Zvezda KV-1

On my shopping list for Triples this year were four KV-1s for my 15mm Russians, just the thing to give Fritz a scare. The Zvezda offerings are far and away the cheapest available, and although they do the early war model with the short 76mm gun they aren't too wildly different to their mid war counterparts. Four seemed a sensible number to be used as a mid-war heavy tank regiment at 1 base = 5 tanks.

The assembled regiment, some with the obligatory slogans painted on. The big turret makes it easier to paint these, the slogans are all from photos in the Concorde special, 'Stalins Heavy Tanks'.

Not a nice view for the Germans.

These are nice models and go together well, with real bulk to them. The only let down are the basic tracks but from the side they aren't very obvious.

Much more obvious from the front. Looks like I did my usual sloppy job of not cleaning the flash off enough.

The raised detail on the engine deck and track guards drybrushed up very nicely.

Although this photo doesn't show it very well, the Zvezda KVs are identical in size to my old Roskopf KV-85. I did try putting spare T34/85 turrets on the Zvezda KVs but the shape is just too different. Possibly a scratch bulding job for the winter months.

These are finished in my usual Vallejo Russian green (894) over a black base, although for these I added an extra highlight layer of heavily drybrushed Russian Green mixed with a dollop of ochre which lightened the basic green quite well and looks a bit more like the faded green you see on old modern Russian equipment. The whole lot was dirted up with mud around the running gear and an overall light drybrush of pale tan.