KV-2 Tank Turret

Intended for 3d print.

Tank turret for the WW2-era soviet heavy assault tank. This model pack includes 4 turret variants in total. 2 models of the early prototype KV-2 version of the turret, used during the Finnish Winter War and early World War 2, and 2 models of the later KV-2 version used later on in World War 2. The early version has sloped front armor, and the later version a more boxy design. Both version come in two variants - one with the howitzer aimed forwards, and one with the howitzer aimed upwards.

Note on the flag used in the first image: The soviet flag is currently illegal in certain countries. To avoid potential legal issues, I've used the earlier tsarist Russia flag as a stand-in. The KV-2 was however both designed and used in Soviet Russia, nothing else.

Recommended scale

28mm. The models included in this product are also prescaled to 28mm. The turrets can probably be printed at as small a scale as 15mm, but I make no guarantees for this.

History

The KV-2 was a self-propelled howitzer version of the heavy KV-1 tank. The KV-1 was designed as a penetration tank, part of the Soviet Deep Battle doctrine. It was slow, but could withstand most anti-tank guns of its day. When put to the test during the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939, Soviet commanders requested a variant of the tank equipped with sufficient armament to deal with Finnish bunkers and other fortifications. Thus the KV-2 was developed. It was equipped with an immense 152mm howitzer housed in an equally immense turret. As a penetration tank, the KV-2 was expected to be subjected to plenty of enemy fire. The turret was designed with this in mind, having 110mm frontal armor and 75mm side armor. All in all the turret weighed 13 tonnes, and its distinctive box design made the KV-2 stand 5 metres tall. The KV-2 saw extremely limited combat during the Winter War, but all the more during Operation Barbarossa. The KV-2 suffered from its weight, size and tall profile. The turret and howitzer overtaxed the gear and transmission of the KV-1 hull it used, and was excessively slow and fuel-consuming. The height of the turret also made the KV-2 unstable. When the KV-2 made it into combat however, it proved a credible threat. Early WW2-era German tanks and AT guns had trouble penetrating the KV-2s armor, while its 152mm howitzer could easily penetrate any panzer armor. The Germans would utilize captured KV-2s in their own army, with slight modifications. Soviet production ended in 1941, but small numbers of KV-2s were in use up until the end of the war.

Operational period

1940-1945

This model kit is part of an ongoing series, tentatively called Tank Turrets Through The Ages. The idea is to design era-defining tank turrets from their first inception up to modern day. The turrets will eventually be compiled into a megapack that provides a comprehensive and historically accurate set of turrets, for you to use in your tabletop miniature wargames. This product description will be updated with links to other turrets in the series as I design and publish them.

Image: Taken by Gandvik. Originally(?) posted on Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 3.0. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kliment_Voroshilov_tank#/media/File:Кв-2_3.jpg