KV-5 Soviet Super Heavy Tank - case report

Death to the Fascists of the west !!!

      Tovarish...It is time for extreme measures to stop the Western invasion.

Huge KV-5: Soviet super-heavy tank

          Let's see this amazing beast, the KV-5, the Soviet super-heavy tank that was designed to prevent the German advance in the soil of the Motherland.

History:

      The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov and used by the Red Army during World War II. The KV series were known for their extremely heavy armour protection during the early part of the war, especially during the first year of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

KV-I heavy tank

      They were practically immune to the 3.7 cm KwK 36 and howitzer-like, short barreled 7.5 cm KwK 37 guns mounted respectively on the early Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks fielded by the invading German forces.

Pzanzer III Ausf D with3.7cm KwK 36 gun

Pz IV Ausf C turret, showing the 7,5cm Kwk 37 gun

      Until better guns were developed by the Germans, the KV-1 was invulnerable to almost any German weapon except the famous 88 mm gun. Even then, its "armor causes hits from the 8.8 cm Flak gun to ricochet." This prompted the Germans to drop development of the VK 20 series and adopt, in great haste, the 7.5 cm KwK 42 gun on a new medium tank design that would become the Panther tank.

Panther tank

      Prior to Operation Barbarossa (the German invasion of the USSR), about 500 of the over 22,000 tanks then in Soviet service were of the KV-1 type. When the KV-1 appeared, it outclassed the French Char B1 the only other heavy tank in operational service in the world at that time.

Char B1 bis

      Yet, in the end, it turned out that there was little sense in producing the expensive KV tanks, as the T-34 medium tank performed better (or at least equally well) in all practical respects.

T-34 tank

     Later in the war, the KV series became a base for the development of the IS (IS - Josif Stalin) series of tanks.

JS-2 heavy tank

The KV-5:
      On the 7th of April 1941 the Russian Army set out its revised requirements for the KV-3 and the requirements for two new Heavy Break through tanks, the KV-4 (super heavy) and  KV-5.

KV-3 - artistic view

KV-3 - 1/1 wooden mock-up

KV-4 concept drawing

      Work was begun on the KV-5 tank ("Object 225") in June 1941. The talented designer N. Tseits, one of the oldest workers of SKB-2, was named the senior engineer for this vehicle. Also in his group were K. Kuzmin (hull), L. Sychev (turret and gun mount), and N. Fedorchuk (running gear components). The experience gained in the development of the KV-4 design was weighed during the design of the KV-5. The result was a powerful tank of relatively unusual appearance. The hull of the KV-5 had a height of 0.92 metres. Therefore the driver-mechanic and radio operator-machine gunner received special cupolas that permitted them an adequate sector of view. The rhomboid-shaped turret was of relatively large size. Housed in it were the tank commander, who had a commander's cupola, gunner, and loader.

      The solid diameter of the ring was 1840 mm and the large internal space of the turret afforded all members of the crew normal working conditions. The tank was heavily armored-150-180 mm.

      The KV-5 was too use the same ZIS-6 107mm main gun as the KV-3 and KV-4, but was more heacily armoured with frontal armour of 170mm thick, side armour 150mm and 170mm on the turret.

       The vehicle was to also be powered by a single 1200hp engine. Development cracked on during June 1941 and was almost complete in August 1941, but changes had to be made to the hull design as a 1200hp engine was not available, so two parallel-mounted conventional V-2 engines would have had to be installed instead. 

      By August 1941 the KV-5 design was practically fully completed, and the production of a number of the tank's components and aggregates was begun. But because of the difficult situation at the front around Leningrad, all experimental work at the Kirov Plant was halted and all efforts were dedicated to increasing the output of production KV tanks. The latest date found in the preserved drawings of the KV-5 is 15 August 1941, when the battle was being fought around Luga and Krasnogvardeysk.

      The project was eventually canceled in favour of the more advanced Russian heavy tank designs. No prototype was ever constructed due to the Leningrad Blockade. 

      The proposed tank was huge:11.10m long, 4.00m tall, and weighing 100 tons. The crew of five had plenty of room, but were widely separated. Both the driver-mechanic and the radio operator-machine gunner had separate compartments with their own vision cupolas. The turret was large for its three man crew, with another machine-gun cupola on top for the commander. 

Specs: 

KV-5 Super Heavy Tank
Type	Super heavy tank
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
Planned	1941
Used by	Soviet Union
Production history
Designer	N. Tseits, SKB-2
Designed	1941
Manufacturer	Kirov Factory, ChTZ
Produced	none
Number built	none
Specifications
Weight	100 tonnes
Length	11,10 m
Width	3.95 m
Height	4,0 m
Crew	5
Armour	170 mm maximum
Main armament	1x 107mm ZIS-6 gun
Secondary armament	3× or 4× DT machine guns
Engine	2x Model V-2 V12 Diesel engine 600 hp each: 1.200 hp total
Power/weight	12 hp/tonne
Suspension	Torsion bar
Operational range	280 km
Speed	32 km/h

The kit:
      For this project, I'll use the Takom's KV-5 (#2006 1/35 SOVIET SUPER HEAVY TANK KV-5).

KV-5 - pic from Takom

      The box: Without a doubt, one of the most horrific arts I've seen in my life...and the figure, with equipment of the Cold War ... Come on...What nonsense !!!

Front and sides of kit box

      Well, after this elucubrations, let's go: The kit comes in black plastic (color I personally do not like ...). The kit is good, simple and spartan.

Hull, auxiliary turrets and wheels ...

    The main turret is huge !!! 

Big ugly girl !!!

      The kit has as qualities: a small sheet of PE and metal gun barrel.

The steps of the turret were made with copper wire

I made a small rack for spare links

       Ready for primer and paint...

       As always, I modified an art for painting: I used the Google translator for the Patriotic Slogan: "For Leningrad". 

For Leningrad !!!!

And with colors:

Russian green Model Master

For Leningrad - chalks with Gelly Rol pen...

Attention !!!

      Our mate Dmitriy Chirkov warned us about the error in the slogan and wrote the correct spelling. See below:

За Ленинград  -  For Leningrad !!

 Correcting the design:

For Leningrad !!

The slogan written wrong...

      ... and after a little correction in the slogan ( I used acrilic solvent to erase the slogan...)

The slogan corrected. Thankfully, the base color was enamel (Model Master)

For Leningrad !!! Thanks a lot, Dmitriy Chirkov

right side

rear view - notice the spare links

      Well Comrades!!! We finished the job that the Soviets could not do ... The big huge girl was finally ready !!! For Leningrad !!!

KV-5 - White 1 - For Leningrad !!

За Ленинград (thanks again, Dmitriy Chirkov)

KV-5 - White 1 - left side

KV-5 - White 1 - rear view

KV-5 - White 1 - right side

KV-5 - White 1 with Kojak and Rover, the dog.

Big huge soviet girls; KV-2 Big Turret  and KV-5

Death to the Huns of the West !!

KV-5 - White 1 with Kojak and Rover, the dog.

Bye, Tankers !!!    See you soon !!