Chapter 999 Witness

Malachenko guessed that he might see a new prototype when he came to Chelyabinsk.

Because from the timetable, the butterfly effect brought about by his desperate flapping of wings is about to bring about some changes.

The Tiger crisis was sounded by him so early. Even if Kotin is a big-headed person or the production line is too busy to make a prototype, it should be no problem to draw a few drawings and come up with a plan, right?

Fortunately, Kotin's efficiency really did not disappoint our old comrade Ma.

Judging from Kotin's somewhat mysterious expression, Malachenko estimated that if this guy didn't have something real in his hand, he wouldn't be so confident to show a mysterious smile. After all, before pretending to be cool, he should first consider whether he has the ability.

However, there are always some differences between reality and imagination. Malachenko still didn't expect that the prototype that Kotin said he would show him would be like this!

Looking at the wooden tank in front of him, which looked like it was hit by a hammer and flattened, Malashenko, who had never forgotten this mighty and domineering body, certainly knew what was in front of him. However, this mood was a mixture of happiness, entanglement, surprise and other emotions, with a complex taste that could not be described.

In short, the IS6 heavy tank, which was blown up in the existing history due to the poor performance of the electric-by-wire system, appeared in front of Malashenko more than a year in advance in a very funny-looking wooden tank posture.

Kotin, who was busy all day and had a lot of things to do, did not focus on the new prototype. Most of his energy was put on running around to strive for the mass production plan for the IS1 heavy tank as soon as possible.

However, Kotin, who was always obsessed with August's amazing electric transmission system, took a little time out of his busy schedule to perfect a plan that he thought was very important: tailor-make a brand-new housing for this unique electric transmission system to maximize its powerful combat power.

Since his most capable assistant Shashmurin was busy with various firepower upgrade plans for future use, Kotin felt uneasy about leaving it to others, so he took the lead himself, brought a few designers and engineers who he thought were reliable, and started the first phase of the design work of the heavy tank named "Project 252".

The Tiger tanks captured in Leningrad have been deeply studied, and the necessary stronger protection against the 88 gun was naturally integrated into it.

At the beginning, the tank's protection index was personally defined by Kotin in order to make the front main armor belt completely immune to the bombardment of the German 88 gun at the conventional combat distance. This is a must.

Kotin, who held a pencil and thought about the drawings for a long time, always felt that his IS1 heavy tank design was too conservative. It was almost an enhanced version of the KV heavy tank. Many designs still retained the shadow of the previous ones, especially the design of the body.

Although doing so can shorten the design time, make the most of mature designs and technologies, and show strength and prove himself before Morozov. But compared with the Germans' huge step from the Panzer IV to the Tiger, Kotin felt that his design was a bit stagnant.

So instead of making steady and gradual improvements, Kotin, who changed his mind and chose a wild style, directly offered a new bold design this time.

Kotin incorporated some information and technical parameters he got from his mortal enemy Morozov, combined his own design concept with reference to the design of the highly praised T34 medium tank.

A piece of welded armor with a physical thickness of 100 mm was directly knocked to the upper front position at a super-large inclination angle of 66 degrees, and a piece of welded armor with a physical thickness of 120 mm was placed at a 52-degree inclination angle on the lower front of the vehicle body. The lack of equivalent defense is directly compensated by physical thickness, and the equivalent coefficient of inclination angle is converted so that the defense weight of the upper and lower front is just on the same horizontal line.

Considering that Malashenko had mentioned to him when he met with him in Moscow before, the probability of the turret being hit when the tank is hit from the front is always much higher than the probability of the hull being hit.

Kotin, who made a big hand on the drawing, directly compressed the turret height of the IS1 heavy tank further, and used the large amount of armor weight saved to strengthen the defense weight of the front and sides of the turret.

Compared with the 100 mm physical thickness of the IS1 heavy tank turret, the new turret further increased the physical thickness of the armor to 150 mm, but the weight of the entire turret was controlled to be almost the same as the former.

This is an innovation and boldness of Kotin's design, and it is enough to prove his personal ability.

Although doing so will inevitably sacrifice the comfort of the crew members, as Malashenko said, it is better to be uncomfortable in the tank than to be roasted by the Germans. Kotin is a staunch supporter of Malashenko's theory.

In terms of firepower, which is particularly important, Kotin did not devote too much energy to considering it.

Instead, it is reasonable to think that the firepower upgrade design plan that Shashmurin is leading can be directly grafted onto the new electric-wire tank. The firepower indicators of both are positioned according to the Germans' new Tiger heavy tank, so the problem should be very easy to solve.

Compared with building a real tank, it is obviously much simpler to build a 1:1 static model with glue and wood.

It is just to prove the design. Let's see how to reasonably stuff the trial electric transmission system into this new tank. If there are poor designs, it is convenient to dismantle the wood and glue it again. After the whole design is finalized, the real tank prototype with steel and armor will be built.

So at this time, there is really no big problem with assembling tanks with wood. Instead, it is a cost-saving, time-saving and labor-saving method, which can greatly promote the work efficiency of project design.

Various factors driven by Malashenko's butterfly effect under various coincidences are cleverly combined at the intersection.

This wooden prototype, which looks a bit like a T34 with an IS2 turret on its body and then flattened by a hammer, was born in front of Malashenko in 1943 by chance.

Compared with Malashenko's slightly wide-jawed expression, the regret on Kotin's face was undoubtedly obvious when he looked at the wooden prototype tank that he had built in less than a week.

"If the electric transmission system is scrapped, this design may not be necessary. Fortunately, it only made a wooden prototype and did not invest too much effort."

Malashenko, who came back to his senses after Kotin's slightly regretful words, did not think so. He blurted out a firm word driven by a crazy idea.

"No, Comrade Kotin, I think such an excellent plan should not be abandoned. For example, you can consider turning the wrong design ideas back to the right track, just for part of the design."