Reviews : Trumpeter Soviet KV1 Mod 1939 Heavy Tank

The kit exhibits Trumpeter'e attention to fine quality, accuracy and detail. I was pleased to see that it included optional long rubber tread strips, as well as the molded sectional variety. The hull is devoid of the turret race protection strips, which is accurate for the M1939/1940 models, and the bow MG & its protection strip are separate add-on items, not introduced until the M1940 late production units. Earlier units just had a simple pistol port plug. The turret configuration is of a multi-piece rolled/molded & riveted variety, which was produced in rare fashion compared to the welded variety for the M1939. If the M1939 low-slung gun tube variety mantle is swapped out for a high-sitting gun tube variety one with the plain, smooth-featured front mantle plate (instead of the more complex-featured one utilized onward from the M1941 late production units), units of M1940 Early/Mid/Late production can be produced. With a turret race protection strip equipped hull, a M1941 Early production unit is also possible. The M1940 Early production unit utilized the same 76.2mm L-11 gun tube as contained in the kit, while the later varieties utilized the longer F-32 gun tube. As such, the kit has potential of covering a fair spread of production unit variations, is of excellent quality and detail, and I would highly recommend it to others for those early production units.

The kit has the usual outstanding details that Trumpeter provides for the exterior of its armor kits. As with the other installments previously released in the KV series, there is no interior detailing provided. This is a nice looking kit and replicates one of the more common silhouettes for Soviet armor during the late war and into the 1950s. This should provide the modeler with a simple build that will go rather quickly over a weekend.

easy to follow plans, everything fir together well. fun little to build