"Unboxing the Volks Armee " Topic

"I hate to start off with an excuse, however when we preview a book it is always a PDF draft and may differ from what comes out in the final version. This was true in VA where the final draft of the book does not have the Basic Stabilizer on the T-55AM2, so no +2 when you move and shoot, it's just a +1 for being Slow Firing. I first saw the book at a tournament in December, and even now I am so impressed with the front cover and I think it may be the new wallpaper for my laptop. So you will just have to excuse me for giving you a false alarm about the T-55AM2…."

Full review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

The colour scheme of the infantry is a bit off. The helmets should be dark grey if they are bare or camo of they are using the covers (there was also a net cover… no clue how to represent that in 15mm though!). For Strichtarn, I have several field uniforms and they range from tan (the most common) to brown to dark olive (mostly the unissued 1990 stuff that got mothballed when the wall came down). I also have some Blumentarn as well, but that wouldn't fly for 1980's of course! The gas mask bag is dark grey and the infamous "full body condom" is a pale gray green. The rest of the webbing is grey and the boots are black. There are a few other odd things, like the water bottle (mine all have a camo cover) or the bayonet (which hangs off the belt in front in a black case).

The tank scheme is also technically anachronistic.

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

Are you referring to the camo color scheme?

Because I have been unable to find any pictures of East German T-55AM2s with that color scheme.

My research comes up with solid dark green.

See info here: link

There was a three-tone "Summer" Verzerrungsanstrich and a two-tone "Winter" one. You wouldn't see these implemented until about 1989 (TY is set in 1985, so I called it "anachronistic"… but hey, we're dealing with an alternate reality anyway so I won't press the issue).

Until then, the solid green (really, a pea-green colour) would have been universal. The experimental new camo was first tried out on auxiliary vehicles and was eventually mandated for tanks at the very end of the 1980's (and thus the very end of the DDR and the NVA itself). For the year or two that the new camo was mandated, tank crews had to repaint their tanks twice a year (once for summer and again for winter). You can imagine how much they would have enjoyed that, but life in the NVA was about annoying privation and busy-work more than anything else.

It should be noted that the "two-tone" (white and green) winter scheme existed long before the new patterns (probably since the beginning of the DDR). That is because tank crews were ordered to "chalk up" their tanks in the winter. Obviously, the chalk was a lot less permanent and easier to clean up than paint. If you want a white and green winter scheme in 1985 (or earlier), that is perfectly fine. Here is an illustration with photo reference:

Unfortunately, Battlefront doesn't make NVA infantry in winter coats and "three-finger" gloves, so it might look odd with summer infantry and winter tanks! I am considering doing it anyway with my NVA, since I like the winter scheme quite a bit. The coats looked close enough to the uniforms anyway and you could probably paint on the "Oma" balaclavas (which are simply designed and brilliant… I wear one when I go biking in cold weather!).

By the way, the original NVA green was called "Chlorbuna Grün" (the first word is short for "chlorinated rubber" paint). Vallejo 890 looks good, to my eye.

Thanks for sharing the review, and paint details.

Very useful.

A pity BF didn't include a regular BRDM-2 with their ATGM platoon, as it should have 1 of those, with three carrying the missiles. That would have evened out the numbers too, since the other packs have four vehicles each.

Looks good,the T-55 in the pic.