KV Assault

 

Historical Context

In the Summer of 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. Believing they had superior weapons, vehicles, and equipment, the operation began with many victories, in favour of the German army, however, during these victories, they came across several armoured vehicles that were far superior than the Germans originally believed capable of the Soviets. These came in the form of the T-34 and KV tanks.

Named after the Soviet minister of Munitions, Klement Voroshilov, the KV tank series proved a powerful, heavily armoured opponent to the German army. Equipped with a 76.2mm main cannon and up to 75mm thick armour, the KV-1 was possibly the most powerful tank at the start of the Second World War, virtually impervious to any weapon used by the German army at that time. 

Design Concept

As with many of these projects, this design began with the purchase of a KV-1/KV-2 Pegasus Hobbies model kit, without any intention of developing this model into a diorama. This kit is manufactured with several different options of tank, with 2x tanks per box. The parts featured in this kit allow you to make early type KV-1, KV-1E and KV-2 tank models. Inspired by these models, I decided to design a diorama based on the initial engagements between early war German anti-tank guns and these heavily armoured tanks.

01. Design Sketches

As this diorama was to be set during the early part of the Second World War, in 1941, I decided the best German anti-tank to feature on this diorama would be the 37mm PaK 36 as this was the main weapon of the anti-tank gun units of this period. For this, I purchased an Italeri kit of German Heavy artillery, which included the required PaK 36, alongside a PaK 40 and Flakvierling 38 artillery guns. 

Once this kit and the display case, that was going to be used as the base of the diorama arrived, it was time to begin piecing all these elements together.

Development Process

I began the project by piecing together and painting the KV tanks set and placing this on the display base in the required location. This would then allow me to visualise where the remaining elements will fit best on this base. With the tank positioned on the diorama base, I used some Woodland Scenics turf blend, a mixture of earth and green blend, and dirt collected from the garden, for the ground texture. To prevent the excess spilling off and making a mess, I created a paper tray around the base of the model, attaching this to the grooves around the edge of the base also, to stop any parts becoming lodged in this which would interfere with the display case cover.

02. KV-2 Model & Display Base

03. Diorama Layout Test

With the tank model complete and the turf curing to the base, I pieced together and painted the PaK 36 anti-tank gun than would feature as the opponent to the KV tank. To create a highly interesting and dynamic diorama, and to demonstrate the heavy armour of the KV tanks, it was decided to design the model with the anti-tank firing a round at the tank and this to ricochet off the armour. The most difficult part of this process was figuring out how to effectively create this illusion in the model.

04. KV-2 & PaK 36 Layout Test

To create the cannon firing effect, I decided to use a hot glue gun and place some glue on a hard surface that the glue could easily be removed from once it had cured. Then placing a toothpick into the centre of the glue, this was lifted upwards slowly allowing the glue to follow and, holding this in place above the glue, a thin point was created. This allowed the glue to harden while retaining it's shape. Once the glue had hardened, it was trimmed into shape, with a hole drilled into the middle which the PaK 36 gun's barrel tip would be placed. A similar technique was used to create the illusion of the gun's round bouncing off the KV tank's thick armour plating.

05. Cotton wool bushes

With the gun now completed and in place on the diorama base, it was time to paint the gun crew figures and develop some foliage to disguise the gun position. To make the bushes, I used some cotton wool balls, shaped them and then coated them in hairspray. While the spray was still wet, I dipped the cotton wool into a bowl of the turf blend mix, which I used for the diorama base. The blend mixture stuck to the cotton wool and hardened over time. I repeated this step until the cotton wool was covered, and completed them by spraying a final coat of hairspray over the top to secure the turf blend in place. 

Once dried, these were stuck to the diorama base, along with the painted soldiers, in their correct locations. With these in place, the diorama was now complete. With the model kit of the KV tank featuring 3x turret types compatible with the same hull, this has allowed for 1x diorama to feature 3x different possible designs.

Finished Model

06. KV Assault (KV-1)

07. KV Assault (KV-1E)

08. KV Assault (KV-2)

More images of the finished models are available on Instagram.