15mm modern armour- T-72Bs

This is the Zvezda 1:100 T-72B. A nice, simple snap-together plastic kit. The kit has different armour from the box depiction. I accidentally snapped off the turret attachment- it's a fine fit, and the layer of spray paint on both surfaces made it stick... I hand-drilled appropriate holes and stuck a bit of paperclip to hold it together. I failed to learn from another blogger (whose post I can't re-find) who did the same thing...

One of the reasons I dislike painting armour is tracks and roadwheels. Thankfully, the Zvezda 1:100 T-72B has covered running gear so I only have to paint half as much! (not to mention they're single-piece tracks and wheels, so you don't have to assemble the damned things). Still, I wish I'd left the tanks partially disassembled for ease of getting into the nooks and crannies. It was still painful.

I painted and weathered it the same as my BTR-80, see here and here. Well, almost the same. After thicker brown and black washes, I picked out edge and panel lines with GI Green and Iraqui [sic] Sand. The increased contrast looks better at this smaller scale, but I'm still not entirely happy with it.

Before weathering

Zvezda 1:100 T-72B

It's a nice, mean-looking tank with a busy turret. Could do with a roof-mounted MG and smoke launchers.

15mm modern armour- BTR-80 Part 2

In this post I'll show you how I weathered my Zvezda 1:100 BTR-80s. Again, there are many different techniques that you could use, but this is my current technique. To see how I got them ready for this stage, see my post here.

I use Woodland Scenics washes for my weathering. They're grittier and more pastel than, say, Army Painter washes. They dry quite flat. I water them down and apply to taste, trying to get more in dirtier areas- wheel wells, front plates, and dust build up at the junction of vertical and horizontal surfaces.

First, paint chipping using the sponge technique and German Grey. Concentrate around areas of wear and tear. It shows up best against the tan stripes.

Then, an all-over wash using Woodland Scenics C1221 Raw Umber. This tones down the model and acts as mud, oil and rust all in one!

Next I do a pin wash using Army Painter Quickshade Dark Tone, with a particular focus on hatches.

Finally, another all-over wash using Woodland Scenics C1217 Concrete to represent dust build-up. I  apply this over the hull and turret, and work this around the tread on the tyres. I drag off excess with my finger.

Finally, detailing. Black to the vision blocks. Light blue-grey to the headlights. Dark grey to the gun, and then drag a lead pencil over it. Dark grey to the smoke grenade covers. Dark red to the brake lights. Done!

Finished

Front

Rear

The final wash tones down the vehicle and ties it into the ground, but at the expense of tabletop presence. I'm rarely happy painting vehicles. My infantry have developed into a higher contrast 'pop', but my vehicles devolve into a labour-intensive attempt to get them looking like a 1/35th centrepiece. I think they lack a little je ne sais quoi on the tabletop. Maybe I should emphasise the highlights more.

15mm modern armour- BTR-80 Part 1

This is the Zvezda plastic 1:100 BTR-80. A little pricey for plastic, but effortless to assemble and nicely detailed. It comes with a sheet of individual number decals.

There are many different schemes for modern Russian AFVs. You can't go wrong with green/ tan/ black. Here's Part 1 of how I did mine, with the disclaimer that there's probably a better way. Probably involving an airbrush.

Paints used in this stage:

• Flames of War War Paint SP02 Soviet Armour
• Vallejo Model Color 70819 Iraqui [sic] Sand
• Vallejo Model Color 70.995 German Grey
• Jo Sonja's Black
• Derivan MiNiS GI Green (~GW Catachan Green)
• Derivan MiNiS Desert Stone (~GW Bleached Bone)
• Army Painter Warpaints Anti-Shine

Green spray and black not shown

First, assemble your BTR. These are snap-fit, but I used plastic cement. I left the wheels on the sprue for ease of painting. Spray it all with 'Soviet Armour', ensuring you get under the underhangs etc.

Next, a drybrush with GI Green.

Then, paint on your camouflage pattern to taste with Iraqi Sand. I recommend several thin coats to prevent the base colour coming through.

Then add a few black accents.

Now lightly drybrush Desert Stone over the Iraqi Sand to bring out the sharp edges. This is subtle and probably unnecessary.

Apply decals. Master modellers will use a gloss varnish as a base layer, followed by a softener, but I'm a lazy modeller. Whilst the water's evaporating, paint the tyres German Grey.

Now apply the antishine to the decals. It will reduce the sheen, but not completely. Finally, take the wheels off the sprue, glue them on and paint over the bare bits where they came off the sprue.

Coming next: washes, weathering and details.

15mm modern armour- starting a Russian force

I found Zvezda's 1:100 tanks tucked away in a corner of my local hobby store, and picked up three of each of the BTR-80s and T-72Bs.

You may be surprised to find out how few vehicles I have in my miniatures collection. I'm happy painting infantry, even horses, but I'm rarely happy with my AFVs. I can never get the effect I'm looking for.

So, whilst the inspiration was upon me, I decided to get my tanks done in a factory production line. After assembling the Zvezda miniatures, I put together five Battlefront T-54s I had picked up in their recent Vietnam sale. The plastic tanks are much, much easier to assemble than the resin/ metal ones! One of the T-54s was missing a gun barrel, but I'm too impatient to wait, so I assembled it anyway. I left the wheels off the second and third BTRs.

The project so far

I've got a Matchbox diecast I threw into the spray queue as well (it's been sitting around for two years!), which will be my test piece to experiment with. It's already got a few coats of paint on it, having had an earlier aborted paintjob.

Matchbox Rocket Launcher straight out of the box