The Project
Lately, I have been researching the Soviet Army back in the Cold War. My interest has been piqued by books like Red Army, The Great Gamble, and several Ospreys. I have also played a few games of Lock 'n Load Publishing's World at War: Eisenbach Gap. I was itching for a small Soviet project!
So when I saw C-in-C's T-72s and BTR-70s miniatures available for a TMP Workbench report, I was interested. Furthermore, in this case I could keep these miniatures after painting them, so I grabbed the opportunity. These little tanks would replace WaW:EG's cardboard counters perfectly!
The Miniatures
One week after accepting the commission, I received the package: 30 T-72s and 30 BTR-70s. They came packed in clear plastic boxes, each containing ten vehicles. The boxes will come in handy for storing the vehicles later.
I was impressed with the level of crisp detail that C-in-C managed in these little gems. I've seen 15mm with far less detail! If you like 1:285 scale, you should realy give C-in-C a try. Clean-up required was minimal and quickly done.
Each model consists of two pieces: turret and hull. Since I already know how easily turrets go AWOL in this scale, I decided to glue them on.
Research
I primed the miniatures, and started researching the colors. I was looking for a simple and striking camouflage used in Europe in the 80s. Since my library is limited in this area, I spent a couple of hours Googling pictures and communing with TMP. The results were not encouraging. Colors went from very dark green to mid-green, and I could not find clear enough pictures of camouflaged Soviet vehicles in Europe. Gazillions of camouflage schemes for other countries, but no Soviet. I decided to keep the miniatures as generic as possible, so they could be used for other projects. Ergo, no camouflage. These armoured vehicles will be plain dark green.
I turned to a fellow TMPer ('hi, Frank!') and his collection of Ospreys. Further research didn't prove conclusive; Soviet green was proving to be as elusive as the "right" Dunkelgelb... the colours vary considerably. So I took the empirical approach, and determined to buy the paint that looked right! Armed with several pictures, I went to my local model store. After perusing the Vallejo paint rack, I settled for Russian Green (doh!).