K+W Panzerwagen KW30 1950s Swiss MBT

blockhaj

blockhaj

Swedish "want to be" aviation specialist
Joined
9 February 2017
Messages
341
Reaction score
378
So i wanted to start a thread dedicated to the Swiss tank project KW30, the project which eventually became the Panzer 58 tank. I was inspired by this ancient thread which dicusses the Indienpanzer, a tank project which incorrectly has been rumoured to be related to the KW30.

Anyway i thought i'd share the little info i have at hand at the moment. Below are images of some known KW30 designs, the first and third ones depict a mockup of what i pressume is the KW 30-II. This design is from ca 1952 according to Tank Encyclopedia. The gun in that image is a 90 mm L/63 gun. The second image is an earlier take on the KW30 from 1950, here just called 30-ton tank. It is armed with a 105 mm gun.

According to the indien panzer thread the book "Encyclopedia of Tanks" by Duncan Crow and Robert J. Icks describes two versions of the KW30 from 1956:
  • KW30-I, a variant with "perforated road wheels" (wide double rimmed roadwheels for center-guide tracks?) and a "83.4mm gun" (British 20pdr)
  • KW30-II, a variant with "dished road wheels" (large thin road wheels for double outer-guide tracks, like the Jagdpanzer 38(t)?)
This is all the info i have at hand, although i do have access to some Swiss documents on the subject but i don't know if i can share them or the info that is in them, however they are not complete and lack a lot of detail info. I have also added a blueprint i made of the mockup KW30 years ago based on some basic measurements and the two available mockup photos (however in much worse quality). It is not that accurate as i had to guess all angles and shapes etc.

Anyway the KW30 eventually evolved into the Panzer 58 in 1957 and that version, also known as the KW30 1957, or Panzer 58 prototype 1, has a lot more info on it, not to mention images.

Since i'm a mega nerd for nomenclature and terminology etc i thought i'd list alternate names and spellings of the KW30 found in different documents etc:
  • KW30, KW 30, K W 30, K+W 30
  • KW.30, K.W.30, K.W. 30
  • KW-30, K+W-30
  • Panzerwagen-Modell K+W 30, Pz.Wagen-Modell K+W 30, Pzw. KW 30
  • Panzerwagen Konstruktionswerkstätte 30 1952, Pzw.Kw. 30/52
 

Attachments

  • KW 30-II attrappe.png
    KW 30-II attrappe.png
    1.3 MB · Views: 286
  • KW-1950-1.jpg
    KW-1950-1.jpg
    80.2 KB · Views: 275
  • kw30-maquette.jpg
    kw30-maquette.jpg
    6.6 KB · Views: 250
  • KW30.jpg
    KW30.jpg
    575.6 KB · Views: 253
Last edited:
Fascinating stuff, I can be very certain to be happy NOT to have been a loader in that one. A sure recipe for concussion.....
 
blockhaj said:
So i wanted to start a thread dedicated to the Swiss tank project KW30, the project which eventually became the Panzer 58 tank. I was inspired by this ancient thread which dicusses the Indienpanzer, a tank project which incorrectly has been rumoured to be related to the KW30.

Anyway i thought i'd share the little info i have at hand at the moment. Below are images of some known KW30 designs, the first and third ones depict a mockup of what i pressume is the KW 30-II. This design is from ca 1952 according to Tank Encyclopedia. The gun in that image is a 90 mm L/63 gun. The second image is an earlier take on the KW30 from 1950, here just called 30-ton tank. It is armed with a 105 mm gun.

According to the indien panzer thread the book "Encyclopedia of Tanks" by Duncan Crow and Robert J. Icks describes two versions of the KW30 from 1956:
  • KW30-I, a variant with "perforated road wheels" (wide double rimmed roadwheels for center-guide tracks?) and a "83.4mm gun" (British 20pdr)
  • KW30-II, a variant with "dished road wheels" (large thin road wheels for double outer-guide tracks, like the Jagdpanzer 38(t)?)
This is all the info i have at hand, although i do have access to some Swiss documents on the subject but i don't know if i can share them or the info that is in them, however they are not complete and lack a lot of detail info. I have also added a blueprint i made of the mockup KW30 years ago based on some basic measurements and the two available mockup photos (however in much worse quality). It is not that accurate as i had to guess all angles and shapes etc.

Anyway the KW30 eventually evolved into the Panzer 58 in 1957 and that version, also known as the KW30 1957, or Panzer 58 prototype 1, has a lot more info on it, not to mention images.

Since i'm a mega nerd for nomenclature and terminology etc i thought i'd list alternate names and spellings of the KW30 found in different documents etc:
  • KW30, KW 30, K W 30, K+W 30
  • KW.30, K.W.30, K.W. 30
  • KW-30, K+W-30
  • Panzerwagen-Modell K+W 30, Pz.Wagen-Modell K+W 30, Pzw. KW 30
  • Panzerwagen Konstruktionswerkstätte 30 1952, Pzw.Kw. 30/52
Click to expand...
The nomenclature doesn't mean anything. K+W is (Eidgenössische) Konstruktions-Werkstätte (Thun), the "+" symbolises the Swiss flag because this weapons manufacturing plant was state-owned. You can see all sorts of writings. Of course, Konstruktionswerkstätte is written in one word. But with the hyphen and the capital letter "W" it's clear what it means.
"30" means 30 tonnes, although the tank would weigh 35 t.

I guess you are looking for the attached "development chart" and the corresponding article. It's about the "Panzer 61" (Pz 61), a tank developed and manufactured in Switzerland The KW30 and the Pz 58 were concepts and pre-series products of this tank.

There were 2 prototypes of KW30, one built in 1958 the other in 1959. The first of 10 pre-series tanks (Pz 58) was delivered at the end of 1960, and the first Pz 61 was delivered at the beginning of 1964.

 

Attachments

  • KW30.jpg
    KW30.jpg
    265.5 KB · Views: 198
Zorii_Bliss said:
blockhaj said:
Since i'm a mega nerd for nomenclature and terminology etc i thought i'd list alternate names and spellings of the KW30 found in different documents etc:
  • KW30, KW 30, K W 30, K+W 30
  • KW.30, K.W.30, K.W. 30
  • KW-30, K+W-30
  • Panzerwagen-Modell K+W 30, Pz.Wagen-Modell K+W 30, Pzw. KW 30
  • Panzerwagen Konstruktionswerkstätte 30 1952, Pzw.Kw. 30/52
Click to expand...
The nomenclature doesn't mean anything. K+W is (Eidgenössische) Konstruktions-Werkstätte (Thun), the "+" symbolises the Swiss flag because this weapons manufacturing plant was state-owned. You can see all sorts of writings. Of course, Konstruktionswerkstätte is written in one word. But with the hyphen and the capital letter "W" it's clear what it means.
"30" means 30 tonnes, although the tank would weigh 35 t.
Click to expand...
I am aware that the different spellings of the name is unrellevant to anything really, i'm just a nerd for stuff like that.
 
blockhaj said:
new angle
View attachment 715124
Click to expand...
I must say, my old linedrawing of it still hold up even though i based it on totally different angles in much lower quality. I did however miss the split upper front plate and the split on the backend of the side.
 

Attachments

  • 1703882114995.png
    1703882114995.png
    187.8 KB · Views: 46
  • 1703882480492.png
    1703882480492.png
    258.4 KB · Views: 38
Last edited:
I also missed this sight unit bulge and gunners?-hatch since i lacked an image from that side. Rhough line-sketch.
 

Attachments

  • 1703882694698.png
    1703882694698.png
    38.2 KB · Views: 35
At https://ritastatusreport.live/the-development-of-the-kw-30-and-the-panzer-58/ you may find some info on the KW 30 tank:

Weight: 30 tonnes, with an engine producing 600hp, later improved to 800hp giving it between 20 and 26.7 hp/t.

[...] due to the low weight of the tank it’s armour would have been rather poor with the turret at 70mm frontal, 45mm thick sides and 35mm thick rear and the hull thinned down to just 60mm frontal (albeit sloped well), 45mm thick sides and 35mm rear.
Click to expand...

Below you've got a brighter version of the photo posted here by blockhaj.

BR
 

Attachments

  • KW30 mock-up.jpg
    KW30 mock-up.jpg
    46.7 KB · Views: 44

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom