1/100 KV-4 (Shashmurin Variant)

This vehicle, industrial designation Object 901, was one of the twenty-seven different designs submitted for the KV-4 project.  This particular design comes from the mind of noted tank designer Nikolai Shashmurin, who previously worked on the SMK, hence the similar appearance of his KV-4 design.  This tank is armed with a 107mm main gun in the hull, nestled between the driver's compartment and bow machine gunner's compartment.  The turret on top is almost identical to the prototype version of the KV-1 turret, armed with the same 76.2mm cannon, but with additional reinforcement around the base.  With this design, because there was such a limited supply of 76mm ammunition, in favour of 107mm shells in the hull, other designers derided Object 901 as being absurdly large, and Shashmurin should have simply designed a turretless tank destroyer.  It was actually this design that was chosen for the KV-4, though that was according to Shashmurin's own memoirs.  He's something of a hero of mine, so I like to think that's true, but it ought to be taken with a pinch of salt nonetheless.