KV-2 1:35 scale model, kit by Trumpeter

An absolutely bizarre looking beast, the KV-2 was a 152mm howitzer placed in a super-sized turret on top of a standard KV-1 heavy tank hull. It was using during the opening phases of the second world war (around 1941) by the Soviet Union.

Awesome kit for the price (easy to get on eBay for $20-25 including shipping, if you can wait for the slow boat… comes with both link-and-length tracks and vinyl “rubber band” tracks, brass cables, and overall fits nicely and looks cool. Well it looks ridiculous, but that IS cool.

Only a limited number were produced– a bit over 300.

The over-sized turret was so heavy it could not rotate if the tank was on an incline! It also significantly slowed the tank’s top speed and mobility.

However, it was so heavily armored that it was nearly impervious to the German tanks it faced in 1941 during Barbarossa. They had to call in artillery or turn an 88mm AA gun onto it to have a solid chance to destroy it.

While the kit is pretty awesome, and 10/10 for the price, the translation is… lacking. Though I LOVE quick-fried turrets!

Some historic inspiration photo action…

I used metal powders to polish up the outer parts of the tracks to give them the appearance of real metal.

Detail shot of the turret top. I tried to add extra scuffing around the tops of the ladders, and some fading and dusting in reasonable spots.

Super-zoom on the exhausts. These were thinned out with a file to make them look more -inscale.

Detail shot. I really was playing with layers of grime and dirt on this build– various colors, with chipping, then fading/staining, then various shades of dirt/dust/mud/grime made of oil paints and dry pig

The cables in the kit were brass, which is excellent considering the price. The thing closer to us than the head light is the standard soviet horn. Beep beep.

With the tank, and especially the drive train, I was trying to get the impression of a tank that had caked-on layers of dirt and dust, but just hit a couple large puddles and thus has some areas of mud/splash visible.

the soot-stains are a combination of oil paints and black dry pigments

The overall paint job was done using Mission Model brand 4BO paint.

Derp tank…

The slogan on the side says Za Stalin, or “For Stalin!” Similar slogans were painted on a lot of Soviet tanks around this time… but there is no evidence of a KV-2 actually having this painted on it…

Good shot of the layers of dirt/mud on the hull and drive train.

Check out JandersUF’s instagram gallery and imgur