WW2 experimental vehicles part 3 - Russian KV5

I have always wanted this particular vehicles since I saw it in the Flames of War Mid-War Monsters book. It truly is a monster:

In April 1941, N V Tseits of the SKB 2 design bureau was given six months to design this monster and deliver a prototype, Object 225. His design team included K I Kuzmin (hull), L Sychev (turret) and N Fedorchuk (running gear). Despite the short time frame, the design of the KV-5 was almost complete by August 1941 and production of the prototype had begun when the approaching German Army forced the design team to evacuate to the Urals. The proposed tank was huge: 11.10m long, 4.00m tall, and weighing 100 tons with armour 170mm (6.7”) thick mounting a 107mm gun. The crew of five had plenty of room, but were widely separated.
I did investigate getting it made for me but as it would not have been included in the main catalog I would have had to pay all the costs and was far too expensive (even selling off spare castings). I did come across a Japanese manufacturer called Atelier Infinite. Japanese resin kits are pretty expensive never mind the postage but I was determined to have some of these! The thing that added to the cost a lot is that you can only order two at a time and so the postage and the handling fee for customs is then only spread over two items.

As far as the kits go these are the best resin kits I have seen. Unlike most resin it is not at all brittle and has no bubbles in the casting (so I guess the high price comes with high quality). The resin is slightly soft - not that it marks but when cutting it actually cuts properly and does not snap or break, this means that lumps left from the molding process are easily removed. It also means that very small pieces can be cut and remain square for gluing on. The rails down the side of the turret, the four hooks that come out of the turret and the machine guns in the small turrets were all separate and had to be cut from sprue to glue on. But this was quite easy given the quality of the casting and how the material is to work with. It also glues very well with superglue, setting almost instantly unlike other resins that can take a while. To note I replaced the gun with a piece of brass rod, not that the original had any problems but more to avoid the chance of it snapping of through handling as I want these guys on the games table.

So in conclusion, I am very happy with them and while I would not use this manufacturer for a lot of things because of the cost I would consider for special vehicles (for example I may get another couple of KV5s and fancy one of their Super Pershing tanks too - but will probably buy when I am over in the Far East to save on postage). I have added the company details to my manufactures page.

So here are some photos of the two tanks I currently have:

And some close-ups so you can see the detail - the casting is very crisp and the bits that need to be glued on add to the overall level of detail:

And now for a series of comparisons so you can really appreciate the scale of this vehicle.

First, with a KV1 (Takara) and a KV2 (Metal Troops):

A German Tiger 1 (Takara):

A German Maus tank (Can.Do):

A British A39 Tortoise (CDG):

And finally for a laugh, a Russian T70 light tank (Arrowhead):