As a pre-New year treat, I've uploaded to YouTube a rolling montage of photos taken during my visit to the Kubinka Tank Museum outside of Moscow all the way back in September 2006, long before the museum became part of the Patriot military theme park (around 2014) – meaning at the time getting access was a bit of a challenge to say the least!
YouTube link
The photos in this video have already been on the Madaxeman website for quite some time, so much so that they may have been overlooked – hence dropping them all into a video that you can play through in the background when you are doing something far more interesting.
If you do see any pictures that are worth a second look however, that does mean that you can go to the website ( at link ) and check them out again at your leisure, without my occasional bursts of ill-informed commentary interrupting your tank-based visual enjoyment.
The Kubinka museum hosts a wide variety of tanks and armoured vehicles developed and used throughout the 20th century by the Soviets, Germans, Allies, Japanese, Hungarians and other nations.
The star of the show is of course the only actual example of the WW2 German Super Tank, the Maus, with the example on display being assembled from the bits of the only two two prototypes ever made, both of which the Russians captured at the end of WW2.
Around 60% of the other exhibits are Soviet-era vehicles, with lots of experimetal prototypes, the most recent display being the Object 172, the prototype of the T-72 MBT. Most Cold War-era Western tanks (from the US or Western Europe) were war trophies from the Middle East, Africa, Vietnam and Latin America, which were all sent to the armour testing facility at Kubinka to study and focus on any strengths and weaknesses.
Segments & Timings:
3:27 – WW1, Early war/light tanks, British tanks
6:36 – US post-war & WW2 tanks
9:31 – German WW2 tanks (the full set!)
Including… 13:30 The Maus
17:35 – Other WW2 German AFVs & transport
19:39 – French, Italian & other minor nation tanks and tankettes
20:57 – Hungarian WW2 Tanks
22:18 – Japanese WW2 Tanks
23:15 – An armoured train
23:35 – WW2 Russian tanks & tank destroyers
25:22 – Post War Russian tanks, prototypes & experimental vehicles
28:45 – BMPs and other wheeled and tracked APCs
30:11 – More WW2 Russian armour, & more BMPs
35:37 – Random shots that seem to have gotten out of sequence (possibly taken on a different camera?)
Happy New Year and enjoy the video!
YouTube link
