Now that the warm weather is returning in the northern hemisphere, I've been able to finish basing some of my latest troop acquisitions.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103a.jpg)
These Soviet trucks are from Peter Pig, and if I recall correctly, they come with separate wheels that you glue on. Fortunately, the manufacturer has a system of V-shaped pegs and slots that makes fitting the wheels quite easy.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103b.jpg)
These models were painted for TMP by Old Guard Painters in Ukraine. I'm pleased with the weathered look they produced. Two of their techniques stood out to me:
- They put mud streaks and splotches on the tires, and I like the way they do it better than my way, so I'll try to copy the technique the next time I'm painting a dirty vehicle.
- There must be a thousand ways to paint vehicle windows, and here's another one: looks to me like they paint the window black, then paint it dark gray (leaving a black line around the outside), add horizontal streaks of light gray, and then cover with a hand-painted gloss coat.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103c.jpg)
Two-thirds of the models came out of the mold with heavy flash along the lower right-hand door. I think that Old Guard Painters did an acceptable job at trimming the flash back, but I'd have been willing to pay a little more for them to file the seam completely away.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103d.jpg)
As I mentioned, I did the basing myself: just a steel base, primed rust-brown on both sides, then flocked and sealed.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103e.jpg)
The models were attached by putting a little superglue gel on the bottom of each tire, and then pressing them into the flock.
![GAZ trucks GAZ trucks](showcase/ww2landshowcase/2009/520103f.jpg)