Hello gang,

In the spirit of new build threads, I would like to share my latest commission, Tamiya KV1 into KV85 with Profiline resin conversion. Minor surgery with a a little scratchbuilding to make it F/O.

Stage 1: Rear hull has a larger engine compartment and modified rear deck. I took the old razor saw and removed the rear hull section as requested. CA holds the assembly together.

Profiline's conversion is quite good and solidly cast. They include a CD with extensive Jpegs and Instructions as PDFs. Interesting!

I am jelous that you received this kit... :-)

I am still trying to contact Profline Guys.
Sent to them two extraletters - no reply back...</p>

Us Russkie guys are going to conquer the world. I love my KV-85. Go for it!!

That proline stuff looks very good. Very professional offering.

Looks great! Wow even without paint it looks menacing.

Nice Ethan,


Good to see you are branching out again. I have a couple photos to send you tonight for this beast.

Darrin

Surprising how much that tank looks like an M-26 Pershing, yes, no ?

Greg, I definitely agree.....Guess that's where the US got their idea. Pershing looks better though, imo.

Yes, much better but it was a design build not a stop gap measure or up grade so the Pershing just looks so cool. Big , mean and nasty. And the real ones sound absolutely awesome.

Great looking tank i love the kv85 evin if like most russian armor it looks like it should be steem powerd.

Perhaps the Allies will have this new beastie in the field for the next DAK event this fall?

We sure will, Ethan says he'll have it done by Labor day. And I have an Tamiya KV-2 set aside in a box for it when Ethan's done.

Duane

After seeing the Crusader build I think this thread is bush league but I will press on none-the-less!

This conversion requires a bit of surgery to correctly position the turret forward the 13mm it works out to be in 1/16 scale. As it was originally intended for HL, you must also remove the stepped ring from the Tamiya deck. Razor saw time.

After the ring-ectomy, I filled in the drivers hatch and added a fillet to the engine deck to square off the area where the turret was.

Last step, cut of the Tamiya traverse posts.

realy mean turret that conversation

Very clean cutting......and you're doing all this by hand?? I can't cut a straight line to save my life!!!!

Starting to take shape, great job so far! Thanks Ethan for sharing.

Duane

I am using straight edges and such but most of the cutting is good old #11 blade and a little luck.

To further support the new turret location I actually cut the rear portion of the upper hull square and began evening the edges of the side plates.

A side job was prepping the turret for elevation (ironically U2's song elevation was playing on my iTunes while I uploaded this reply) I attached the Glacis to the upper turret half and puttied the upper edge. I added weld marks in the putty.

It is a shame there were so few of these actually made. Only about between 70 and 75 I believe. Not many. they also came too late for Kursk. the Germans would really have gotten a beating then, with that gun and that thick armor. look out.

Great looking welds, wish I had your all-round skills.

Duane

Approximately 148 were produced (less than the King Tiger), but just imagine the German's shock when they first saw it. What I'd like to see is Tamiya or HL create a JS-3.

Duane

TRAVERSE is my next challenge. That turret is one honking piece of resin. I scavenged the traverse ring and gearbox from an old 21st century PZ IV and we'll se what I can do with it. I made a plate to tightly fit the turret ring to the hull by first measuring the correct diameter and then breaking out the good old circle cutter. A few cuts later, voila, the final turret ring assembly is ready for the motor to actually turn it. That is next!

Pretty tank ... wished I had got one when the gettin' was good. []


- Jeff

Did some more work and got the "functionals" working. Traverse, elevation and recoil all functional. Was hoping on a metal barrel but will make do with a trumpeter offering as the resin one is solid and has no chance to be opened up.


I really need to see this attached to the rest of the hull to make it work good!

Attaching the photos might help! Fuel tanks added. Each one is a bit of a kit in itself. I made the skirt stiffeners with aluminum sheet and puttied, sanded, and ground everything into shape. Once I liked what I saw, I primed it with flat back rustoleum to seal everything and make the metal-plastic-resin base-coat even.