Pike Completed.

Say what you want about Airfix, they sure build them simple. Only took a total of 4 hours of work and my JS-3 is complete. Trumpeter and Roden may have newer and more detailed models, but you can't beat this old warhorse when it comes to simplicity. I decided to go for a simple Russian Tank Green scheme. I've used everything from Humbrol 30 to 117 (116 and 90 included) in the past but I used 117 in this case. Mix of brown and black wash, drybrushing, dustying with British Dark Earth and voila, she's ready. Did some work on the crew and added some simple red stars from the spares box. If you have spare 122mm barrels, by all means get one. Cheap, fast and easy. Makes for a perfect date.

That's all for now from Athens, where winter just doesn't want to give up.

Russian Tank Park

With the young master being ill almost constantly (the first year of kindergarten or day care or whatever you call it is hell on kids and parents alike), I've spent a good amount of time home working on my Russians. I had a bunch of different Russian tanks in various states of assembly (some still in the box in fact) and I decided to finally do something with them. Three weeks, five tanks.

First of all, the Pegasus BT-7s. Great little models and they've been assembled and ready for paint for the last year or so. If you are into early war Eastern Front they should be definitely in your "to buy" list. Easy to build, great detail, cheap. What's not to like?

Chronologically next is the Zvezda T-34. It's a 1943 model T-34 and one of the best snap together kits out there. Yes, no glue required, but I went ahead and glued it anyways. It's not particularly cheap (10 euros), but it looks great and there is absolutely no hassle involved. Italieri T-34 is about a euro cheaper but the amount of filling and sanding somehow detracts from the whole experience. The Armourfast T-34s are half the price but they look like crap. I think that next to the Matchbox T-34, this is the best one (with a 76mm gun that is; Pegasus and Revell have superlative T-34/85s)

Next up, the JS-2 (fast build) and ISU-152 (normal build) from Italieri. Don't. Seriously, don't. The normal build ISU was not so bad, other than the six-piece auxilliary tanks (6 pieces? 6? and they still look like crap?) and the the link-and-length tracks that don't really fit. The fast build kits look like they have a permanent erection. They're OK to bulk up your forces, but Pegasus stuff is just so much better and at almost the same price (about a euro's difference per tank). The only thing that I like about Italieri is their decal sheets.

Right now I'll go back to fantasy for a spell (I have some 15mm Irregular ratmen ready for paint) and then go back to WWII, probably to paint the hordes of Russian infantry I have based. Plus I'm running out of space. IKEA didn't have any more of those cool boxes I picked up last time and now my Russians are sharing space together with Cylons and Elves.

That's for now from Athens, where all hell is probably about to get loose.

The Red God of War

Reading WWII history will vividly illustrate the importance that the Red Army placed on artillery. The weapon densities, especially in the last part of the war, were mind staggering. Unfortunately Russian artillery was not well served in 1/72 plastic, up to now. The Art of Tactics series by Zvezda has done quite a bit to rectify this shortage.

First up is the Zvezda 122mm howitzer. An easy kit to build, comes with a premade base (duly discarded) and 2 figures. I added one more from the old Revell Russian set (a tanker if I am not mistaken, but he looks cool with the map and all).




Next is the 45mm anti-tank gun by Plastic Soldier Company. This is one of the best gun models out there. It's simple, pretty well detailed, but most importantly, the crew poses are excellent. They look exactly like a gun crew in action, preparing to fire at a German tank or strong point.



Finally, the Zvezda Katyusha model. Yes, it is a 1/100 model, so I'm technically cheating. However, since this will be used only as an off-table asset (having anything over a 75mm IG on the table is overkill in my view) so nobody should care much about it. This is a finicky model to assemble (I ruined one making some dumb mistakes). The soft plastic doesn't help much either. I also had some problems with the mat varnish as well, but nothing to worry about.

That's all from Athens, were fall is surely setting in.

Italeri fast build ISU-152

One of the good things about the financial crisis in Greece is that it forces you to go back to old projects and trim the stash down a bit. I had build a couple of Russian tanks a couple of months back but never got around to finishing them. The first was an ISU-152 quick build from Italeri. I prefer the Russian fast builds by Pegasus as the detail on the Italeri ones is a bit soft, but this came with a normal ISU kit, so I got it. It's an easy kit that gets build in about half an hour tops. Some filling was needed in the rear joint of the upper and lower hull pieces but that was pretty much it. My major problem was not the softish detail but the fact that the barrel of the main gun is stuck at the position seen below. It looks as if the ISU got a couple of extra blue pills (if you know what I mean) and its not really attractive. Still, its a free kit. Instead of painting in the normal Russian Armour Green, I went for a Green-Sand-Brown camouflage that would make it at least a bit more interesting. I used a black/burnt umber wash and dusted it with Dark Earth. All in all, it took a couple of evenings and it was done.

I have quite a few things waiting to be completed. Another Italeri fast build (an IS-2), a Zvezda T-34 (a real gem of a kit), and Russian support weapons. Hopefully all of this will be ready by the end of next week.

That's all for now from Athens, where once again nothing really works.

PSCRussians

It's not common to have good hard plastic figures available. Plastic Soldier Company is one of the few making polystyrene miniatures in 1/72 scale. So far they have WWII Germans (late war), British (again late war) and Russians. I don't like the British much (I'm waiting for the new Airfix set due out this year) and I have more Germans than I can ever use, so I got some Russians. Overall, these are not bad figs. A bit chunky for some, but hey, the plastic is hard. I painted almost a complete sprue of their infantry set and an anti-tank rifle from their heavy weapons set.

The sculpting is pretty solid, but not as petite as say, the Revell set. I can't tell you much as far as historical accuracy is concerned, but the figures look pretty authentic to me. The proportions are a bit off (most of them have short or non-existent necks) but from a meter away, they look good. I would have liked more PPSh's, to make desant units, but I have plenty in my Revell and Esci fig sets to work on that.

Most heavy and support weapons come in 2 configurations; carried and firing. This works well for some rule sets and I plan to paint and base both of them regardless of whether I'll use them or not. They are pretty well animated figs.

You also get a pretty good commissar and a female Russian soldier that can be used as a nurse or as a radio operator (with some careful painting and a scratchbuilt radio). I painted the commissar and I'll modify one fig with a big red flag. Gotta have big red flags...

I have some more PSC miniatures ready to paint; mortars, Maxim guns and some more infantry. I hope I'll have them ready in a couple of weeks. Have a great day from sunny Athens.