Parts List:
• Tamiya KV-1 RC Full Option Tank
• Tamiya Battle Unit with the LED Emitter Clip on Device
• Impact Metal Tracks and Drive Sprockets
• Daryl Turner Gearbox Mount Brace
• Daryl Turner Metal Elevation Arm
• Daryl Turner Front and Rear Hull Brace Supports
• Daryl Turner Spring Loaded Idler Return System
• Idlers Machined for Bearings
• Schumo-Kits Plastic Fender Supports
• Futaba SkySport 2.4 Radio
• Andrew Designs Soviet Tanker Resin Figure
• LED Emitter mounted atop the barrel to play better & conform at the larger USA RC tank club battles. I prefer placing the emitter in the barrel and making a long wire lead emitter to successfully do so, but times & rules change.
The model will be airbrush painted and weathered to represent a weathered tank from the 51st Tank Battalion, Leningrad, Early Spring 1942.
The fun for me with Tamiya rc tanks is building, painting, weathering, running and battling these WWII tank models against each other in the backyard. Otherwise without the TBU, I find armor models somewhat boring, but that is just my opinion.
So, in July 2009 I decided I wanted to build a WWII Soviet foe for my German panzer: the Pz4. And I finally got around to starting the process last month, when I got the kit for my birthday from family and the wife.
Enjoy, John
KV-1 Historical Brief
Walk around photos: http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/dmitry_kiyatkin/kv-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Author Unknown
Name: Kliment Voroshilov
Country: Soviet Union
Manufacturer: Kirov Plant Kirov Factory, Leningrad, Russia
Primary Role: Heavy Tank
The Kliment Voroshilov heavy tanks, or KV for short, were the result of a Russian desire for a modern heavy tank that was not designed for the WW1-era philosophy which restricted heavy tanks' image as a slow moving breakthrough tank. During the Winter War, three prototypes (SMK, KV, and T-100) were sent in combat conditions for field testing, with the KV prototype emerging as the chosen tank to be placed into production. There were two variants right from the start; the KV-1 variant (sometimes named KV Model 1939 through KV Model 1942) was the original heavy tank design with a 76-millimeter gun, while the KV-2 variant was mounted with a 152-millimeter howitzer in the turret instead of the tank gun.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, of the 22,000 tanks in the Soviet forces, 508 were KV-1 heavy tanks and about 100 to 200 were KV-2 heavy tanks. Equipped with heavy armor, German tanks found it extremely difficult to penetrate with tank guns unless in close range, thus needing to especially employ ground-attack aircraft or anti-tank guns to knock them out. Despite the weaknesses of slow speed, unreliable transmission, poor visibility, and poor ergonomics, Russian crews liked these heavy tanks due to the protection. Between 23 and 24 Jun 1941, a single KV-2 heavy tank pinned down a larger force for almost an entire day at the bridgeheads at the Dubysa River in Lithuania. On 14 Aug 1941, Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov's five KV-1 heavy tanks laid in ambush for an oncoming German tank column near Leningrad, Russia; revealing only one tank at a time, the ambush knocked out 43 German tanks in about 30 minutes, while the Russian tanks were hit multiple times but none of the hits penetrated.
By 1942, as German tank guns improved, namely with the long-barrelled 50- and 75-millimeter guns, KV heavy tanks found themselves losing the armor advantage. Some crews looked to installing additional armor in the field to bolster defenses. Meanwhile, KV heavy tank's 76-millimeter guns were inadequate in penetrating the frontal armor of new German heavy tanks.
Nevertheless, the KV-1 variant remained in production even after the migration of Russian heavy industries beyond the Ural Mountains; however, the KV-2 variant tanks were phased out at this time, after 250 had been built. To improve armor protection, variant design KV-1 Model 1942 was placed into production, which had thicker armor, but at the expense of mobility. The KV-1S variant tanks were thus released, which were lighter and smaller to improve performance, while commanders' cupolas were included in the design with all-around vision blocks, a visibility feature first found in a Russian tank design. In mid-1943, especially considering that KV-1 heavy tanks shared the same guns as the lighter and more agile T-34 medium tanks, KV production was almost ordered to stop, saved only by the apperance of German Panther heavy tanks. To counter the new German threat, between fall of 1943 and early 1944, 148 KV-1S heavy tanks were upgraded to become KV-85 heavy tanks by installing 85-millimeter tank guns. In the spring of 1944, production of all KV tanks ceased after the introduction of the Josif Stalin heavy tanks. Although the designations were different, the original Josif Stalin tank (IS-1/IS-85) was actually a modified KV-1 tank, renamed only because the politician that the KV tanks were named for, Kliment Voroshilov, had fallen out of Joseph Stalin's favor. Some KV heavy tanks remained in service through the end of the war, seeing combat as late as the Russian invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria in northeast China in Aug 1945.
Finnish forces captured two KV tanks; both of them received minor upgrades and were used against their former owners and both survived the war. German forces captured one KV tank, and it was also pressed into service, possibly seeing combat against American forces on the western front.
In total, about 5,219 KV heavy tanks were built during the design's production life.
Why was the KV-1 an important historical heavy tank in WWII?
The capacity of the KV-1 in tank to tank combat is best described by WWII German Colonel General Heinz Reinhardt, the commander of the 41st Panzer Korp.
The general's observations regarding the battle of the Dubissa River on June 23, 1941; between 80 BT tanks and 20 KV-1 tanks of 2nd Soviet armoured division; against the entire 6th PzDiv which was equipped with PzKpfw IVs and PzKpfw 35(t) panzers; pretty much sums things up:
"One hundred of our tanks, which about a third were PzKpfw IV, occupied their positions against a counter-strike. Part of our forces met the enemy head on, but most of our attacks were on the enemy flanks. The panzers hit the KV steel monsters from three sides, but the attempts to destroy them were unsuccessful. It was our tanks that were knocked-out. After a long struggle with the Soviet giants, the German armoured units began to withdraw trying to avoid the slaughter. One of the KV-1 tanks closed on a Pz4 that was stuck in a muddy brook. Without hesitation, the KV monster just roll over the Pz4, crushing it completely.
At the same time, a German 105mm Howitzer arrived and its commander, seeing the enemy tanks, ordered continuous fire, without causing any damage. One of the KVs got close to 105mm Howitzer, which fired again, and its shell hit the KV tank with all its force. The tank stopped as hit by lightning. "We made it!" thought the gunners. "Yes, we made it!", said the captain of the piece. But the expresson in their faces suddenly changed when one of them shouted: "It's moving again!!". There was no doubt when the Soviet KV-1 tank closed on the German Howitzer and crushed it as a toy and drove off as if nothing had happened. In that battle, the KVs of the 2nd Armoured Division claimed to destroy 40 panzers and 40 guns (most of them 37mm anti-tank guns, crushed the same way as the howitzer)."
Suggested book reference: KV-1 & 2: Heavy Tanks 1939-1945, by Steven Zaloga
