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Reply To: Soviet (tank) colours and markings

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#1568011
phaidknott
7250xp
Cult of Games Member

Pretty much green and not a lot else (other than applying whitewash as winter camo). The Russian tank unit’s weren’t issued painting equipment and paint most of the time, Usually painting (if done) seemed to be done with a mop and bucket “salvaged” from where-ever they could find one). Basically the tank came with a “factory finish” and the troops didn’t bother too much with anything that wasn’t concerned with keeping the tank in running order. Remember these were tanks that could have 1/4 inch gaps in the armour plates stuffed with cloth to keep a drafts out. Soviet engineering (and ethos) seemed to be “if it’s good enough, move on and apply your efforts elsewhere”.

Soviet tankers really thought of their tanks as “disposable”, good reading is “T-34 in action” which includes interviews with many soviet tankers of the day. https://www.amazon.co.uk/T-34-Action-Stackpole-Military-History/dp/0811734838 The Russian tankers of the day seemed to hop between tanks as needed

There might have been different camo schemes used by other nations using soviet equipment during that last days of WW2 and afterwards. But the Soviets used a flat green camo during and after the war for the units in front line service (and continued to do so after WW2). On the markings front it was usually just a rhomboid with the tactical numerals for the unit shown. This was usually white on green for summer camo or red on white for winter camo (rarely used). Early to Mid war large numerals were found on turrets sides, and the red soviet star was almost never used as a tank marking (other than seen on events like the Red Square parades.

So basically just a flat green camo (or whitewash over the base green in winter), however on the hobby side of things this allows you to really work on usings weathing and filters to really bring out the look of the models (vs complicated schemes like those used on the German equipment late war where such efforts are usually just “lost” amid a complicated paint scheme.

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