Currently Reading: Books on Soviet Tanks

Well I don't have pictures of my models to show due to having had a very busy weekend with many other engagements. So those pictures and their associated stories will have to wait for the time being. In the meantime something of a book review. I have been reading through the series of books by James Kinnear and Stephen L. Sewell. I have already finished their book on the T-55 and the T-10 and I am currently reading the one on the T-54.

The covers area really nice and judgement of the cover in this case does match the quality content inside.

So what do you get inside? Well quite a lot, a lot of pictures both historical and of surviving vehicles, perfect for anyone wanting to recreate these in miniature. You also get a good deal of information which is presented in a balanced, clear and concise manner. The topics range of specific differences between variants to the behind the scenes story of their production. It may not be the most riveting stuff, certainly not Game of Thrones. However, it is interesting (admittedly one guy did get sent to Siberia for getting into an argument about torsion bar suspension, so there are some stakes to the drama.)

Overall good quality titles and I probably will pre-order their upcoming book on the T-62 at some point. That being said I did notice some editing and layout issues, this impacted the T-10 book the most with labels referring to images on the left that were on the right, etc. There was also some repetition but nothing too major.

Overall I give them 8.5/10. Would recommend them, especially on a discounted price. I got my copies from Book Depository, and they took around a month to get from the UK to NZ (they would usually only take a week and a half, but delays are the least of my worries given present circumstances.)

Oh and as for models, well I don't have any assembled versions of any of these tanks. I do have some work in progress T-55s and I am sure that the book will be useful in painting up those (although I have very simply wargaming kits from Plastic Soldier, lovely quality mind). I am interested in seeing when Trumpeter's promised T-10M will drop to add to my collection of IS-tanks.

Anyway, if you have any questions about these books please do not hesitate to ask I will be more than happy to give you more information. As stated more models on the way (when I get photos), but until them I wish you all the very best.

Motorised Rifle Squad (Soviet/PAPR)

Well a little over a week since my last post. Not because it has been a week in terms of painting (I have exclusively been doing conversions). Rather, I just didn't get around to doing photos. So last minute and basically taking this final opportunity to get a post out this week. Anyway let's get into this shall we.

Action pose for the squad. Sorry in advance for the yellow hue of the photos. I do get a couple of shots where this is less of an issue.

So back to Elhiem figures this week. These are from a Soviet Motorised Platoon (For BTR60/70/80s) pack I got. That's right a whole platoon. Plenty to keep me going. This is the first squad of the platoon which includes a marksman not in the other two squads. I have painted them up in a KLMK pattern camouflage, basis it off pictures of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. For the purposes of Oronegro they shall serve as the core of the Pan Andean People's Republic. Though their equipment is a little dated compared to their Oronegrean counterparts they are still quite formidable and well versed in both conventional and guerrilla warfare (though to a lesser extent than their local force/regional force counterparts).

While the squad lead may be getting distracted by local birds the rest of the quad gets to work.

So as mentioned there are local/regional forces. These represent the guerrilla forces and units from the constituent members of the PAPR. The former are very much like the Vietcong (guess which models will be used to represent them). The latter being more akin to the Warsaw Pact troops (again, who could possibly be used to represent these troops). These troops are also going to be roped into service in the Ororussia setting. In this case they may represent troops from the post Soviet neighbours of the region there. Although I haven't fully established the situation over there.

This squad also has access to the newer RPG18 (left), while the others had the RPG7. All squads have a RPK74 gunner (all in this pose (centre). Finally the guy on the right has a bayonet, which sadly is not fully in shot.

This squad, as mentioned, as the platoon marksman with the SVD (left). There is then only two standard riflemen, one with a bayonet above and the kneeling man in the centre. That leaves the grenadier on the right.

Shot of those figures from behind. Also the clearest photo and I have no clue how to get this consistently, oh well. This view gives a good view of their webbing too.

Finally we have the bird-watching squad leader. I call him that because of his binoculars and his clear focus of something up above.

Another view of the webbing, also a decent view of the camouflage too. It's Model Master Olive Drab, with the light parts being Tamiya Grey (I hate Tamiya paints, so claggy on brushes), with a semi-brybrush of Vallejo Rusian Uniform WW2. 

These troops will see quite a lot of action I hope, whether as soldiers of the PAPR, another imagi-nation of even the Soviet Union. Before I finish I must give a big shout out to Martin Evelyn for subscribing to my blog. Great to have you here. Hope you like what you see.

So that's all for today. I will try get out a post for next week. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, not much progress on the painting front (although I have made plenty of conversions and I have even bought some exciting new things). So we'll see if I can carry on doing a post a week or if I am finally beaten back. But until next time I wish you all good health, stay safe and have a good day/night wherever you are in the world.

Soviet Officers and female warrant officer

Well for once this post was not delayed by lack of painting progress but rather by photography issues. You see I just wasn't satisfied with any of the photos I had so you are going to get them all, the imperfect bunch they are. So today I present these three figures that I should have shown off last week. Indeed since then I have finished three other figures since completing these three. So keep an eye out for more to come. First up the group photos.

So these figures are the rest of the set that contained the Soviet MP Officer. Took me a while to sort out their uniform and I am not totally sure that their shoulder-boards are correct. As you will see I have two full sets of photos, one was taken inside and suffers from the usual problems of my camera not being able to focus properly. The other set was taken outside and the shadows are too much. So lot of photos unfortunately no nice ones. Might be time I get an upgrade, as you will soon see my flatmate's phone trumps my camera's super macro setting. However, that's something for another post.

So now I will move onto the individual photos. First up, the female warrant officer. A rather simple pose but a nice one. First time I have tried to do light blonde hair for a change, quite happy with the result. Same cannot be said for her face, after many attempts I left it as is. Is it acceptable? I will let you be the judge.

Next up is the male officer pulling that classic pose with one arms outstretched firing his pistol with the other behind. This pose may be the one I like the least, however, I think this may be my favourite figure in terms of results. One thing I have done on the other Soviet figures from Elhiem (yes expect those to come in the near future too) is to add black lines around detail items, to highlight the separation. Works very well and I wish I had tried it on these too.

Finally we have a pose with an officer demonstrating a more appropriate shooting stance. I quite like this post, it is probably a favourite of mine. It must have been difficult to produce and it was also quite difficult to paint. Getting behind the arms was very tricky. Of all the figures I feel that this figure got the best photos so I hope that you like them.

Well that's all for today. Much procrastination has delayed this post and I am sorry I could not do a nicer write up about how I produced these figures. Some exciting things coming up so keep an eye out for them.

But until next time I wish you all a very good day/night. Stay safe, stay socially distanced and I will see you all next time. :-)

Soviet Military Police Officer

So we're still in the 80s with this one, which can be considered something of a preview. Another Elhiem figure, a Soviet Military Police Officer, in their gloriously camp uniform. In relation to the Oronegro project this figure will serve the Pan Andean People's Republic. However, as I am trying to do the uniforms as accurately as I can, he can be roped into serve the Soviet Union just as well.

Watch out, he has the high ground!

So I went with a very simple and boring base in this case, which will probably be the norm for these figures. Also, I just realised I do not have a photo looking down, which means that there's not a good shot of the hand-painted star. A detail that was quite difficult to add. Anyway on with the rest of the pictures.

So the main uniform is vallejo military green with a black wash to darken it. 

The red details are in vallejo bloody red.

The gun was done in vajello gunmetal grey with citadel mithril silver highlights.

All the other colours are my general artist acrylic with the exception of the face which is done with a vallejo face painting set.  

Sorry for the rather too many photos I just couldn't decide which to keep. 

Anyway as I said before consider this figure something of a preview.

There are more Soviets/Pan Andean People's Republic regulars to come.

And then? well maybe I shall keep that a surprise.

At this time I am not sure how many models I will get through before the lockdown ends. That being said I have prepared many for painting so keep your eyes out for more.

And final photo. This may be the most photographed single figure yet.

Well that's all for today, slowly making progress towards the other items on my workbench and starting to attach the mountain of plastic built up after my recent splurge. Not sure when you can expect the next post, really depends on how side tracked I get with the many projects on the desk.

However until then, I wish you all a good day/night.