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The main items are five sets of road-wheels and then a set of track.
The road-wheels consist of:
S72032 - Wheels for KV, Stamp with inner amortization August-September 1940
S72034 - Wheels for KV, Cast with inner amortization June-July 1941
S72035 - Wheels for KV, Cast from mid July 1941
S72038 - Wheels for KV, Cast reinforced January 1942 (type 2 with sextuple hub)
S72041 - Wheels for KV, Cast with ribs and 8 circular apertures late 1943 type
The sets are in the usual plastic zip-loc bags with a paper header...
The contents are as shown below...
| S72032 |
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S72034 |
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S72035 |
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S72038 |
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S72041 |
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Removal from casting plug...
The way I removed the wheels was to use a No.11 Swann-Morton blade and with the blunt top edge against the wheel rim score around the attachment point, I found that
after a few strokes the wheel would snap from the plug fairly easily. This left a small amount of flash to clean up...
Comparing set S72032 (Wheels for KV, Stamp with inner amortization August-September 1940) to the wheels provided with the PST KV-1A...
PST wheels...
OKB wheels...
I think it is clear that the OKB wheels are by far a more detailed item and would certainly enhance the model greatly.
Comparing set S72038 (Wheels for KV, Cast reinforced January 1942 (type 2 with sextuple hub)) to wheels provided with Trumpeter KV-1 1942 model...
The two wheels together, OKB on the left...
Again the OKB wheels appear to be more detailed compared to the Trumpeter ones.
To fit the OKB wheels needs some work on the axle stubs for both kits. The PST stubs are far too thick and would need replacing with some brass rod of a suitable
diameter. With the
Trumpeter stubs you can drill the wheel to provide a deeper hole and cut part of the axle stub down, this provides a nice fit.
Now on to the KV-1 tracks...
The track fit around PST and Trumpeter sprockets (the tracks have only been placed over the sprockets and held in place, fixing them permanently will probably
result in a better fit)...
PST Sprocket...
It seems the track fits very well around the PST sprocket and when done properly would produce a nice result.
Trumpeter sprocket...
The fit around the Trumpeter sprocket is not as good as the PST one, this may need some adjustment and, perhaps, the removal of some teeth to get a really good fit.
Comparison of OKB (left - light grey), PST (middle - dark grey) and Trumpeter (right - black) tracks...
Whilst the PST and Trumpeter tracks are reasonably well detailed, I think it is clear from the pictures that the OKB tracks are better detailed. The ease of using
the OKB tracks will be a plus against the Trumpeter vinyl tracks, which are notoriously hard to glue. The PST tracks, being link and length, will be reasonably easy
to get on the model, but not as easy as the OKB resin ones.
I have to say that all the OKB products are first class, the casting is some of the best I have seen. The resin is a nice consistency and very easy to work with. It
glues well with superglue, including the tracks. I hope this review is of some help to people who want to enhance their KV models.
Preview sample supplied by OKB Grigorov.
OKB Grigorov products are available at
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