Klimenti Voroshilov...



First Heavy Battalion: HQ plus a company each of KV1 and KV2
All Fujimi models

Having recently seen on the Plastic warrior blogspot a model of a KV2, I bethought myself that perhaps I ought to go back over my stuff, photograph it, post it on my blog.  Not so much to show off my stuff (there's that, of course), but also as a reminder of where I'm at.   Yes, well.

The KV1 company. 

The two tanks comprising the KV1 Company (if using Command Decision rules; Platoon, if using Panzer Marsch), I bought only a few years ago.  These days I don't 'do' decals, preferring to paint the numbers on if I can.  It looks as though I have skimped on the weathering... haven't done any in fact.  The tank was identified on the Fujimi pack as KV1-A 'Late Type', whatever that means...

KV2 Company

 The lead KV2 I built some time in the 1970s.  It had a moulding fault on the rear turret hatch (munted hinge), obviously has taken a large calibre hit there.  At any rate, that vehicle has seen a bit of  climate, by the look...  The other was built at the same time as the my new KV1s.

Battalion Command

The Battalion Command Tank was built early 1977, way back in my pre-numbering days.  It is interesting to compare this vehicle with the next picture.  Something of an orphan, this latter vehicle, an ESCI KV1-C (KV1-S),  at 1:72 scale is noticeably larger than the 1:76 Fujimi types.  A fine model, but doesn't 'fit' very well with the others.

Now the modified versions.  A local modeller, one who likes things 'just so', has developed a line of adaptive pieces for modifying models that seem to require a bit of tweaking.  Some of these can result, withal, into completely different vehicles.  Here is the Heavy Battalion, completely re-equipped with KV85 tanks.


First Heavy Tank Battalion on manoeuvres in their new KV85 tanks

 The hulls are precisely those in the earlier pictures.  The turrets are resin, and come in two parts (I think), the main turret being mounted upon a resin ring identical to the plastic kit's ring.  The guns I've made from cotton bud (Paul of Plastic Warrior uses chup-a-chup stick, but I keep those for ships' masts...).  Boring a hole into the gun mantlet, I insert a piece of matchstick or toothpick, and jam the cotton bud (trimmed to length with the buds removed) onto it.  Seems to work.

First Heavy Battaion advancing in wedge formation -
one they will probably never use in actual battle...

The gun barrels are noticably fatter than those of the Airfix T34/85, but in my view the Airfix guns are far too thin anyhow.  Soon, my own T34s will be upgunned with cotton buds...