Model: KV-2
Publisher: Modelcard (distributed by Modelik) - no copyright date but 1998(?)
Scale: 1:25
Format: Printed A4 booklet
Designer: Witold Piaseki & Waldemar Rychard
This model was a recent pickup on eBay - it has been available through retailers until recently.
The KV-2 was created from the need identified in the Winter war between Russia and Finland for a direct fire AFV to take on fortifications with a powerful gun. The KV-2 was based on the KV-1 with a huge turret with a 152mm gun. A few hundred of these things were built in 1941- most were lost from engine and transmission failures rather than enemy fire. When the KV-2 did work properly they were virtually immune to anything the Wehrmacht could fire at them.
Twelve pages of cardstock, 4 pages of 80 gsm with frames and minor parts and patterns, two pages of diagrams and 1 page of Polish history and instructions.
Printing is truely dreadful - there's only one colour - dull green (it's a Russian tank) - the printing has overlaps of up to 1-2mm outside the cutting lines. The print has minor flaws and blemishes on almost every printed page. The construction diagrams are inadequate even for a fairly simple model as this one is. << Added 28/8/04 >> There are colour variations between the printed pages - this is fairly subtle and don't show up until you put parts together from different pages when it becomes really noticeable. It seems that Modelart didn't use the Maly Modelarz technique of printing the parts pages on an A2 sheet (so the colours will be uniform) and folding the sheet down to A4 but rather prints on separate A3 sheets. I think the only way to retrieve this is to scan the model and recolour it or be prepared to paint the model after completion.
The large no. of pages of A4 cardstock is simply explained - the model is big. The hull is just about an A4 page in length. The KV tanks were easily the largest and heaviest tanks on the Eastern front in 1941. There are almost no models of these important AFVs - Maly Modelarz produced a KV-1 sometime in the 1980s (not seen that one). The Modelcard is the only KV-2 model I'm aware of.
The overall impression I get from this model is that it's simple and bland. The construction is the usual card box - there's no interior.
<<added 28/8/04>> Getting the hull frame straight is quite difficult because of the engineering (or lack of it) - the hull box is a long box with no internal stiffening or location framing - I had to go from the recommended 1mm to 2 mm board to get enough stiffness to prevent the box warping.
The main gun has only the barrel modelled with no attempt to engineer gun elevation.
The suspension model is adequate although it contains some inaccuracies.
The torsion bar arms aren't staggered correctly - all the KV tanks had a noticeable offset between the roadwheels on opposite sides of the tank. It's hardly pardonable to ignore this sort of detail. I'm not sure about the roadwheels themselves - the KV-2 seems to have used an earlier pattern than the one modelled here.
The tracks are modelled as two bands with lots of tiny strips to represent the texture of the links - there's no option to build the track from individual links. <<added 28/8/04>>The instructions suggest reinforcing the bands representing the tracks with 0.5 mm card. Having cut out the drive slots, etc it is expected that the two sides are glued together - this is never going to work unless the modeller is operating a micron level accuracy - about the only satisfactory way to build the tracks is to reinforce one side with 1mm card - trim the excess card then glue the other side on before cutting out the dirve slots.
The model is printed overall in a fairly light dull green without weathering.
I think the colour could be a bit browner but the lack of weathering is disappointing.
Overall about the only redeeming feature of this model is the subject - there's no other KV-2 around. It could probably be tackled by a beginner with a reasonable chance of success. I would make no guarantees about accuracy of fit though.
In retrospect perhaps a way to make something of this model would be to scale it down to 1/50 - the lack of detail wouldn't be as much of issue at the smaller scale and most of the parts in the 1/25 model are large enough to be useable at 1/50.
Instructions: D
Paper quality: B
Level of detail: C
Printing quality: D
Artwork: D (seriously bland)
Value for money: D (only if you really need a KV-2 )
Skill level: Beginner
Publisher: Modelcard (distributed by Modelik) - no copyright date but 1998(?)
Scale: 1:25
Format: Printed A4 booklet
Designer: Witold Piaseki & Waldemar Rychard
This model was a recent pickup on eBay - it has been available through retailers until recently.
The KV-2 was created from the need identified in the Winter war between Russia and Finland for a direct fire AFV to take on fortifications with a powerful gun. The KV-2 was based on the KV-1 with a huge turret with a 152mm gun. A few hundred of these things were built in 1941- most were lost from engine and transmission failures rather than enemy fire. When the KV-2 did work properly they were virtually immune to anything the Wehrmacht could fire at them.
Twelve pages of cardstock, 4 pages of 80 gsm with frames and minor parts and patterns, two pages of diagrams and 1 page of Polish history and instructions.
Printing is truely dreadful - there's only one colour - dull green (it's a Russian tank) - the printing has overlaps of up to 1-2mm outside the cutting lines. The print has minor flaws and blemishes on almost every printed page. The construction diagrams are inadequate even for a fairly simple model as this one is. << Added 28/8/04 >> There are colour variations between the printed pages - this is fairly subtle and don't show up until you put parts together from different pages when it becomes really noticeable. It seems that Modelart didn't use the Maly Modelarz technique of printing the parts pages on an A2 sheet (so the colours will be uniform) and folding the sheet down to A4 but rather prints on separate A3 sheets. I think the only way to retrieve this is to scan the model and recolour it or be prepared to paint the model after completion.
The large no. of pages of A4 cardstock is simply explained - the model is big. The hull is just about an A4 page in length. The KV tanks were easily the largest and heaviest tanks on the Eastern front in 1941. There are almost no models of these important AFVs - Maly Modelarz produced a KV-1 sometime in the 1980s (not seen that one). The Modelcard is the only KV-2 model I'm aware of.
The overall impression I get from this model is that it's simple and bland. The construction is the usual card box - there's no interior.
<<added 28/8/04>> Getting the hull frame straight is quite difficult because of the engineering (or lack of it) - the hull box is a long box with no internal stiffening or location framing - I had to go from the recommended 1mm to 2 mm board to get enough stiffness to prevent the box warping.
The main gun has only the barrel modelled with no attempt to engineer gun elevation.
The suspension model is adequate although it contains some inaccuracies.
The torsion bar arms aren't staggered correctly - all the KV tanks had a noticeable offset between the roadwheels on opposite sides of the tank. It's hardly pardonable to ignore this sort of detail. I'm not sure about the roadwheels themselves - the KV-2 seems to have used an earlier pattern than the one modelled here.
The tracks are modelled as two bands with lots of tiny strips to represent the texture of the links - there's no option to build the track from individual links. <<added 28/8/04>>The instructions suggest reinforcing the bands representing the tracks with 0.5 mm card. Having cut out the drive slots, etc it is expected that the two sides are glued together - this is never going to work unless the modeller is operating a micron level accuracy - about the only satisfactory way to build the tracks is to reinforce one side with 1mm card - trim the excess card then glue the other side on before cutting out the dirve slots.
The model is printed overall in a fairly light dull green without weathering.
I think the colour could be a bit browner but the lack of weathering is disappointing.
Overall about the only redeeming feature of this model is the subject - there's no other KV-2 around. It could probably be tackled by a beginner with a reasonable chance of success. I would make no guarantees about accuracy of fit though.
In retrospect perhaps a way to make something of this model would be to scale it down to 1/50 - the lack of detail wouldn't be as much of issue at the smaller scale and most of the parts in the 1/25 model are large enough to be useable at 1/50.
Instructions: D
Paper quality: B
Level of detail: C
Printing quality: D
Artwork: D (seriously bland)
Value for money: D (only if you really need a KV-2 )
Skill level: Beginner