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KV-5 Soviet Super Heavy Tank 1:35 Trumpeter The KV-5 was a still-borne dead-end offshoot from the KV project that took its name from the initials of the Defence Commissar Kliment Voroshilov, and were a range of (mostly paper) projects coupling heavy armour with heavy armament. The successful KV-1 and KV-2 are the only variants that saw service due to changing requirements, doctrine and projects falling out of favour at the whim of the higher-ups. The KV-3 and 4 suffered a similar fate, which was never reaching even prototype phase before being passed over in favour of more advanced alternatives. The KV-5 was in the Super-Heavy class, and would have weighed around 100 tons, sporting ridiculously thick armour varying from 120-190mm and a 105mm Zis-6 gun inside its blockhouse of a turret. Soviet doctrine called "Deep Battle" required heavily armoured less-agile tanks that could apply pressure to a besieged enemy without significant fear from the opposition's outbound fire. The KV-5 would have been one of the ultimate answers to that need, with a crew of six servicing the 105mm gun in a large turret, protected by heavy armour. The series was ended with the KV-7 consigned to the "paper project" bin and subsequent developments suffering the same fate after Voroshilov fell out of favour, with the alternatives renamed to JS prefixes after their leader Joseph Stalin. The Kit The kit arrives on 10 Main plastic sprues, 4 sprues for the link and length track, 2 part hull and large main turret casting. All the parts are well moulded and free of flash and defects. A small PE fret and a small decal sheet finish off the contents. Like many a tank model before it construction starts with the running gear. 16 main wheels are mad up, these are 4 part each. Each side wheel has its own hub to attach, then the left/right are joined. There are two idler wheels, and two drive sprockets. The drive sprockets have a separate hub on the put side only. Next up the suspension components (20 parts each side) are added to the main hull. Once these are on the main wheels can be added. four return rollers are added to each side (each with 3 parts). Following this eyes and towing shackles are added to the front of the hull. Construction then moves onto the tracks. Here link & length has been provided by HobbyBoss. There is a main length with induced sag for the top run, a shorter main run for the lower section. Individual sections are then included to go around the wheels at each end. The upper hull can now be attached to the tank. Air intakes/cooling grills are added to the engine deck, the front left hand copula is built up and added. This is followed by the front left hand machine gun turret. The upper plates over the tracks with their attachment brackets can then be added. The modeller now moves onto the large main turret. This is a single moulding which is added to the base plate. The two external hatches and upper gun turret are added followed by the gun mantlet. The gun can elevate using the kit parts. There is a top cover to be added once the mantlet is attached to the tank. The only item to be added then is the main gun which is a single part not the dreaded two part barrel. It should be noted that even though some hatches can be posed open there is no interior in the tank at all. Markings A very small decal sheet just provides red stars and a Cyrillic slogan for each side of the main turret. Conclusion This will build up to make an imposing model. It is a pity these tanks never made it into production as they would have made an imposing sight. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

KV-5 Super Heavy Tank Takom 1/35 Hi guys, This is Takom's KV-5 painted in Finnish markings. It's due to be in the April issue Airfix Model World. There will be a full build feature in the mag. Hope you enjoy the shots Thanks for looking Andy