The Red March continues comrades!
I’ve been pondering the markings for this build for a while. The ones in the box are not bad at all.
But it wasn’t until I had the camo on that I realised white bort markings would not be much use- they’d be pretty hard to see! Now I could have used the yellow ones from the sheet but part of the fun of this kit was having no fixed idea of how it needs to look. No marking scheme in the instructions, vague ideas from the actual game and obviously no photos of any real ones!
So, since I’ve been at the red paint I thought why not do the markings in red? At least they’d be nice and obvious!
To the People’s Cricut!
This little device and it’s software is very easy to use to make masks and designs of various kinds. Through trial and error you can easily get the hang of it. Cutting things this small I would recommend Scotch Blue ‘Sharp Lines Multi Surface’ tape.
The next bits I went at like a Stakhanovite shock worker- toiling at a coal face of sub-assemblies, detail parts and even more red bits! (Apocalypse Tank- now with 30% more red bits!) I’ve also used a couple of the in box decals and two spare Guards decals.
In the above photo you can see the rear mounted spade tool- I had to re mount this as the kit fixing meant it was covering part of my marking in the upper right corner.
Below are a few of the sub-assemblies.
You can see on the front dozer blade the colors I have gone for. This is roughly in line with how the blades are coloured on the M1150 Breacher.
I was also looking at Mike Rinaldi’s tank art book- seeing how he had tackled modern exhausts- when I saw the AMX-30 exhausts which are nearly identical in design to this kit.
My thoughts have also turned to how to display this kit. I’ve used insignia, badges and flag lapel pins for displays in the past. The odd time back in the days when you bought an actual physical game CD you would sometimes get key rings or other merchandise- particularly if you pre-ordered.
I found pretty much nothing online but my search resulted in one of Bob Ross’ ‘happy little accidents’ wherein I came across these on Etsy.
From right these are the insignia of the ‘Allies’, ‘Soviet’s’, and ‘Yuri’s Forces’ from the sequel- ‘Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge’. Now I just need Border Model to do the kits…! I hope to use the Soviet insignia somewhere in the display of the kit but I’m still thinking about a base etc.
In recent days I’ve managed to get a satin varnish all sorted and am just starting a pin-wash. More updates soon.
Thanks for reading.