Cold War Soviet Union

HO scale BMP, Cold War Soviet Union.  At least four different companies made these.  Hard to find models of it in HO.

Roskopf motorcycles, I got a ton of these in a used collection years ago.

ARV and TOG by SDV.

Plastic dump trucks.  Heavy engineer unit to install the big bridge.

This big green tent was part of the original packaging to this model.  I painted it green and use it as a cover for the rocket launcher that belongs underneath.

A couple die cast generic scoop loaders, the back of the rocket launcher and BRDM-2.
 

New Boxes

I have been working on upgrading my old Cold War Soviet Union  collection.  Here are some armored fighting vehicles used by airborne troops.  The bridge is a cheap copy of the Airfix Baily Bridge.  Such items used to be common in the dollar stores decades ago.

After at least 3 decades of making a nice big underbed storage box that was perfect for my collection, so perfect that I built my storage shelved around those boxes, Sterilite decided to re-imagine them.  They are still the same height, but are wider and shorter, with the same volume as the old boxes.  But they don't fit the same in my shelves.  So I am having to re-imagine my storage solutions to fit the new box.  

Here are some of the Cold War Soviet vehicle that have been completed during this Cold War Soviet Union upgrade.  Each of these vehicles has had all the parts inspected, repaired, replaced, painted and then minimal detail painting done.  There are over 40 vehicles in this box alone.

I take a 3x5 card and tape it to the inside of the box.  The name of the collection is in big bold marker letters and then the contents in smaller letters.  Obviously this one has been changed and the card will have to be replaced before this project is over.

Another view of the bridge and the BMDs.

 Motorcycles, BMP, and dump trucks all in the box.  These are actually in a waiting room box and will be sorted into the correct box at the conclusion of the painting, repair and upgrades.  I usually put bubble wrap on the bottom of the box to prevent vehicles from sliding around on the smooth surface.

BTR Painting

I made this little device to mix spray paint cans.  I run the drill both directs for a count of 40 and then remove the can and shake it for about 10 seconds.  It works very well and mixes the paint better than any other paint mixing I have tried.

Painting a few more Cold War vehicles from the Soviet Union.

A previous owner trimmed the bumper on the first vehicle, I choose not to replace it.

This BTR152 had a little turret on top, I think it was originally an open top model.  I think the turret was from a Roco SdKfz 234 / 1 armored car, but just the top half of that turret.  You can see the octagonal shape.

Painting is ready to begin.

You can see a little bit of a turret outline on the lower BTR 152.  That's despite a lot of scraping and sanding.
 

Infantry and Overview

Paul Heiser makes a lot of WWII vehicles, and I have a ton of their trucks.

Watching out for the enemy.

1/72nd scale Italeri WWII US Army figures.

Most of these figures are walking as on patrol.

They fit nicely with most other brands like Revell.