T62 & T62M

Continuing with the Cold War Soviet armour I followed the T-55's with a batch of T-62's then T-62M's all from Scotia miniatures. The only difference I can see between the two is that the T-62M's have armoured side skirts and some extra armour on the turrets but both are nice sculpts.

I kept the paint scheme simple as possible to enable quick completion and based simply more to protect the model over any particular ruleset. They were all completed over the Christmas period as part of a break from 20mm-1/72 ancients. I finished this diversion with some Soviet Infantry which will be up next.

T-55

More Soviet tanks, went with a dark green base colour which would be an ideal shade at a larger scale. After completing them I decided to try a lighter shade. I also attempted to paint real numbers on the turrets but following the wobbly application decided that future vehicles would have obscure blobs representing numbers. All are Scotia models with good details.

ZSU-23 "Shilka"

The vehicle on the left is from Heroics and Ros, the right from Scotia Grendel. I think the H&R look to be better proportioned. Usually you don't need a lot of these vehicles as they play an anti-aircraft support role.

Red Army Field Tests

After the multitude of colours used painting my Iberians I needed a break from the Punic War. It was starting to feel a bit of a chore so I decided to have a change of scale and pallet and project. I made a start on these 1/300 Soviet vehicles and the following images are a few tests to work out colours and technique. After trying a multitude of greens I essentially boiled down the technique to: base colours, black wash, highlight base colours then khaki dry brush. I based them to protect the barrels but just kept the basing plain and simple for ease and speed.

These testers are from Heroics and Ros. They are nice miniatures especially the ones with explosive reactive armour. However I don't think the proportions are quite right, see http://paradegroundworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/heroics-and-rosscotia-grendal-afvs.html for more information.

 

 

These are Scotia Grendel I found these are generally better proportioned and had a bit more detailed. However the link above shows that comparisons between these manufacturers need to be taken on a case by case basis.

 

Overall these were a nice distraction from the Punic War project and the next few posts show what I was working on over the winter months. There isn't too much more to say with these and the following posts so I will probably pop a few scans on and not much text.

Heroics and Ros/Scotia Grendal AFVs

About a month ago I started a TMP discussion asking for opinions on Heroics and Ros/Scotia Grendal AFVs. Generally it seemed that it depended on the sculpt so I decided to get a few of the lines I was interested in and compare them. Below are some quick photos and a very brief overview and some sporadic observations.

 

BMP1s & BMP2s

 

The main thing with the BMP1s are that the Scotia's come with a separate turret. Personally I prefer Scotia's sculpts in this case, although there is not much in it for the BMP2s however the H&R BMP2s are 15p cheaper.



 



 

 

Chieftains and Challenger 1s

 

Between the Chieftains I prefer the H&R sculpt but I suspect the Scotia has the better proportions. The Scotia Challengers are markedly bigger so after consulting a source for dimensions I found that the Scotia to be the more accurate and I prefer the sculpting of the Scotia Challengers.

 



FV43s

Not a great deal between the companies, though there is a trend for Scotia's APCs to be ever so slightly wider than H&Rs. After measuring I found that the SG to be the correct width, both seem correct for length but I'm not too sure what is going on with the top of the SG model. It looks like the top of the hull is sunken? It seems to me that the HR sculpt 'looks right'.

 

 

LVPT & M113

With the M113s as above the SG is the correct proprtions I believe. The LVPTs are both decent sculpts but I'm not sure about the placement of the turret and other proportional details. After Looking a pics around the web I think the SG is closer to what I have been seeing.

 

 

M1 Abrams

Not much difference size wise, though I think the H&R sculpts appear crisper than the Scotia.

 

M2 Bradley

Scotia seems a bit bigger and more detailed. H&R look more to scale but I have not measured these ones.

 

Marder

H&R Marder is to scale whilst the Scotia is too big I reckon its nearly the same size as a MBT.

 

T72

The Scotia minis look a better size and proportion but the H&R are still nice

 

T80

As with the T72s above.

 

Leopard/Gepard

I can only really compare the Leopard 1s, I like the style of the sculpting of the H&R but they are too tall the Scotia have the correct height.

 

 

Challenger 2 & ZSU 23

 

I missed these whilst taking the pictures which is why most of the miniatures are cut off. Challenger 2s as the Challenger 1s above. With the ZSUs, H&R has the best proportions, the turret and the auto cannons are a bit short looking on the Scotia sculpt.

 

I hope others will find this helpful and since I'm not 100% when it comes to what looks right with every vehicle I hope others will point out anything I have missed or have misrepresented.