This year I had a very fruitful season: I visited 10 cities in 3 countries 15 times. Some trips were purely for museums, others had other reasons, but I tried to visit museums in any case. I have a bunch of photographs in my hands of most of the VERY large Russian military museums. Which I want to show to Russian modelers and to you.
The museum of armored vehicles in Kubinka has already been mentioned in previous publications. I’ve been there several times, and will be there again.
It is located 70 km from Moscow and can be reached by commuter train in 1-1.5 hours.
The history of the tank museum in Kubinka began in 1930, when it was decided to build a testing ground for armored vehicles here, and in 1938 a research institute attached to it. The museum on this site was founded in 1972, but since it remained within the structure of the Ministry of Defense, it was extremely difficult to get there. My first visit, already in this century, was made by appointment and with a passport. Moreover, it took me half an hour to get from the nearest highway on foot. There is now regular bus service here.
For the English-speaking public, an article on Kubinka Tank Museum - Wikipedia can serve as introductory material. It is not entirely comprehensive and is a little outdated, but overall it is quite truthful. Although they no longer ask for your passport at the entrance, and they sell tickets without it. You can generally buy them online.
The grounds are very clean and decent.
The souvenir stall is decorated in the spirit of a museum.
There are a lot of signs – you won’t get lost even if you don’t know the language. Toilets in Russia are designated by the English abbreviation WС. Well, you can understand where each pavilion is without knowing the language – our numbers are the same.
Closer to the entrance there are a couple of laconic monuments: to tank crews
and military motorcyclists.
You can climb onto the latter and take a couple of selfies. I didn’t do this: selfies are not my thing, and climbing monuments is not mine either.
But the main thing about it is not this, but SIX! such pavilions with exhibits,
a significant number of which are unique, even one-of-a-kind, or landmark armored fighting vehicles. The hangars are numbered and have a specific theme.
Namely:
No. 1. Heavy tanks and self-propelled guns of the USSR.
No. 2. Armor power of the Urals.
No. 3. Light amphibious tanks and armored personnel carriers. Tanks from the Kharkov plant. Armored vehicles of the Airborne Forces.
No. 4. Armored personnel carriers and infantry combat vehicles.
No. 5. Armored equipment of foreign countries.
No. 6. Monsters of the Wehrmacht. US armored vehicles.
I will post photo galleries of them later. Because there’s nothing special to write about there, you just have to look there!
There are another couple of hangars, structurally the same, but for repair and restoration.
All hangars have become younger and have acquired a modern look.
The left photo is from 2015, the right - is this year.
And most importantly – the barriers have been removed! When I assembled the IS-7 in 2016, photographs of its rear were taken out almost from under the counter. And now there’s his ass from all angles.
At the end of the territory there is a very tasty place: a zone of dynamic displays.
It would be interesting to visit it during the action!
There is still some equipment behind a flimsy fence.
The purpose of her being there remained unknown. At the entrance/exit it is clear – there is a sign, but here it is not clear.
The military, how can we understand them? They even have militarized bird feeders.
!
