How I painted my WW2 15mm Soviet Infantry (with pics).

By The Kiwi

Cool. Hordes of Soviet infantry. Hmmmmm…a zillion figures to paint.

If you like to play infantry forces in FOW then don’t let yourself be put off by just how many you will need to paint to get your Soviet army list on the table. I found they are actually easier and quicker to paint than many other infantry forces (there are just lots of em). The uniform at this scale is basically 1 colour for pants and tops and because of this these 1 colour uniformed infantry are among the quickest to paint. Many figures have a different coloured shirt/jacket to their pants and the more colours you have got to apply the longer ya painting takes.

This is roughly how I paint my Soviet Infantry.

1 …Cleaning off flash with a blade and a needle file. This is really important as any mould lines will stick out when you ink wash and dry brush them later. Give em a quick wash can help remove any small metal shavings that might stay on the figures.

2 …I mounted them on the bottom of old GW paints with some blu tack.

3 ….I base painted them with Kahki Grey, then painted the base colours on all the areas. The only exception to base colour was anything black (boots) and helmets and guns.

  

4 ….next was a painting on Vallejo Brown shade mixed with a little black as an ink wash. I leave this to dry over night. It is worth mentioning that once you have laid on the wash to try and avoid re-working the ink when it is still wet. If you want more tips on using ink wash on figures then a good is here for using Army Painter quick shade.

3 …once the wash is dry I went over the surfaces again because the wash can darken your original colours. Not really drybrushing but working to make highlights. Painted the Boots German Gray and used the same colour for metal parts on the rifles and SMGs. Russian Green for helmets.

I tend to make the Khaki even lighter for the satchels.

I end up using Khaki to give a few mud and dirt splashes to the boots and the helmets.

I also tend to put a black wash on the metal parts of the guns and then a few points of a metallic paint on the metal parts.





 

Final steps to get em on a table is Basing them and giving em a coat of Testors Dull Coat (spray can). Don’t go heavy with the Dull Coat…better of doing several lighter coats. If you don’t you run the risk of giving them a frosty coating. Be sure to do it outside as this stuff can be stinky and a face mask is a good idea.

Cheers