Russia KV1's Ehkranami
Trumpeter Kit No. 00357
1:35th Scale
Review by Terry Ashley

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These panels were spaced from the armour surface and initially were applied to the turret sides with later builds having panels on the upper and lower hull sides. The panels also differed on shape with some of the turret panels showing a distinct step between the front and rear panels while others were flusher fitting. The hull panels were not always fitted with photos showing different arrangements and the final versions also had a large bullet splash strip added around the front and sides of the turret ring.

Image of the only surviving late model Ehkranami showing the bullet splash around the turret ring.
Note. The turret panels are welded together on this example.

Image courtesy Andreas Lärka

The kit is basically the Trumpeter kit #00356 KV-1 model 1941 “KV Small Turret Tank” with the omission of the sprue (N) providing the early gun mantlet and front appliqué panels and including a new sprue (N) with the riveted appliqué armour panels and retooled resilient road wheels have been provide with the rest of the kit is unaltered. I’ll refer you to the review of kit #00356 and just concentrate here on the new parts and what’s needed to fit them.

The resilient road wheels have been slightly redesigned to provide the alternate style with fine ribs between the outer lightening holes and the hubs from the previous kit with the wheels fitting to the original axles in the same manner.

The new appliqué panels are cleanly moulded although there was some minor flash around the edges of some that is easy to remove. The layout of the rivets matches most photos available while the definition of the rivets heads is good but may be a little soft on the outer edges. This is probably perfectly adequate for the scale once painted and weathered and not a real issue.
The weld beads on the turret front panels will come up well with weathering with the panels fitting perfectly to the turret walls and hull sides.

You are required to open up locating holes in the hull side panels (parts B1, B2) and the turret walls with the instructions indicating which of the hull holes to open and small marks on the inside of the turret indicating the hole location.

Kit Comparison:
A quick comparison with the Tamiya KV-1B with appliqué armour (kit No.35142) shows the bolt heads on the Trumpeter parts matching the size in photos better with the Tamiya slightly smaller. The Trumpeter parts including the bolt head sizes also match exactly to the 1:35 plans included in the new Tankograd KV-1 specials.

The top of the forward turret plates should be open showing the spacing brackets which is depicted correctly on the Trumpeter kit while the Tamiya kit has these closed like the rear panels.

The orientation of the bolt head are all the same on the Trumpeter bolts but slightly random on the Tamiya bolts but this will not be that noticeable on the finished kit.
The Tamiya plates have a distinct cast effect while the Trumpeter are smoother but on examining the excellent photos of the vehicle in the new Tankograd KV-1 specials there is not any discernable cast effect on the plates.

Clearly the Trumpeter parts are superior to the old Tamiya parts as is the full KV with the kits clearly showing the years between them in quality and accuracy.

Decals:
The decals are nicely printed in white with thin carrier film cropped close to the printed image and give you turret slogans for a single KV-1 finished in overall Russian Green but no unit information is given for the particular vehicle.
A full colour sheet is included showing the vehicle and can be used a painting guide as well as showing the decal placement.

Conclusion:
A very simple update to the previous model 1941 kit to make the different version and allow you to build the kit in different configurations by leaving off some the hull plates for the initial version or add the turret splash guard for the later version with the road wheels offering another version configuration.

Another excellent KV for the collection.

Highly recommended.

References:

KV-1 Soviet Heavy Tank of WWII - Early Variants Tankograd Soviet Special No. 2002	KV-1 & 2 Heavy Tanks 1939-1945 Osprey New Vanguard 17 ISBN 1-85532-496-2	Ground Power Magazine #75 - 8/2000 Published by GALILEO Publishing Co.,Ltd.
Russian Tanks and Armored Vehicles 1917-1945 Schiffer Publishing ISBN: 0-7643-0913-7	Stalin's Heavy Tanks 1941-1945 Concord Armor at War Series #7012	Stalin's Giants KV-1 & KV-II Schiffer Publishing ISBN: 0-8874-0404-9
KW Wydawnictwo Militaria #34	KW Vol.I Wydawnictwo Militaria #163	KW Vol.II Wydawnictwo Militaria #168

Kit courtesy of my Credit Card and the excellent service from Rainbow Ten.

Page created November 27, 2005
Updated December 2, 2005