Trumpeter 1/72 scale Russian BTR-80 (review)

Welcome again gentle reader to another post apocalyptic edition of "It's 500 Miles to the German border"

In this installment we will be looking at Trumpeter's 1/72 scale BTR-80 kit.

Trumpeter's quality so far has worked out very well,  with excellent detailing, and ease of assembly. Most of the parts in their kits fit very well with good overall sculpts. The instructions are pretty easy to follow with minor vagaries in comparison to say Revell (which feels more like Lego instructions).

This model I would say is "deceptively simple". As easy as it was, it was just as easy through my own ineptitude to frick it up.

Putting together the wheels:
The rubber tires and hubs easy- fitting the wheel assembly to the axles was a little trickier. Next time, I should try dry fitting not gluing then sticking on like I did. I wound up twisiting on of the wheels right off and it was a bit of a pain getting it filed and lined up right to go back on. Maybe a bit of work with a knife or pin vise to hollow out the inside before fitting might have helped with the fit.

Pro Tip- always dry fit before gluing. Another point on suspension- its a two parter on this model, avoid rushing through it. Make sure it fits together properly then glue with a "thin cement". Even though you could do this model in record time it helps to take the time to ensure it gets done well.

The instructions would have you add all of the components to the top of the hull after doing the undercarriage, and THEN putting both halves together. 

That's never worked out for my clumsy fingers in the past and wound up snapping off little pieces everywhere.

On this one I would recommend putting the hull together then going for all of the extra bits and bobs.

The light assemblies on the forward deck where a nice touch and came in three parts and was very detailed. Again dry fit then glue. The rest was pretty much straightforward. I would, of course, reference real life pics of the BTR-80 just to make sure I had it right.

Painting: I didn't go above and beyond in this one and pretty much stuck to the standard script- prime, dry brush white for details then pick a cam scheme and go for it. I did go back over the cam scheme with lighter shades of the same colours to make it stick out a bit more (the irony is not lost on me lol).

At this point I decided to use the decals from the kit as in this case I thought it would add to a model that doesn't really have a lot of room for stowage and modifications.

Other than that after decals placed and dried I went with inking and weathering using some mud and dust effects etc.

In the end, its a good model with good representation and ease of assembly and should be a fine edition to anyone's gaming table or display shelf.

Thanks for tuning in.

Sincerely, Evil von Scary 

Season's Greetings From 500 Miles! And, a CONTEST!!!

From our friends at Podcast at Ground Zero!

Well, a chill is in the air, and Cyber Monday is upon us.  Why, even the rad count is down to "acceptable levels", and the chem sniffer has taken a break from sounding an alarm. And all our happy members are wishing for gaming goodies, full stills, and of course, more ammo. But hey, on a more page related note, I challenge my readers to post here or at the FB page some of their milleu related winter stuff..in fact, let's make this a contest!

1st Annual "500 Miles Holiday Painting Contest"

Rules: Paint a miniature or group of miniatures (this includes terrain) from 6mm to 28mm scale in a winter setting suitable for Twilight: 2000. Entries can be sent to 500milest2k@gmail.com and will be judged by the members of the 500 Miles Facebook Page. They can be infantry, vehicles, or even a diorama!

It must be an original work, and not have submitted for anywhere else, online or offline.

Prize: I will put forward two packs from my stash of Grenadier Twilight: 2000 miniatures to the first prize winner. I also think I can put forward some other prizes for the other winners!

UPDATE: Due to the generosity of Michael Moore and Ehliem, we have some more prizes coming. I will let them be a surprise till they arrive, but lets just say, things are getting interesting! Also, GameCraft Miniatures is also providing a gift certificate!  

Due Date: Submissions to be ready by 16 December, judging will take place until December 30th.

Winner to be announced Jan 2nd! The top three entries will be posted here on the blog!

All other questions, to be directed at: 500milest2k@gmail.com

Also, please spread the word about this contest and let folks know far and wide. Feel free to copy the text, as I would love to see a variety of entries.

SO GET PAINTING FOLKS!!

Another Short News Piece

Well, I wanted to put this short news piece out there to get the word out that the blog has a Facebook page! Yep, that's right. We're going to social media. I wanted the page to get the word out and have a one stop shopping place on FB to release future news about when there's a blog release, like...now.

I have not done much Twilight: 2000 miniatures related, but I am gearing up to finish a boatload of Soviet armor, including some items from Butler's Printed Models that I really have been meaning to finish painting. They're almost done, so I am pretty confident, gimme a day or two to paint em, and I will be displaying them here for all to see, along with a review.

As for other matters, I gave some Lifecolor MERDC colors a try painting some Battletech 'Mechs, and I liked the results, very much. I can definitely recommend Lifecolor, but it doesn't wear as well as oh, say, Vallejo or AK/MiG, but I was very happy with the end results, and they responded to the Magic Mudd Wash very well indeed. (I cannot say enough good things about that sadly, now OOP product).

I also wanted to let folks now that Ehliem Miniatures has released more for their Post-Apocalyptic line in 20mm,. Now, while most of it is meant for Gaslands/Mad Max-style gaming, it would not be real difficult to adapt it for Twilight: 2000 at all, as most of them have that "marauder band" chic look written all over them. He's also releasing some Cold War Bundeswehr, which look great and are definitely usable.

Taken from Ehliem Minaitures Facebook Page

Taken from Ehliem Minaitures Facebook Page

So all in all, a bit to report, and more to talk about later. TTFN

Vehicle Schemes of the Third World War, Part 2 (The Soviet Union, Poland, and Czechoslovakia)

The Soviet Union and Poland

The Soviets had a multitude of camo patterns and paints during the war, but the most common base pattern was a color that compared very closely to FS (Federal Standard) 34077, a dark green known as Zashchitnuy Zelno that the Soviets had been painting their equipment in since 1956. Thousands of Soviet vehicles saw action wearing this color, and it was still the most common paint scheme in Soviet service, especially in Category III and Mobilization Only divisions, but this scheme was not limited to those units by any means.

Soviet T-72B from an unidentified division from the 38th Army in Zashchitnuy Zelno scheme, Manchuria, 1996

Soviet T-64 from postwar modeling magazine, taken from a photo from an actual example in Poland, ca. 1999 (Taken from Cybermodeler)

Zashchitnuy Zelno Scheme

The Soviets had had field regulations regarding disruptive camouflage since the 1960s, but the colors were those used often for other purposes, such as primer coats for equipment or interior colors, and the application and patterns were left on a haphazard basis to the Field Engineer Brigades and was often not applied except in time of war if it was applied at all.

Osprey plate of BMP-1K attached to unknown MR Division in the Ukraine, 1998. Note the Brown No2 and a non-regulation lighter brown (from civilian stocks?) overspray over the base scheme

From the same Osprey of a BMP-1 somewhere in Poland, September 1997, unit unknown, this time there has been a mix of faded Yellow No1 and Brown No2 over sprayed over the base green

Soviet T-80 from 79th Guards Tank Division, in a prewar photo ca. 1994, with an overspray of Silver Grey No1 and Black No2 over the standard paint scheme

Soviet Field Camouflage Schemes

This practice changed in the 1980s, as the Soviets developed a three color (sometimes, only one color was applied) scheme, called “MERDCski” in the West by observers due to its similarities to the US MERDC scheme.

Soviet T-80 platoon from 25th TD moving up to the front, July 1997, Poland. This photo is a good example of the simplified “MERDCski” scheme.

Soviet T-80 Color Plate taken from postwar modeling magazine, ca. 2019, Example is from a T-80 from 12th Guards Tank Division, Poland, ca. March 1997 with a more complicated version of the “MERDCski” scheme. (taken from Cybermodeler).

MERDCski Paint Chart

Poland used similar schemes to the Soviets, apart from the “MERDCski” scheme, which the Poles never adopted. The main way one differentiated between Soviet and Polish vehicles was the unique “diamond” national insignia.

Polish T-55 with prominent insignia on either side of the gun mantlet.

Czechoslovakia

The Czechs had been an early adopter of disruptive pattern schemes for tanks, having done so before WW-II. The current schemes were based off a water-based tempura paint that did not stand up to particularly hard wear, but was easy to reapply, even during the worst of the Twilight years. Standards and even paint shades were left up to the individual unit commanders, and often, as things broke down, the paint schemes got even more complex, and in some cases, gaudier. The Czech tricolor insignia was always present as well, and many vehicles, no matter how shoddy their paint scheme, would have the tricolor loving applied and touched up whenever possible. The colors that were supposed to be used were similar to the Soviet pre-“MERDCski” paints, and the base scheme was the same Zashchitnuy Zelno the Soviets happened to use.

Color Plate of Czech T-55 taken from Czech State News TV broadcast of January 5th, 1998. Vehicle is heavily oversprayed with Yellow No1 and Brown No2

Czech T-55 from Museum of the US Army, Ft. Belvoir, 2022. Vehicle was captured in this scheme of Yellow No1 and Sand No2 over the base scheme by elements of 1st Armored Division, November 1999

Vehicle Paint Schemes of the Third World War Part 1, NATO

Vehicle Paint Schemes of the Third World War

I am writing this as a companion piece to my previous article, as I felt that this needed more attention, not to mention the fact that paint schemes need a good base, and what better than the “historical” paint schemes of the time.

Now that said, I get this is alternate history, and in the vehicle guides, there are their own interpretations of paint schemes that don’t bear any resemblance to what wound up on vehicles in the mid-1990s. GDW in their defense, wrote the books in the mid-1980s and much of the color plate work I must say was extremely speculative. They did what they could with no internet and a reference library that was not at all the size of what is available to most modelers and gamers today. That said, I personally think they did a fine job, and one can get into the whys and wherefores of why they did what they did ad nauseum.

Of course, we won’t be doing that.

So, on with the show, as it were.

The United States of America

CARC 3-Tone Scheme

The CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) 3 Color Scheme, hereafter referred to as CARC was a scheme developed in agreement by NATO as a whole because it became plainly obvious by the early 1980s that the myriad of NATO vehicle camo patterns across the different armies made it a rather easy process to identify which army one was facing, which would only simplify intelligence gathering efforts for the Warsaw Pact in the event of war.

CARC was applied to most of the Army and Marine vehicle parks by the time the war had broken out in 1995, and efforts were accelerated to get the rest of the force painted by the time the US entered the war in late 1996. But, not every vehicle in the fleet was repainted, or if CARC was applied, often simply the base green color was used, and the other two colors were not, as repainting vehicles was not seen as a priority in many reserve units as they rushed through their mobilizations and were sent to war. Plus, CARC as a paint was not the safest in the world to work with. By all accounts, it was caustic, toxic, and often needed to be applied under very controlled circumstances, leading to a bottleneck at the depot of vehicles needing to be repainted.

As the war ground on, the paints turned out to hold up well to hard wear, but touchups and repaints were often done with whatever paint stocks were handy, leading to some odd shades and combinations, and these paints often did not match up to the standards of the original CARC paint. This was especially true after the nuclear exchange began and supply lines began to collapse.

M1A1 of 1-70th Armor, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, July 1996, in pre-deployment training at Ft. Polk with CARC 3 Color Scheme

Paint chart for 3 Color Scheme (European)

Color Chart for Desert CARC Paints

General note: If you’re going to paint these schemes? I would go with Vallejo, AK, or Ammo, Battlefront is a good second, and Citadel only if you must.

MERDC (Mobility Equipment Research and Design Command)

The MERDC pattern was developed in the 1970s as a standardized set of camouflage for US Army vehicles and soldiered on throughout the 1980s and in some units, into the early 1990s and the Twilight War, as mentioned in the CARC section above, this was especially true of reserve units, who depending on the speed of their mobilization, were often going to war without bothering to repaint their vehicles from the now obsolete MERDC pattern. The good news about MERDC was that it was easier to apply, and the paints didn’t have the associated health risks or were as difficult to apply, but the patterns themselves were quite complicated and as the war ground on, were often applied without much care or adherence to Army or USMC regulations.

There were several schemes that all saw use during the war, they are listed here:

Name of Scheme	1st (Base Color)	2nd (Primary Band) Color	3rd (Lesser Band) Color	4th (Y or Line) Accent
Desert Grey	Sand	Field Drab	Earth Yellow	Black
Desert Red	Earth Red	Earth Yellow	Sand	Black
Snow, Temperate Climate w/Open Terrain	White	Field Drab	Sand	Black
Snow, Temperate Climate w/Trees	Forest Green	White	Sand	Black
Summer Verdant	Forest Green	Light Green	Sand	Black
Winter Verdant	Forest Green	Field Drab	Sand	Black
Tropical Verdant	Forest Green	Dark Green	Light Green	Black
Arctic	White	White	White	White

Partial MERDC breakdown from postwar modeling guide, ca. 2019.

M901 from 2-152nd Infantry (Mech), 76th Infantry Brigade (IN ARNG), 38th Infantry Division, preparing to entrain for shipment to Europe. The date is suspected to be sometime in early March 1997. The vehicle is wearing a Winter Verdant scheme(Picture is from armorrama.com)

Many vehicles that had a MERDC scheme applied tended not to retain it throughout the war, this was especially true of the Verdant schemes. They were rather complicated to apply, and often, the schemes were touched up with mismatched or scavenged/captured paint stocks. This could sometimes give certain American vehicles a rather “loud” appearance at times. Or, the schemes would be abbreviated, and the vehicles would be painted a single tone (the most common being Forest Green), for ease of repainting. This was especially common as the war ground on.

Paint Chart for MERDC:

Note: As above, stick with the Vallejo, AK, or Ammo, Battlefront is a good second, and Citadel only if you must, the colors are a bit harder to match here, but keep in mind in a Twilight: 2000 world, paint schemes will be faded and touched up with non-reg colors, so don’t get too insane about colors being a little off.

Germany, East and West

The Germans really are a tale of two armies. The West German Army went with the three-color scheme as listed above under the Americans since 1984, as they were the army that had developed the scheme in the first place. By the outbreak of war in 1996, the entirety of the Bundeswehr was wearing the scheme, but as the war wore on, and stocks of the required colors ran out, older stocks of the Gelbolive color that had been retired were broken out of storage and used to repaint vehicles when it was required. 

Leopard 2 in Gelboliv scheme abandoned due to lack of fuel near Frankfurt-on-Oder, Unit Unknown, September 1999

As for the East Germans, they were undergoing something of a transition, moving from the Soviet Green that had been a hallmark of their vehicle park for many years, to a camo scheme that consisted of a three-color summer scheme, and a two-color winter scheme.

The schemes consisted of an Olive-Green base for both the summer and winter schemes, with bands of Dusk Grey and Black Grey. There was a slightly older scheme that was Beige and Brown that was seen in Manchuria, but it was not common and often vehicles were repainted as soon as their first visit to the depot. In both cases, white paint was used to cover the non-Olive-Green bands for the winter scheme. In both cases, Olive Green was supposed to cover anywhere from 45-60% of the vehicle, with the other colors covering 20-27.5%.

The transition had been going on since 1988, so most of the regular army had made the changeover, but the reserves and mobilization-only formations went to war in their Soviet Green schemes until 1997, when much of it was repainted hastily with West German surplus stocks of Gelbolive to cut down on the number of friendly fire incidents. 

East German T-72 as a gate guard in front of Paderborn Kaserne, September 9th, 2015. Note the two-tone scheme that has been applied, as stocks of the Dusk Grey apparently ran out.

Ural 375 Truck illustration of three tone scheme taken from East German field manual dated 1992 (Image taken from Panzerbear.de).

United Kingdom

The British Army was the singular exception in NATO, soldiering on with the two-tone scheme they had been using since at least the 1970s, and they showed no sign of making any transition to the NATO 3-tone scheme, no matter what the rest of NATO said. The scheme was easy to paint and maintain, and as the war wore on, British vehicles still looked “nattier” than their other NATO counterparts (relatively) as the colors they used for the scheme were relatively easy to find.

That said, there was a “unique” scheme that one brigade of the British Army transitioned to, and that was the Berlin Brigade’s unique urban scheme that contrary to orders and maybe even a bit of common sense, was retained by the Brigade throughout the war, and it’s surviving vehicles paraded in Portsmouth in 2006 still wearing that scheme, some of them having it hastily applied on the trip back to England. 

Saxon in assembly area of 2/Royal Green Jackets before jumpoff for ADVENT CROWN, July 1997. This photo is a very good study of the British two-tone scheme (photo taken from Cold War Gamer.com).

Canada

The Canadian army’s presence in Europe at the outset of the war was limited to the presence of the 4^th Canadian Mechanized Battle Group, who soldiered on through the Third World War with their obsolete gear. The Leopards had been repainted in a 3-color scheme that approximated the 3-tone NATO scheme, but with different tones, while the rest of the army went to war with the “European” scheme which did not hold up to any kind of hard wear. With the outbreak of war and mobilization, the situation became even more confused, with vehicles being repainted in a variety of patterns, and paint stocks, including a set of trucks that were part of a late deploying battalion in 1997 being painted in a scheme that looked suspiciously like British WW-II SCC 2 Bronze Green! The situation only worsened as the war continued and by the time Canadian troops had managed to crush the last of the separatist holdouts in 2012, one could find surviving vehicles and equipment in just about any shade of green, grey, and brown you could name.

Leo C1 of unknown unit leaving depot after overhaul in Canada in preparation for deployment overseas. January 1997 (taken from tanknutdave.com). Note the hard-worn paint scheme and the improvised Polish flag.

M150 upgraded to M113A2 standard during pre-war family open day in 1994. The vehicle also demonstrates the issues with the paint scheme

Canadian 3-tone Scheme

Canadian European Scheme

Book Reviews: Painting Wargaming Figures and The Wargaming Compendium

Hi all,

 Not much on the modelling and painting front. RL has been busy and I have been doing a lot more writing of late, not to mention, the motivation to pick up the brush hasn't bit me like is usually does this time every year. I am sure it's a temporary thing and I will pick it back up soon.

  But, I wanted to do a book review or two, and these books are ones I've wanted to do for some time. 

Painting Wargaming Figures
Author: Javier Gomez
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military, 2015
Dimensions: 6 x 9"
Cover: Soft Cover and Kindle

Pages: 192pp

Taken from Amazon.com

 To me, this is an essential book for any serious painter. The techniques that he lists here have certainly upped my game as a painter (and I am not good enough to think my game does not need improvement by a long shot). What I like most about this book is the very clear layouts, how each color is given a chapter's worth of attention, including that pernicious of all colors to paint with, white. And yet, he does so with a bit of dry humor, and simplifies what seems to be at first glance, a complex method only known to a true artist. But the secret is, it's not hard at all.

 

 Everything about this book is well laid out, the techniques are solid (I have used them often) and work with any paints by any manufacturer (even if he uses Vallejo paints exclusively throughout the book, one can easily work out the conversions between brands), I also like how he discusses each technique and the other tools of the painter's toolbox. He teaches priming, drybrushing, ink-washing, it's all there and laid out in a clear, easy to follow format not limited to a single manufacturer.

 What I like most of all, is that he then discusses other scales. Just because he uses 28mm in most of the examples of the book, he also discusses 20mm, 15mm, and 6mm to name a few scales and how you can simplify his techniques to work with smaller scales.

 This truly is a must get desk reference for any wargamer, if not handy at the paint table itself. We can all learn something from this book. 5 out of 5 mushroom clouds. 

The Wargaming Compendium
Author: Henry Hyde
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military, 2013
Dimensions: 6 x 9"
Cover: Hard Cover, Soft Cover, and Kindle

Pages: 520pp

Taken from Amazon.com

This is simply another must have book for any miniature wargamer. In this book you get a history of the hobby, capsule histories of every book that has ever discussed miniature wargaming as a subject, two sets of wargaming rules (neither a rules set suitable for Twilight: 2000, sadly...), a wonderful writeup on how to paint soft plastic figures in a way that the paint ACTUALLY sticks. (Yes, this is a big deal in and of itself, discussions on just about every period in wargaming, and much, much more.

While the size may be a bit daunting, it's actually a very quick read, and it is very beginner friendly with lavish use of charts, infographs, and color photos that have very nicely painted figures throughout. It's certainly influenced my own efforts both on this blog, and elsewhere, and Henry hasn't rested on his laurels, as now he's running a Paetron supported blog of his own, with something of a podcast associated with it as well. If you like the book, I more than encourage supporting his efforts through Paetron.

The book certainly merits the score of 5 out of 5 mushroom clouds I am giving it, and I would run, not walk to get your copy if you do not have it already. 

  

Wear Value-5 or “Gee that Tank is Dirty and Overloaded!"

The world of Twilight: 2000 is a pretty devastated one. It’s grungy, dirty, full of ruins and half the pre-war population of the planet is dead. The Third World War has raged for almost 5 years in some places (the Sino-Soviet front comes to mind), and everything has been used it seems, from nukes to spears, and everything in between.

Vehicles have been a big casualty of the war. Many of them have been destroyed on the battlefield or abandoned for a lack of fuel or parts. Many other vehicles (tanks especially) simply won’t run for very long on the new alcohol fuels. Thus, the vehicles that still run are valuable indeed. They’re like horses in the Old West, to lose one is to probably doom yourself to a slow death in a man-made desert.

So, how do vehicles look in Twilight: 2000? In two words, very raggedy. Many vehicles on both sides have adopted what is called the “gypsy caravan” look. They’re simply overloaded with belongings and other gear, not to mention other than the most important of preventative maintenance, many of these vehicles haven’t received a lot of TLC since 1997. When clean water is in short supply, you can’t justify a car wash, thus many vehicles have a layer of dust, the paint is chipped and faded, and there’s even some signs of rust.

So, how does one make all this happen? Well, follow along, and we’ll discuss vehicle weathering techniques, and where to get cool stuff to put onto your vehicles.

1. Weathering:
There’s an awesome section on weathering vehicles in the back of the US Army Vehicle Guide (as well as some slick conversion ideas involving Roco minitanks). While many of the techniques are a bit dated (the modeler/wargamer has a lot more tools available today then he had thirty years ago), but, the basics of the techniques are still quite valid, and for a beginner, are pretty good places to start. A note: ALWAYS weather a vehicle AFTER you apply decals, otherwise, it’s just not going to look very natural.

A great modelling section in this book, Pic taken from Twilight:2000 wiki, IP is GDW/FFE

a. Black Wash: A black wash is the basis of any good weathering technique, it’s also great for dulling down a paint scheme, as well as unifying any scheme you put together. There are some commercial blackwashes out there, Citadel makes one, as well as Secret Weapon, but you can make it yourself with a little patience. The main thing is to get a good mixture of black paint to water together, say about 5 or 6 parts water to one part paint. 

Once you have a paint mixture ready, don’t be shy about applying it. The wash will seek its own level, so apply it and forget it, it will dry nicely and fill in the crevices and other places where natural light would be shadowed. It also dulls the paint down and does a nice job of representing all the mix of grime, dirt, and POL residue that accumulates on vehicles in the field. 

b. Dirt and Mud: Dirt and mud can be represented in quite a few different ways, amongst them is either pigment (which can be tricky but once you master it, it looks great) or a brown wash of a red-brown color (done just like the black wash, but wait till the black wash dries, otherwise, it’s just like the black wash), and follow that up with a drybrush of light brown on the leading and trailing edges of the vehicle, as well as the lower sides, anywhere where dust might accumulate. 

How do to a drybrush? Simple, get a napkin and a brush with a flathead (say a size 3 or 4 minimum, Size 6 works best for this sort of thing), take a dab of light brown paint, and then dab it vigorously against the ridges and raised surfaces of the napkin till no visible paint comes off onto the napkin, then apply to those surfaces I mentioned earlier. This part represents the dust, wet mud, and dried mud that builds up. Pigment works much the same way, but you can layer it to make it look like caked on mud if you really get good with it…I am not as good with it as I should be. You also must use pigment fixer with it (and if you aren’t careful, you can eat decals with it).

c. Faded and Chipped Paint: You’re going to see a lot of this in Twilight: 2000. Paint schemes are just not going to last forever, and 4 years of war and the breakdown of logistical networks are not going to do anyone’s paint jobs any good. A simple way to fade a paint job that looks quite natural is to simply add a bit of white to the original paintwork on the model. The more faded you want, the more white paint you add. It’s all about the mixture. Paint chipping is easy as well, get a toothpick, dab it into a bit of dark brown paint (should be almost black in color) and dab it onto the leading edges of the vehicle (fenders, weld seams, lower hulls, etc.) Do not do it too much, or it looks awful. You can also do this with rust, just use an orange brown.

2. Stowage and additional gear: All soldiers collect gear. It’s a given as you never know when it might prove useful. 3 years after the logistical chain collapses in the wake of a all-out conventional conflict? That’s only going to exacerbate matters. The fact it, by the time Twilight: 2000 rolls around, you’re going to see all kinds of contraptions and gear on a vehicle. If there’s a place to tie it down, or shove it, a soldier will toss it on. Extra rations, sandbags, extra ammo, gas cans, personal belongings, you name it, and it’s on a vehicle somewhere. But where do you find stuff suitable to toss on your vehicles?

a. Premade resin gear: There are some pretty good specialty resin stowage producers out there, such as Legend Productions and Black Dog Models. They are a more than a bit pricy, but they are awesome stuff and they paint up great. Some of them are even premade for certain kits and will fit those kits like a glove.

b. Metal accessories: S & S has a line of metal tracks and accessories in addition to the resin gear they make, and it’s rather well done, if not always perfect.

c. Model railroad gear: HO scale model railroad gear has some promising stuff, such as truck loads, or other items one can find, and make use of.

d. Spare stuff from model kits: This why you save sprues from kits, guys.

e. Home made from Greenstuff: You can make all sorts of items here, such as bedrolls, tarps, air recognition flags, sandbags, rolled up camo nets, your imagination is your only limit.

f. Scrap materials: Swizzle sticks from Starbucks, packing materials, items from toys, or some oregano and gauze, your imagination is limitless.

One technique I love to do with the Greenstuff especially is to take the greenstuff, blob it along a fender or another part of the vehicle, and then poke holes into it and make it look like a rolled up net, then paint it a dark olive drab. Voila, instant camo netting.

Or, if you want to deploy said net, drape some gauze over a part of the vehicle (make sure you don’t cover windows, muzzles, periscopes, vision blocks and the likes), then cover the gauze in white glue, and scatter oregano onto it, allow it all to dry, then shake off the excess, and paint it with a dark olive drab color. 

In short, you can get imaginative with stowage and put as little or a lot as you want onto a given vehicle, just make sure to plan it out first, before you start gluing things down.

This is an older ESCI M1 kit built and painted by Chris Steadman, it took a bit of a beating in a move and I lost a few treadlinks, so I mounted it on a plasticard base, and made it look like mud so as to hide the plasticard replacements for the tread links. I also then added a block of gear from Legend Productions over the blast doors on the rear of the turret, and made some camo netting out of oregano and gauze on the front turret facing and the main gun.

This is a cheapo MARS kit from China, and I had to make up a mounting for the .50 and the loader's MG. I then added a bunch of stowage from Legend Productions (I am very proud of the "For Beer" cooler). I also added a rolled up camo net made of gauze and then faded the 3-color CARC paint heavily, hit it with a blackwash, and drybrushed the edges with a heavy coating of light brown paint for dust.

This is an ACE BMP-2 kit, I had to use green stuff to fill in the gaps on the tread links, as there was not enough of them included with the kit..go figure. The kit was blackwashed and heavily dusted with pigment, after having Polish decals applied (the vehicle was stolen from a Soviet unit), and a pair of Soviet tankers half figures were added from RH Models. 

Here is a Mars T-72 and a Britannia BMP-1, the Britannia has a figure cast with his head poking out of the driver's hatch, it's a nice feature, but I hate to say it, it often breaks. I painted both a Soviet-ish green (though I wasn't ecstatic about the way they came out.)  but the weathering was a simple blackwash followed up by a drybrush of a light brown.

A closeup of the aforementioned Britannia BMP, note the bit of rust I put on the treads. 

A pair of LAV-25s and a pre-painted Hobby Master M113. The first LAV on the left is a repainted toy, I replaced the toy 25mm barrel with one from a rolled steel barrel from RB Models, then painted it in Taimya colors for 3-color CARC, then blackwashed and dusted the vehicle, and added some stowage from Legend Productions. The LAV in the middle is a Trumpeter kit with a rolled steel barrel from RB Models, I added more stowage from Legend Productions, then drilled and added an aerial made of airplane locking wire, and added a Confederate flag gotten from Warflag.com. The M113 was heavily weathered, with more Legend Productions stowage added, and an MK-19 AGL added from a Twilight: 2000 figure pack.