Friday, March 24, 2017

Cossack Hats

Acouple of months ago I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rolf of RH Models was putting out a range of figures sporting Cossack hats. His packs contain figures with two varieties of Cossack hats, a.k.a. papakhas, the more common cylindrical type and the less common pinched cylinder type. The first type is extremely common within Chechnya. Pictorial evidence shows that during the initial stage of the war it was worn by some Chechen fighters, but afterwards it was worn mostly by civilians. Presumably it was not very practical to fight with such headgear and a knit cap was chosen instead. I've only found one picture of a Chechen fighter wearing the second type of papakha. The pinched cylinder papakha can be seen in use by Cossack forces defending Russian speaking parts of Moldova in 1992 (Transnistrian War). Other limited uses of these hats during the Post-Soviet wars I've seen are in Georgia (usually a far more furry variety, thick fur would need to be sculpted onto Rolf's hats to represent this hat) and a slightly more stouter papakha worn during the Armenia-Azerbaijan war. In the future I might paint a handful more of these guys, but I don't want to over do it.

I also added to this batch two prone conversions.

Next up is a batch of Russian elite forces wearing Maska helmets and winter camouflage for use in the First Chechen War.


RH Models COSSSQU with green stuff jacket extensions, COSSQU


RH Models COSSSQU; URBRPG with head swap; RUS9* with head swap


RH Models URBAK with head swap; RUSAK* with head swap; RMRRPK* with head swap


RH Models URBCIV* with head swap


RH Models PLOPROSNI with head swaps and green stuff collars


Chechen men rally in center of Grozny (December 6th, 1994).


Chechen fighter riding horseback in Novy Ataguy (December 31st, 1994).


Chechen rebel with PKM in Grozny suburbs (January 17th, 1995).


Chechen fighter with young boy (Novoznamenskoye, February, 1996).


Cossacks fighter prepared to defend Transnistria (1992).


Cossack fighters relaxing during defense of Russian speaking Moldova (1992).

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Russians in Snowsuits


Russian Interior Ministry forces patrol Grozny (February, 1996).

I'm not sure why, but the above picture is one of my favorite pictures from the First Chechen War, but it is. I've decided to create a unit to represent the guys shown in pictures. First up is a bunch of Russians in snowsuits. The bulk of these use Rolf's new RUSAK74H pack with head swaps to represent the soldiers in this unit. I also used some other packs for figures with other weapons. The one kneeling guy with binoculars is meant to be a Chechen gunner. In the upcoming months I hope to paint additional figures for this unit, modern Russian figures with mostly O helmets, VSR camouflage jackets and pants, with black and other vests - as well as modern Russian figures with body armor and O helmets also in VSR camouflage (I'm hoping Rolf will sculpt some figures with modern Russian body armor, 6B3-5, or I might convert my own). Lastly, I'll need a trio of BTR-70's with this camouflage pattern. That's it for snowsuits for me ... I'm on to some Cossacks.


RH Models RUSAK74H with head swap


RH Models RUSAK74H with head swap


RH Models RUSAK74H with head swap


RH Models RUSRPK* with head swap; RUSRPG* with head swap; RUSSPOTV?


Motorized Russian infantry in Grozny (1999-2000).


Russian marines in Grozny (2nd Chechen War).


Russian soldier smoking cigarette in Grozny (February 6th, 2000).