Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $33.00 When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the discovery that the Soviet Army was equipped with advanced tanks such as the T-34/76 and the KV-1 and KV-2 heavy tanks came as a very rude surprise to the German troops and their commanders. In particular, the KV-1 and the even more monstrous KV-2 were tough nuts for the AP shells fired from the German front line tanks to crack, so key an element to the success or failure of their Blitzkrieg battle tactics. As a result, the Germans turned to using their 88mm anti aircraft weapons as anti-tank guns, and these were soon knocking out the Russian armor almost at will. Because of the 88mm Flak gun's deadly accuracy and hitting power, the Soviet commanders in turn cried out for some sort of upgrade that would (hopefully) blunt the German's increased firepower. The factories that produced the KV-1 tanks were incapable of producing armor exceeding 100mm in thickness, and so improvised a "solution" to this production failure by producing additional armor plating to between 25 and 35mm in thickness, and bolting these onto KV-1's that were being sent back from the front lines for maintenance and repairs. The original bolt on installation process was subsequently changed to weld on armor plates for more efficient production later in the war. Tamiya released a "standard" KV-1 kit about a year ago, Kit 32535, and a KV-2 (Kit 32538) which used the same chassis as the KV-1. Both kits are nothing short of superb, being nicely detailed and a breeze to assemble. This new release, Kit 32545, provides the modeler with an exact duplicate of the earlier KV-1, with an additional "D" sprue supplying the appliqué armor parts. As with the original tank these are simply added onto the outside of the turret and hull in various places. As is standard with Tamiya's 1/48th Military Miniature Series, the KV-1 w/ appliqué armor kit starts construction in Section 1 with the cast metal lower hull. However, the hull for the KV-1 and KV-2 is by far the best detailed of these hulls, and if there is one area of this range that in my opinion needs improvement, it is this hull detail. Onto the metal lower hull are glued the first four pieces of the appliqué armor, parts D10 through D13. Tamiya very thoughtfully provides the modeler with attachment location templates, marked "Front" and "Rear". By carefully following the excellent Tamiya instructions, the modeler should have little difficulty lining up these four parts. Superglue will be required to allow for the bonding of plastic to metal parts. Moving onto Sections 2, 3 and 4, the modeler assembles the various road wheels and drive sprockets and idler, and attaches them to the lower hull. The mounting arms for the road wheels are cast onto the hull bottom, and the wheels fit very snuggly to these arms for improved ease of alignment. Again super glue or two part epoxy will be needed to attach the plastic wheels to the cast metal arms. I myself am a great fan of two part epoxy, as it gives me time to align the wheels and make sure they are all sitting level on the ground. In Section 5 it is time to attach the tracks, and as is usual with Tamiya's 1/48th range, these are link and length injection molded tracks. Tamiya calls out a specific order of attachment in the instructions, and following these notes, the modeler should have no difficulty attaching the tracks to the model. KV-1 tracks are big and beefy, making them much easier to handle than say the tiny tracks from Tamiya's 1/48th Cromwell tank model. Unfortunately as with all the tracks in this range, there are ejection pin marks on these track pieces. I have in the past filled these with Mr Surfacer 500 and sanded the marks flush, or in the case of the KV-1, I simply ran a motor tool with a small grinding bit over the holes, as they aren't that deep. Section 6 has the modeler drilling various mounting holes in the hull top for the later mounting of various parts, and failure to do this carefully will of course lead to "difficulties" down the road. Section 7 covers the installation of the track guard mounting brackets. Again, we have unfortunate ejection pin marks in all these brackets, two per part. I mounted a piece of 400 grit sand paper to a piece of glass with double stick tape, and sanded the parts until the ejection pin marks disappeared. Not only does this remove the marks, but also it gives the modeler much thinner mounting brackets, which is a positive move. In Section 8 we mount some more appliqué armor parts to the upper hull, and attach said upper hull part to the lower hull. Make sure the tracks have been fitted to the model at this point, as once the upper and lower hull are joined, it is very difficult to get the tracks attached under the protruding track guards. Attachment of upper to lower hull is achieved by the standard Tamiya process of using Philips screws, one coming up from the bottom of the hull, the other from the top of the hull. I again help the process along by dropping a little 5 minute epoxy into the mounting holes to added extra strength. The fit of upper and lower hull was near perfect on my kit, and a little thin super glue at strategic points along the join lines helps hold everything together nicely. Sections 9 through 12 cover the mounting of various external parts to the upper hull (remember to drill out those holes in Section 6!!). Make sure you DO NOT attach rear hull part B25 to the main hull part B1 until AFTER B1 is mounted to the cast metal lower hull piece with the Philips screw, otherwise you won't be able to get the screw in. And no, I didn't do this, but I know others who have messed this process up on previous models in this series. Sections 13 through 15 cover the turret assembly and by carefully following the construction sequences the modeler should not have any difficulties, with the fit of parts one to another being outstanding. Again, watch for instructions on where to drill out various holes for later attachment of parts. And finally to Section 16, the attachment of the turret appliqué armor parts, and bingo, you are done with construction. I currently have the model completely assembled and painted with Mr Surfacer 1200, my favorite primer. So stay tuned for some more photos of the completed model once I paint it and apply decals. Painting the KV-1 is a breeze as most of them were Russian Armor Green. Tamiya calls out for the use of their rattle can lacquer color TS-2 "Dark Green" and this model would be a perfect candidate for a rattle can paint job if one wanted to try this range of paints. I can't speak to the authenticity of TS-2 Dark Green for the Russian Armor Green, but I can say that having used this range of lacquer paints on other models in the past, it is a first rate product. Tamiya provides markings for four different vehicles on the small decal sheet, one vehicle having next to no markings whatsoever, while the other three carry white turret slogans, which for all I know say "eat at Uncle Joe's diner", but most likely say "kick the Nazis bums back to Berlin" or similar. The decals are standard Tamiya fare, a tad on the thick side but perfectly useable. I never have any problems getting them to stick and snuggle down with the standard decal setting solutions from MicroScale, Gunze etc. I started construction of this kit on a rainy Friday Seattle Spring evening, and by Sunday evening, it was completely assembled and ready to prime. It provided me with nothing but pleasurable modeling, all parts being nicely detailed, crisply molded, with superior fit. With the exception of the few ejection pin marks I have noted above, I had no issues whatsoever with this kit. I can highly recommend this model to anyone wishing to add a KV-1 to their collection of 1/48th WW2 Soviet equipment, be they armor or aircraft. This kit would make a PERFECT introductory model to Tamiya's 1/48th Military Miniature Series as it is very easy to build for any modeler with even the most basic of modeling skills. Excellent parts together with superb instructions and simple paint and decal schemes would make it an ideal first kit as well for anyone looking to get into modeling armored vehicles. Thanks very much to Tamiya USA for providing IPMS/USA with this review sample. All the kits in this excellent range may be found by visiting the TamiyaUSA web site at: www.tamiyausa.com .

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