And, finally, the Konigsluther. First the original Premium version:

And here's my touched-up version:

Again, nothing major. A few extra decals, black hoses, red generator, metallic details and a nice highlight all over.

Nice added touches !!!!!!!!!! Those premiums sure do look nice out of the box.

Loophole Master said:

If you end up painting your friends SSU forces please post pictures. I am a fan of all that you have posted and hope to see more from you in the future.

Well, things are still very slow on the Dust painting front, so until more units showed up, I decided to try something a little different and painted my buddy's Dungeon Quest minis:

It was a bit tricky since the scale is smaller, but it was nice to play with some different colours than what I usually get to use with Dust.

Ah, but one day I sumbled upon a box of little plastic sandbags, and since the repetitiveness of tank traps and ammo crates was something I'd always complained about, I thought I'd add this new element to my game. The box came with two plastic sprues containing 60 individual sandbags. I decided to create two separate barricades that each fit in a single square, so that they could be used in place of an ammo crate. I super glued them together, creating a corner and a front, trying to give the positioning a bit of randomness to that it looked more natural. Then I painted them beige, washed with Devlan Mud, and did some highlights with light beige and white:

Was very happy with the result. I think these will add some nice variety to my board. The bags might be a bit big for the scale of the figures, but well, I don't think there's a standard size for sandbags, right? And those ammo crates always looked huge anyway…

So, after struggling for a year, making do with a very limited supply of troublesome enamel paints, suddenly a very kind soul brings me from Europe… THIS:

Colour me overwhelmed!

Mother od paints… More than you need to become a pro:D I want to see them in action !

Nice!

10 char

Hey, I'm back!

A friend of mine decided to get into Dust, and bought every SSU unit available. Lots of painting ahead of me, then.

First up, Nikolai!

Ah, feels so good to be painting Dust again! This is a very nice model and I used it as a test for what colors I'll use throughout the army. My friend asked me for some color unity throughout the units, so we decided to have all the armor be this same reddish color as Nikolai, with variation coming in the fatigues.

One difference in the SSU soldiers is that they don't have the articulated waist. While this makes the models look a bit better, it's also harder to paint. Twisting the torso around was a great way to get access to all the parts in the model. Oh well…

Bring on the ruskies!

Alas some great news! Can't way to see those bad-boys painted by you! I like the armor wear on the upper part, looks nice. Do you plan to get some units for your dust armies and pint them or are you done with that subject?

I'll get them, but there haven't been a lot of releases for axis and allies lately. The only released units I'm missing are those latest medium walkers (Rattler, Cobra, Wotan, Flamm-Luther).

Hmm in fact you are right, all those new "cooming soon" dizzed me:P

And here's the rest of the SSU Hero Pack. First up, Yakov:

Pretty cool model, I like all the gear he's carrying around, and his sulfur thrower is quite funky. Funny that the SSU decal sheet doesn't come with small stars for the troops, but I saw no problem with using a yellow star from the Allies decal sheet (and BTW, I switched the Nikolai image above to a new one to which I also added the star).

Next, it's her redness, Red Yana:

Funny that in the card she has a cap on, but the figure doesn't. Well, with that name, I knew I had to make her a readhead. Gave it a bit of a pinkish tone to spice it up some more. Also changed the color of her shirt from blue to red. Come on, it's Red Yana! That flapping coat of hers is a joy to drybrush, you can give it broad strokes and it gains a lot of volume. Speaking of volume, I did some highlights on her voluptuous boobs, and they pop out a lot. The picture doesn't show it as much cause the light is a little overexposed, but she'll be turning some heads on the battlefield.

Strange, my Yana (regular modele, not premium) has hat on her head…

The first time i can really appreciate higlihts on model!

Gothik said:

Strange indeed. Well, I'm kinda glad this one doesn't have a cap, it'll make her more different from Koshka.

On with the red parade. now the Frontoviki:

Last unit I use the red-green pattern, I swear. Man, these russians sure like to come prepared: 1 shovel, 1 knife, 2 grenades, 2 extra ammo clips, 1 flask, 1 bag o'goodies… these guys like to lug around a lot of stuff. While it's quite abit of work, it's very nice that these models are so detailed. I also wish they hadn't done the water-cooled machine gun, since the air-cooled model is SO much cooler-looking.

I prefer the air cooled version myself, oddly, the box photo does have two air cooled weapons shown.

The Ohotniki Rifle Squad:

I love the deep folds on these soldiers' fatigues, they're really great for washing and highlighting.

Wow this is moving fast:D Why change in the russian green for white?

Cause it's physically impossible for him to paint two units the same color.

Looks fantastic Loop! Glad you're back to work.

Lska said:

Yeah, the wife's travelling. It's amazing how much you can do in your free time when you've got nobody to dedicate time to

Lska said:

Each squad must be easily identifiable. I'm already a bit iffy with doing all the troops with the same-colored armor. I wouldn't have kept that for ALL squads, but it was a request by my friend who actually bought these and will play them.

Wow, this must be my personal record, three squads and a full hero pack done in a week!

Feel the Red Thunder:

Well, they're called RED Thunder, so I had to give them some red on the fatigues. Really like their backpacks with the rolled canvas, though I have to say that doing all those tools on their belts is starting to get a bit repetitive.

I like them most so far! Ach to have the russian army, and the ability to play without fear with Armor 2 squads..

Glad you like them.

And here's the last hero: Koshka!

The model isn't very interesting, and there's not much to play with in terms of colours, but I really dig that pose, it looks very natural.

Not only not interesting for painting but also for playing purposes:P

I love the look of the SSU units you have shown. I am a fan of your work Loop so please keep them coming.