White Russian test paint

[Wirelizard]

First of my White Russians in fur hats, from Brigade. You'll be seeing five or six of his squadmates in LPL5 in a few weeks, but I thought I'd put one of the extras, and the first I completed, up for C&C. Not the greatest photo, sorry, but good enough!

The uniform isn't specific to any unit; I've taken inspiration from the Osprey White Armies book and especially the various recent posts here on RCW uniform details. The shoulderboard colours and details are entirely invented!

RCW/BoB is a new period for me; I've just got the one unit of Whites so far and some Pulp Figures characters, with some Reds coming shortly, British on the painting table too, and possibly some Chinese fairly soon. I'm primarily a pulp adventure/skirmish gamer, so great historic accuracy is not my strong suit and I'm not (yet!) going to be painting mass units for big games!

Thoughts?

[Mark Plant]

The stripe down the front of the hat should be white. The hat stripes and cockades were almost invariably in "national" colours, not unit ones.

If you want a unit colour on his hat, then make the bag of his hat blue.

Blue shoulderboards could make him almost anything, so it's a good choice.

I prefer to paint my Russians with black boots unless they are obviously wearing ex-British or ex-German uniforms, but low boots and puttees does suggest foreign dress.

[koz10]

The stripe down the front of the hat should be white. The hat stripes and cockades were almost invariably in "national" colours, not unit ones.

I was about to say the same thing. I'd heard of Reds, Whites and even Greens but not Blues.

Maybe he's Italian.

[Ataman]

I was about to say the same thing. I'd heard of Reds, Whites and even Greens but not Blues.

Maybe he's Italian.

There was Antonov's Peasant Army which was referred to as the Blues, but I don't think they ever wore blue ribbons. His shoulderboards would definitely work as Don Cossack, though blue as a whole was a very popular colour among the Whites as previously mentioned.

Your painting is very good overall. The only thing I could recommend is maybe making the puttees and rucksack over his shoulder a more noticeably different shade of brown for some contrast.

[Wirelizard]

The stripe down the front of the hat should be white. The hat stripes and cockades were almost invariably in "national" colours, not unit ones.

If you want a unit colour on his hat, then make the bag of his hat blue.

By "the bag of his hat" I assume you mean the inside top portions that aren't obviously furry?

Colouring that hadn't occured to me, actually. More colour is good - the British I'm also painting are so bland in their unrelieved khaki & canvas!

Thanks for all the feedback, his squadmates will be improved for it, and this guy will be going back under the brush with them!

[Mark Plant]

Yes, the cloth top part of the hat. In Russian dress uniforms it is coloured, often with a cross for officers. The field versions are normally khaki, but many men wore the coloured versions anyway it seems.

You can add more variety with your Whites by not feeling obliged to put them all in the same coloured uniforms. Hats, trousers, blouses, puttees, boots would come from different sources at different times, and their colours would reflect this.

I find it really helped with my Reds, who don't have much by way of markings, to ensure that they were as mixed as possible. Only my elite units really have much by way of similar uniforms.

[Wirelizard]

The same White trooper as before, with repainted bits and some extra highlighting - many thanks to the folks here, especially Mark, for the suggestions.

The hat bag is khaki (most of his squadmates are in their blue dress hats, look for them in an upcoming LPL5 round!), the pants are greener just for a colour variation, hat stripe is white, touched up the hair and various other things.

I still need to finish the base, the raw sand does not look good.

Thoughts?

[cuprum]

 The figure was much more interesting. Good job.

 There are some minor comments. Backpack straps should be the same color as the bag itself. Here are photos of Russian army backpack. In the photo later model, but it differs only in the presence of additional straps and pockets.



In addition, the figurine soldier's hat. The color of the garment is not varied. It is made of artificial fur and shinelnogo cloth. This style was typical for an army hat and at home such as hats (with the cut, allowing the band of lower back) will be made.







It is necessary to note that the gray color, although it met in the colors of summer army uniforms - was uncommon. Primary colors - various shades of khaki.

[Ataman]

I really must buy one of these First World War papakhi. Do you have any recommendations of where I could purchase one, Cuprum?

[cuprum]

Here is a famous Russian military antiques auction.
One photo I took here.

http://www.antikvariat.ru/military/2833/40210/

[Mark Plant]

I think there may have been some confusion.

The type of hat that Cuprum has shown is an ushanka, and it is made from khaki cloth. It was fairly recent at the time, but cheaper and thus made in large numbers for WWI when resources were stretched.

I thought, from the first paint job, that your figures were wearing papakha of the kubanka style, which has fur all the war round. Those have cloth tops in either khaki or colour. Very common with Cossacks, with the top generally in host colour.

I tend to fill in the gaps in my ushankas when I'm making them Cossacks, so that the fur goes all the way round.

[cuprum]

Mark is wrong. I showed it was an army infantry "papakha" sample in 1910
This headdress was officially adopted in the Russian infantry and cavalry dragoon before the First World War.
"Papakha" was made of gray short-fur top hat was made of cloth khaki.

"Papakha" Cossack sample (without cutting and turn-ups), was among the Cossacks and Siberian troops. And she had several varieties: kubanka (with short fur and color top), and shaggy hat without a colored top.

Cap "ushanka" appeared in the Russian army only in 1940 - after the war with Finland, when it became clear that the cloth budenovka poorly protects the soldier from the cold in a very severe frost and prevents wear a helmet.

[Mark Plant]

[sigh] I've never understood the significance of the difference between the 1939 version of a furry hat where the sides can be pulled down, which is a ushanka, compared to the 1914 version of a hat in the same type of fur where the sides can be pulled down, which is not an ushanka.

Seriously, what is the difference between the cap



and the cap?



They look pretty much identical to me.

Because the civil war was fought largely in Cossack lands and Siberia, loads of the non-Cossacks appear to wear "Cossack" papakha (regulation or not). Nestor Makhno certainly did, and he wasn't from a Cossack area (and disliked Cossacks intensely, so he wasn't copying them).

[Ataman]

I own a Soviet-era ushanka, and from what I can see in the pictures, the papakha is much taller than the ushanka is. The 'flaps' of the ushanka are held together by a string tied together on the top, while the papakha's flaps seem to be held by hooks or buttons. The flaps of the papakha also look longer and able to wrap around the majority of the head, whereas the ushanka's flaps leave a significant portion of the face uncovered.

And yes, for some inexplicable reason the infantry papakha seems to have gone out of style by the time of the Civil War. Almost all pictures that I've seen have the troops of every side using the 'Cossack' style papakha without the flaps. I assume that far larger quantities of the infantry papakha were manufactured, so it is somewhat puzzling that I've seen so few used in the RCW.

[cuprum]

How Ataman rightly said "Ushanka" (from the Russian word ushi - the ears), in addition to lapel fur edging, like hats, has "ears" that can be omitted and the tie under the chin. Or pick up and tie on top.







This one, less common, Wearing нats - ushanka (ears covered by frost, but you can hear well).

Army type hat in the Civil War was worn less so, as there was a certain fashion for a Cossack papaha and other elements of the Cossack fashion (burka, cherkeska), in addition, a Cossack papaha easier to manufacture.