I have painted the first of my WW2 Russians and given them some cheap transport using LLedo diecast vehicles which I bought off ebay for about £1 each plus postage.
They are 1/56 scale, so work okay for the smaller 28mm figures such as Warlord, PSC and Perry.
The barrels that come with the vehicles just pop out and you can trim the bottom off, paint and use for other bits of your terrain.
I sprayed the vehicles with black primer then when dry, sprayed them again using PSC Britsh Green(because I didn't have any PSC Russian Green). I then painted the tyres black, gave the whole vehicle a brown wash and applied some weathering and rust effects, followed by a spray matt varnish. I am not sure whether to paint any markings on the vehicles because I am thinking I could use these at a push with my BEF.
The vehicle I am trying to portray is the Russian 1.5 ton truck and although not a perfect match, for the price I think they are good enough.
The talented Richard Clarke from Too Fat Lardies has recently put a similar thing on his blog http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?m=20140417 on how he paints and weathers his die cast Soviet vehicles.
I also painted up another die cast vehicle that I bought very cheap on ebay.
A Dodge 3/4 ton truck.
These were mainly used for Military ambulances but were also used as weapons Carrier, Telephone Installation Trucks and a general carryall vehicle.
These were used under the Lend-Lease policy so I plan on using this vehicle for my Soviet, American and British forces.
I did not prime black or spray paint this vehicle, I just repainted the wheels, gave the whole thing a brown wash and then the usual weathering, rust effects and varnish.
Before, with a 28mm Artizan figure for comparison.
After, with some weathering and varnish.
The figures in the back of the trucks are a mixture of Warlords and PSC which I have done a few head swaps on. The PSC figures come from their 'Russian 45mm anti tank gun' boxed set. So I painted the two guns and the rest of the crew up at the same time as the vehicle crew.
I experimented with the colours of the uniforms but think they may be a little dark, so I will probably have to go a shade lighter with the next batch that I paint.
Another first for me was painting the bases in a different style to the way I usually do them. When I think of WW2 Russians, I imagine street fighting in the built up areas of Stalingrad, so I have tried painting the bases to reflect this. I have copied this idea from the way Sidney Roundwood has done his figure bases and also Dave Green has done the same thing with his Russians. The bases were also done slightly smaller so that I was able to fit more figures in the back of the truck.
The usual staged action shots.
