Scale Military Modeller International – September 2019

Applique Armour

tamiya

T

his build features the Tamiya

KV-1, which was originally

released in 1988, with

applique armour added to

the turret and hull sides, which made it the

‘B’ version. The kit is very good quality with

all the parts sharply moulded in a dark green

plastic. There is no lash to speak of and the

level of detail on raised items such as bolts

and light cluster cables is fairly good. The

tracks are the rubber type, however, and

unfortunately, they do not resemble the

tracks used on KV-1s at all, and most of the

tank surfaces are smooth with no texture

detail. It was a massive ‘trademark feature’ of

most Soviet World War II tanks that they had

a very rough inish to the steel.

The Build

As always with Tamiya, the kit went together

perfectly with no issues at all. There were

some areas where I feel that Tamiya have

made this build a bit too basic, as for

example the engine grilles on the rear deck

are moulded on, as is

the cable attached to the

large hatch on the rear deck. The kit

does give the option to have the hatch open,

however, I decided against this as there is

no detail at all inside the hatch or driver’s

compartment. To remedy the smooth

unrealistic surfaces on the kit, I decided to

apply thick wood glue with a large lat-head

brush onto the kit in a ‘dabbing’ motion, to

create a random texture. Once this was dry,

I used a ine grain ile to remove the sharper

edges to the set glue and give it a latter

more even inish. I decided to create a large

weld seam on the top rear of the turret to

add some interest. I did this with a very thin

piece of soft plastic rod. I glued it in place,

soviet kv-1b

Scale 1:35 / The Red Army’s Hammer

68 SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

The Red Army’s

Hammer

THE KLIMENT VOROSHILOV (KV) TANKS WERE A SERIES OF SOVIET HEAVY TANKS NAMED AFTER THE

SOVIET DEFENCE COMMISSAR AND POLITICIAN KLIMENT VOROSHILOV AND USED BY THE RED ARMY

DURING WORLD WAR II. THE KV1 WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS HEAVY ARMOUR PROTECTION WHICH WAS

ALMOST IMPERVIOUS TO THE EARLY PANZER III AND PANZER IV TANKS FIELDED BY THE GERMAN

ARMY. THIS REMAINED THE CASE UNTIL MORE EFFECTIVE GUNS WERE DEVELOPED BY THE

GERMANS, NAMELY THE 8.8 CM FLAK GUN.

Manufacturer: Tamiya

Scale: 1:35

Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded

Kit Number: 218

Soviet KV-1B with Applique Armour

IWAN HUGHES BUILDS THE 1:35 TAMIYA KV-1B WITH APPLIQUE ARMOUR