The Police

Today I finally got a chance to take some pictures of a group of Post-Soviet police I finished last weekend. I was a bit slowed down by vacation and a burned hand (not good). It took extra time to make these, but it was a "labor of love" so I enjoyed it thoroughly. The conversion involved lots of head swaps, green stuff pants, a green stuff jacket extension, sculpted shoulder boards and filed off breast pockets. Although you can't see it in all of the pictures where appropriate figures got painted shoulder boards, pants stripes and collar tabs. I didn't have too many pictures to go on, but I think they definitely look the part of Post-Soviet police and other officials (primarily in Moldova) taking civil unrest into their own hands. When you see a policeman sporting an RPG you know the situation is bad!

I'm not sure what's coming next, but I'm feeling a WWII itch coming on ... yeah!

RH Models URB14 with head swap; URBRPG with head swap; URBAK with head swap; URBRPK with head swap

RH Models URBAK with head swap; MULT20AK; EERKESTAK with green stuff jacket extension; URB14 with head swap

RH Models RUSG9* with head swap and green stuff pants; RUSG9* with head swap; RUSG10A with green stuff pants

RH Models EERKESTAK; MULT20AK; MULT*AK with head swap

RH Models MULT51 with head swap; MULT52 with head swap

Moldovan Police (1991-1992).

Entrance to Gaguazia, Moldova (December, 1991).

Moldovan policemen eating in Bendery, Moldova (February 4th, 1992).

Russian vice-president talking to servicemen in Bendery, Moldova (April 6th, 1992).

Soviet police uniform.

This morning I finished a big set of miniatures I've been working on for a few weeks. I normally paint less miniatures at a time, but lately I've been trying to push it (17 this time!). For this batch I also had a lot of head swaps and green stuff sculpting I wanted to do. This bunch is meant to supplement my Georgian forces and my Transnistrian forces as well as provide some troops for the start of my Moldovan government forces. They should have many uses - any time there's a need for Soviet/Post-Soviet forces in khaki using older equipment. The bulk of them are based on Rolf's RMR figures. I swapped the heads on most to give them a lot variety and sculpted pants (some with side pockets) on most to give them an on-campaign, unregulated look. I left only one figure in a helmet with pants tucked in the boots. Next up is a big batch of Soviet police!

RH Models RMRAKH; RMRAK* with head swaps (all with pants sculpted with green stuff)

RH Models RMRAKH; RMRAK* with head swaps (some with pants sculpted with green stuff)

RH Models RMRAK* with head swaps (all with pants sculpted with green stuff)

RH Models RMRRPK; RMRRPK with head swap and with pants sculpted with green stuff

RH Models MULTBHCOM; MULTBHRPG

RH Models NEGSPOT with head swap; NEGSPOT

Pro-Russian fighters rest in Bendery, Moldova (June 30th, 1992).

Georgian fighters withdraw near Gumista River/Sukhumi (September, 1992).

Georgians in Gagry (September, 1992).

In the last couple of weeks I also read two books related to my blog posts, The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture by Charles King and Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry by Peter Nasmyth. Both books are from a series of books called Caucasus World: Peoples of the Caucasus. King's book is one of the few Moldovan history books out there. Most of the book concerns what it means to be Moldova and Moldovan and how this has changed over time. The last part of the book concerns Transnistria, but besides a few good photographs I hadn't seen before this section wasn't all that helpful to me (I've read it all elsewhere). Nasmyth's book, although part of the same series, is written in a completely different style - a travelogue. Although the dates of his adventures aren't always clear the substance and treatment of his exploration Georgian sub-cultures is great. It took me a while to read it, but it was interesting. There are two more books in series that I'll have to read sometime soon, one concerns Abkhazians and the other Chechens.

To take a break from all the camouflage I went with a batch of all khaki (with the exception of one KLMK camouflaged guy that slipped in). I painted them with the Transnistria War in mind, but most could be used for any Post-Soviet War, especially the wars in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

RH Models MULTBHAK; MULTBHRPK; MULTBHAK

RH Models MULT*RPG with head swap; MULT*AK with head swap; MULT*SNI with head swap

RH Models MULT20AK; MULTBAK; BANDAK; MULT20AK

RH Models MULTBHGREN

RH Models makes plenty of great radio figures so I was excited to paint these last two. I'll probably paint up more later, just because - not because I need more. I made the antennas with hairs from a dust bin brush.

RH Models MULTBHCOM; RUSRADB

Fighter (separatist?) walks by burned out truck in Bendery center (June 30th, 1992).

Russian-speaking nationalists look on slain fighter [censored] in Bendery, Moldova (June 23rd, 1992).

Government soldier taking a break with French photographer Patrick Roberts (October 26th, 1993).

Government soldiers in Senaki, Western Georgia (October 26th, 1993).

Camouflage ... Yup, I've had enough of it for a few weeks. I still love it, but I could sure use a break. Bring on the plain khaki!

To beef up my Pro-Russian separatist force I painted another batch of KLMK garbed fighters. I had fun with head swaps again. My favorite is the ranger style field cap.

RH Models MULT*AK with head swap; MULT20AK; MULTBHRPG

RH Models MULT20AK; MULTBAK; BANDAK; MULT52 with head swap

RH Models MULTBHPKM; MULT*AK with head swap

RH Models MULT*COM with head swap; MULTBHAK; MULTBHCOM

Transnistrian National Guard in Bender (July 5th, 1992).

Transnistrian miltiamen patrolling road (July 1st, 1992).

For fun I added a Georgian fighter to this group. I was inspired by a photograph I found that was taken during the defense of Sukhumi. In the image the soldier is shown wearing a sphera helmet (no secondary cover), some sort of early Russian body armor and KZS pants. I swapped a head to get the helmet right, added a green stuff collar and extended the pants with more green stuff. I couldn't get the shoulder pads correct so I went with a slightly different style of early armor. I think the effect is similar.

RH Models RUSBARRPK with head swap (and green stuff)

Georgian fighters tending wounded near Sukhumi (July, 1993).

Kora-1 Body Armor

Sphera (SSH94) helmet

The Gun

Some time ago I heard interview with C.J. Chivers on his book The Gun on NPR. Ever since that time I've wanted to read the book, but was reluctant to get it in hardback and wasn't able to find an audio version of it at or through my library. A couple weeks back I took the plunge and decided to just purchase the mp3 CD version of it.

C.J. Chivers

The Gun tells the history of the AK-47. While not my normal fare the book does have lots of relevancy to my Post-Soviet war obsession, after all it is the AK-47 and its variants that I always seem to be painting. It was a great listen. The book includes a biography of Mikhail Kalashnikov and a detailed discussion of the development of the gun its multiple variants, many knock-offs and true successor the AK-74. This material was certainly interesting, but equally interesting were the many side stories and chapters that Chivers includes to flesh out the story. My favorites were those concerning its predecessors the Gatling and the Maxim, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the development and initial problems of the M-16 and the exploitation of Cold War stockpiles. I will definitely have to read more about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and could one day see painting some figures for it. My main gripe is the book devotes too much time to the M-16. I'm not entirely sure this was appropriate, perhaps Chivers should have chosen to write a sequel The Other Gun: The Story of the M-16 instead. Despite that small complaint it was worth the 19 hours I spent listening to it. I'll definitely recommended this one to some friends and family members.

József Tibor Fejes, Budapest, Hungary, 1956.

More Pro-Russian Forces

I had so much fun making and painting pro-Russian fighters for use in Transnistrian War battles that I decided to do another batch. For some of these figures I did some head swaps ... I can't stop myself! In this batch I began my transition to using Rolf's multi-purpose figures to represent the KLMK camouflaged uniforms without hoods I've seen in pictures. My next batch will be primarily composed of those. For two of the figures I decided to paint their chi-com ammo rigs medium blue to reflect a video I've seen with such rigs being worn in Bendery. It was a good excuse to use a color I don't use too much. Painting all these sun bunnies sure took a long time (2 evenings), but in the end I think it is worth it.

RH Models RUSAK* with head swap; MULT20AK; MULT*AK with head swap; RUSBG* with head swap

RH Models RUSRADB; RUSPKM* with head swap; RUSSNIV; MULT*AK with head swap

RH Models MULT*AK with head swap; RUSAKH

Cossacks in Moldova during Moldova/Transnistria War.

Pro-Russian fighter in Dubossary, Moldova (June, 1992).

For the figure below I was inspired by one of my favorite pictures of Pro-Russian volunteers in Bendery. The camouflage suit the man in foreground is wearing according to my Russian Camouflage book is called KZS and is made of some sort of cheap, burlap-like fabric. It doesn't look too comfortable and fades like crazy to colors that range anywhere from bright yellow to dark green. The picture shows a hole in the suit near the guy's elbow, so I did my best to reproduce that with some green stuff.

RH Models RUSRPG* with head swap

Russian-speaking nationalists fighting in Bendery, Moldova (June 29th, 1992).

Lastly, just for more fun I painted up a figure inspired by set of pictures I've found of Georgians resting in Gagry. The guy in the picture is definitely wearing the Soviet panama cap with the strap used to bend up the sides. A few of Rolf's bush hat guys seem close enough to me, so I painted one up to match the picture.

RH Models MULTBUSHAK

Georgian fighters in Gagry, Abkhazia (September, 1992).