3D Printed 1/6th KV-1
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 12:03 pm
*****Trying ImgBox instead of Imgur so if there are any issues with the photos, let me know*****
When I found some 1/10th KV-1 files that were highly detailed on Thingiverse, I instantly thought about upscaling them to 1/6th scale. Now that the project is almost to a working tank state I thought it was time to share the progress. I know I've mentioned it in passing many times.
Files I used for the project: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5069466
After diving in with both feet, I knew it was going to take a while as because there was so much detail there were a bunch of files that had to be upscaled and cut into pieces to fit my printer. I think I started printing this tank around September of 2023. I kinda got in over my head as I had really only been proficient with my printer for about 6 months. I didn't even know I could split parts and add dowels so that they would go back together easily. I ended up just cutting them down and gluing them back together aligning them the best I could by eye and feel. I knew from the start I would have to re-engineer parts of the tank as when you scale a model, stuff like bearing and screw holes don't end up scaling to an existing bearing or screw size. I also didn't quite understand how much infill would be needed for a lot of parts. Non-structural stuff got more infill than needed and structural parts probably got way more infill than they needed which led to a lot of wasted filament.
Just an example of some of the build plates showing how I had to cut a lot of parts into 4 or more sections sometimes to get them to fit. I did save the cut files in case I'm ever crazy enough to build another one of these or possibly a KV-2...
Most parts printed really well as the designer planned out the parts with ease of printing in mine with minimal supports. That also meant there were a lot of parts that needed to be glued together or assembled from multiple parts after printing. The designer incorporated flame cuts and weld lines into his design as well. Parts started to pile up slowly.
And a 1/16th M18 Hellcat for a comparison of the size of the KV-1 turret:
I started doing some finishing work while the printer was busy printing more parts.
Sure enough a very large vehicle started to emerge:
I'll continue with a part 2 tomorrow as I need to work in the morning...
That's all for now.
When I found some 1/10th KV-1 files that were highly detailed on Thingiverse, I instantly thought about upscaling them to 1/6th scale. Now that the project is almost to a working tank state I thought it was time to share the progress. I know I've mentioned it in passing many times.
Files I used for the project: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5069466
After diving in with both feet, I knew it was going to take a while as because there was so much detail there were a bunch of files that had to be upscaled and cut into pieces to fit my printer. I think I started printing this tank around September of 2023. I kinda got in over my head as I had really only been proficient with my printer for about 6 months. I didn't even know I could split parts and add dowels so that they would go back together easily. I ended up just cutting them down and gluing them back together aligning them the best I could by eye and feel. I knew from the start I would have to re-engineer parts of the tank as when you scale a model, stuff like bearing and screw holes don't end up scaling to an existing bearing or screw size. I also didn't quite understand how much infill would be needed for a lot of parts. Non-structural stuff got more infill than needed and structural parts probably got way more infill than they needed which led to a lot of wasted filament.
Just an example of some of the build plates showing how I had to cut a lot of parts into 4 or more sections sometimes to get them to fit. I did save the cut files in case I'm ever crazy enough to build another one of these or possibly a KV-2...
Most parts printed really well as the designer planned out the parts with ease of printing in mine with minimal supports. That also meant there were a lot of parts that needed to be glued together or assembled from multiple parts after printing. The designer incorporated flame cuts and weld lines into his design as well. Parts started to pile up slowly.
And a 1/16th M18 Hellcat for a comparison of the size of the KV-1 turret:
I started doing some finishing work while the printer was busy printing more parts.
Sure enough a very large vehicle started to emerge:
I'll continue with a part 2 tomorrow as I need to work in the morning...
That's all for now.
