Storm From The East!

Those of you who’ve been reading this blog long enough will have realised that there are three things I don’t do (well, there’s washing dishes and stuff, but forget that):

1. any 15mm figures
2. sci-fi figures
3. buy a model and build and paint it straight away

So, on that basis, how come I bought Brigade Models 15mm Neo-Soviet Mammont tank a couple of weeks ago and have built and painted it already?  Because it looks like the sort of tank you don’t mess with, that’s why, and . . . it’s big enough to pass for a Russian heavy tank in 20mm in an alternative WW2 setting!

When I saw it released I e-mailed Tony at Brigade Models and he sent me the dimensions and that was good enough to let me hit the “Go To Checkout” button within seconds!  Alternative WW2 is not a new project, honest (see here), but I’ve kept putting it off, so the release of this model spurred me into action!

The model is about the same size as my Britannia Miniatures IS-2 heavy tank, although not quite as tall.  I didn’t have to do all that much to “convert” it to 20mm scale – added a Britannia WW2 tank commander and a Liberation Miniatures DShK heavy machine gun on a scratchbuilt mounting over the other turret hatch!  I added a driver’s periscope, extra hatch on the turret roof, external fuel tanks from rolled paper and finally a DT machine gun port on each turret side (arranged asymmetrically, with the ports made from spare 15mm Gear Krieg weapons mounts and the guns from plastic rod).

The resin model has been made from a 3-D printed master and is really sharp and precise!  I lined up the four track units with the hull panels and stuck them in place with super glue and found that they were perfectly square and required no sanding!

For the first time, I’ve read up on the colour people use to paint Russian tanks and gone with Vallejo Russian Green (it’s actually 894 Camouflage Olive Green on the bottle) – it was only slightly darker than the Humbrol 86 Olive that I used as a primer coat.  Rather than go with red stars and bold white air identification markings, I went with simple two-digit tac numbers on the turret bustle (which unfortunately aren’t visible in any of the photos) since I had plenty left after finishing off my Japanese Type 89 tanks!  Since most of the panel lines were deep, I decided to go with a black-brown wash again to shade/mucky it.  This worked reasonably well, so I’ll probably use it for future WW2 Russian vehicles (of which I have a few waiting).  Drybrushed earth round the suspension and skirts and then gave the whole vehicle a sand highlight to pick out edges.

Took a few pictures, although real light was fading so the artificial light has tended to cast an orange glow on some of the surfaces unfortunately.  Infantry are my old ESCI plastic Russians tarted up last year, with one my 80s T-34s lurking in the background.  The single storey house is a Hovels Russian cottage, but with a corrugated card roof to represent a Balkan cottage.  The building with the wooden upper storey is a Hovels cottage with a scratchbuilt upper floor added (which is removable and can represent a single storey building in its own right).

I think if I was President Putin I’d have Brigade Models designing my next generation of tanks!  The Mammont looks way more impressive than the T-14 Armata!  I’ve just got to hope Brigade don’t now bring out a superheavy assault gun version, otherwise I’ll never get any dishes washed!