Tartarian BTRs

Komrade People's Komissar Soroyan Ansonov opened his small notebook and uncapped his pen. He gave a dead eyed stare at the squirming figures standing in front of him and sighed inwardly. 

"I am too old for this" he thought. He had survived the Second World War and a Soviet POW camp... for this.

Notice different shades of green

But the aches in his legs from shrapnel received in the Dnieper Salient reminded him he was too old and broken to be leading a platoon of Motor Rifles.

So, here he was, an obedient functionary of the Soviet installed Communist government,  just as he'd been an enthusiastic officer for the Nazis when they took over in 1936. But it was the way to survive. He'd seen too many idealistically zealous Tartarian nationalists end up in a ditch.

Survival was everything. He hadn't eaten rats in a Siberian work camp to let these idiots give him a problem. 

"So" He looked at his notebook "Komrade Mechanic Second Class Boris Tarpalov." 

A figure in oily mechanics coveralls looked at him in wide eyed panic. The others were suddenly interested in what the floor was doing under their boots. 

"How did... this" he gestured nonchalantly to the multi-hued armoured vehicles in the workshop and yard around them "...happen."

He poised his pen on his notebook. "Exactly."

The mechanic coughed. "We were told to paint the new armoured troop carriers just arrived from our glorious Soviet allies."

"And...?"

"These are colours they got painted!"

"The paint wasn't mixed properly?"

Boris and Sergei grinned sheepishly. "We follow instructions on can! Not our fault is not regulation shade of green!"

New T54 beside T54 from first batch

Komrade Senior Sergeant Olav Bakalov piped up. "This was the paint ordered by the Supply Komissariat. And..." The Senior Sergeant grinned hopefully, "...the BTRs are all green.  What is 'regulation' green anyway, Komrade Komissar?"

Soroyan tapped his pen thoughtfully, letting the figures squirm some more. It was probably just a bad batch of paint from the Soviet factory. Or the Supply Komissariat sent the wrong shade. Blaming the Russians for poor quality would see him back in Siberia. 

HQ vehicles. I should come up with a Formation Sign to put on them.

He checked his notes. The complaint was made by Komrade Major Ordovic, the Division Supply Officer. Who was probably engaging in some ass-covering.

He made a note to order covert surveillance on Komrade Major Ordovic and a thorough examination of the Major's finances. He hated corrupt officials selling supplies more than he hated the Mantovians. He would also have to make discreet inquiries into Ordovic's political connections. Survival was more important than rooting out corruption, after all. 

He hoped one, or all, of the mechanics in front of him wouldn't have to go to a Punishment Detachment. The People's Democratic Republic of Tartaria needed mechanics more than supply majors.

He closed his notebook and capped his pen. "Well, Komrades, the troop carriers are all green. I think we can consider this matter closed after we toast the People's Revolution with some of the slivovice that Senior Sergeant Bakalov obviously has in his office."

***********************

My Tartarian armour is having difficulty having a standardized shade of green. Despite trying to follow the same steps.

First tanks. A nice medium green. 

The rest, much lighter, after apparently following the same process.

After the first battle, I decided I didn't really like the light green. So, I decided to give them an ink wash to darken the green, and pick out the details better. 

After the ink

I've also marked a turret with a white cross which was a common recognition sign. This will help me mark the Command Tank without resorting to numbers

So I painted the second batch of armour Don had sent me. 1x T54, 10x BTR-152s, 6x BTR-40s, a couple of GAZ radio vans, and another artillery command BTR.

Except the ink wash didn't come out the same as the first batch. I tried two different brands of sepia ink and both were different.

Batch one on right, batch two center and left showing both brands of sepia ink

Batch one in front

Batch one on left, batch two center and right.

But I'm not going to panic over it. This is one of those problems that seems a REALLY BIG DEAL while you are painting and now that I've put them under lights and in front of the camera, I think will go away as I use them. After the first game they'll be all mixed up, no one will notice, and Komissar Ansonov can close the file.

16 new BTRs should give me more than enough transport for my Motor Rifles.