Hello Everyone
Revell Has Introduced a Version With Russian Green + Sand Camouflage With Its ZiL-131 & Mentioned it Was Used During Soviet-Afghan War at 1980
BUT I Found No Real Picture of this Truck, Even in Few Books I Have About Soviet-Afghan War
Only Photos I Could Fine Was About Soviet 40th Army HQ at Kabol With Several Camouflaged Trucks But None of Which is ZiL
and Also an Ural With KPVT Machine Gun, But That is Still Not ZiL
Very Few Ural Trucks Were Painted This Way But Yet No ZiL-131 !!!
Can Someone Help With This? Any Info is Appreciated
Hello!
I’ve built the ZiL-131 by ICM, here’s how it turned out:
While it’s not a bad family of kits, they have their weaknesses. The engine needs work if you would like to show your hood open and on the underside there are a lot of simplifications, like the brake chambers are missing completely. Some modellers from Russia complained about the proportions of the grille and sides, but for me they look OK. Cab parts are a little warped and need care to bend them a littleso that the cab is straight. For this reason building the cab with open doors is tricky.
Now for your original question - I think you have a clear choice here (unless you find a good photo of the box art truck, that is): Build the truck per instructions, with two tone camo - the photos you have show a variety of vehicles painted that way, so why not a ZiL? But please remember that in Soviet Union everything was secret, photographing stuff was frowned upon (espionage!), and cameras were hard to get, so not necesarrily everything that was there got to be photographed. Option 2 - find a nice photo of a ZiL-131 and build your model from the photo - but the scheme will probably be different, like how about this one:
Not russian, but maybe interesting for you, the Bulgarian vehicles in Afghanistan used their typical three-colour scheme with some colourful markings. Or you could go for a gaudy Zil from government troops…
Hello & Thanks a Lot.
I Searched it in Russian, No Photo of the Particular Truck But Had Lots of Useful Information About the ZiL Itself
Guess They Really Really Were Restricted About Cameras!
From Where Revell Got That Scheme I Wonder!?
Just to turn the question around a little: does it really matter if you can’t find evidence? Armies of all sorts will, on occasion, resort to temporary colour schemes if they feel it helps, or on the whim of someone further up the chain of command. Revell may just have made it up to make it look a little more interesting.
You obviously wish to make a model of this truck; you do not have to use the kit instructions as the final word on the subject; if in any doubt, but you still wish to portray a Soviet-era truck, then just revert to a plain green. Just be warned - Soviet green colours are also a whole new world of pain - but you’ll find enough assistance on this site.
Good luck with the build whatever you decide; I hope you enjoy the model!
