160119_204900 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

A final check before we close up the interior.

20160119_212707 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I'm happy with that sofar. It's my first attempt at building a tank interior - but this was fun so it's probably not the last time...

Cheers!

Tommy

Hey, Tommy, I didn't have the time to check out your build thread earlier, but I'm relly excited! The level of scratch building is superb! I like this a lot, much more than buying after market PE stuff. Well, in the end it's a matter of taste! I'll keep posted on your build! Take care and keep on modeling. Jens

What kind of glue do you use on the parts you've painted?

Funny - I play world of tanks and war thunder and when I see a KV2 - my first reaction is to get out of there asap - although I did knock out one with a Panzer III last weekend.

NonProlificModeler wrote:Hey, Tommy, I didn't have the time to check out your build thread earlier, but I'm relly excited! The level of scratch building is superb! I like this a lot, much more than buying after market PE stuff. Well, in the end it's a matter of taste! I'll keep posted on your build! Take care and keep on modeling. Jens

Thanks for those kind words, Jens ! I'm glad you like it too.

Scratchbuilding is a cheap and fun way of adding details that puts a personal touch to the kit - atleast that's why I do it. But as you say it; in the end it's all a matter of taste.


Tommy

TheTroyster wrote:What kind of glue do you use on the parts you've painted?

Funny - I play world of tanks and war thunder and when I see a KV2 - my first reaction is to get out of there asap - although I did knock out one with a Panzer III last weekend.

I actually used Tamiya Extra Thin to setup and align everything. Then I added a couple of drops of CA-glue to add stability, because I forgot to mask the glue joints (I was too eager to start painting)

I have War Thunder installed and I have tried it a couple of times, but I like World of Tanks more and I have invested more time into that. I bet the KV-2 is awesome in WT as well...


Tommy

Hi!

Haven't done much today, but atleast it's something

I have masked the headlight and added some details to the upper hull.

To make those small kabuki-tape roundels I use a leather punch-tool. I put some Tamiya tape on a small piece of plasticard or PET to make sure that the tape is cut all the way around. It's not as good as those die-cut masks from Eduard, but it's way much better than trying to cut them freehand.

20160121_212009 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160121_212045 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

And I "connected" the horn and the headlight to the cable mantlet.

20160121_212453 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Cheers

Tommy

Hey guys!

It has been quite a productive day today, I have spent most of the day at the bench working on this kit.

I have completed the last details on the exterior; the towcables. The kit included some kind of "rope" and I was a bit skeptical to this; but it turned out to be quite easy to work with, but I haven't painted it yet
I was thinking of buying aftermarket metal towcables or trying to find a copper-wire with lots of strands, but hopefully this is OK

I have done some dryfitting (it's not fully assembled yet since I want to paint and weather it separately.
20160123_114924 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I did some wear-and-tear damage to it, hope I can do something that looks good
20160123_115014 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

I have spent the morning surfing the Internet trying to find pictures of the KV-2 radio-operator and driver seats and it's surroundings. There are not many pictures of the KV-2, but since the hull is the same as KV-1 I finally found something useful.

Some lovely weathering ideas here (though this tank interior have been destroyed). I have no idea if the bottle is original





I will open the radio-operators hatch so I need to add some details to the part of the tank.

20160123_132446 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160123_142657 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160123_175338 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160123_175346 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

This is the folded drivers seat - I know; It looks lite a toilet-seat
20160123_142626 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Time to paint the interior:
20160123_211751 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

20160123_211824 by Tommy Killander, on Flickr

Tomorrow I will do detail painting, chipping and glosscoat

Cheers

Tommy

Awesome scratch building Tommy

Smiffy wrote:Awesome scratch building Tommy

Thanks, Matt!


Tommy

Looking good!
Agree very nice addition w the scratch built section.
I have actually decided to invest in some scratch building tools.
Like punchers, and I don't even have a circle cutter...

Looking forward to more!

patrickroos wrote:Looking good!
Agree very nice addition w the scratch built section.
I have actually decided to invest in some scratch building tools.
Like punchers, and I don't even have a circle cutter...

Looking forward to more!

Thanks Patrick!

I only have the standard tools, but I'm thinking of buying a punching tool too.
A 3D-printer is on the wishlist aswell


Tommy