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#81 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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Volga looks nice. It's a cool camo scheme. Doesn't resemble anything Russia was using at the time IIRC - though they had a lot of obscure ones issued to units. The standard pattern then was three colors, not four. Still, shows Hasbro could make it: quality and detail are little different from a decade earlier - it's the two extra colors that make it a believable camo.
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#82 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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So here's my take on the Oktober Guard. Being a bit of a camo history buff, I enjoyed playing with old Soviet stuff with help from camopedia.com: I actually like them better than the Joes i did.
I chose three patterns but these came in variations of shade and size over the years. Sometimes intentional as some units wore different patterns, and sometimes just sloppy inconsistency. Don't know all the character names but from left to right: - Figures 1 and 8 in PMK desert pattern from the seventies - Figures 2, 6, and 9 in KLMK two-color pattern. It saw many variants from 1944 till the eighties. Two has a darker variant. - Figures 3 and 4 in TTSKO green from the eighties - Figures 5 and 7 in TTSKO brown - a variant for mountain troops Despite the plethora of patterns and overlapping designs, the standard Soviet camo during its Afghanistan war was a plain desert beige. The original of Figure #8 was pretty much bang on for this color, but being a solid, I decided it was kinda dull. The blue-striped undershirt is associated with Soviet/Russian paratroopers, marines, Spetsnaz, and some other elite units the Guard could reasonably have come from. Incidentally, as well as Russians, Ukrainian paratroopers and better units from many former Soviet Republics still wear this shirt. On the characters, I realize some think Daina and Volga are the same character. Since one was depicted ginger and another blonde I decided to separate them. Horror Show on the far left (BTW based on the Russian "Khorosho" meaning "good" or "alright") was IIRC an imposing chap, so I made the figure a tad larger. |
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#83 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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Many of the Oktober guard came in grey, with red stripes down their pants like parade uniforms. This plays on western confusion and perception. The Germans in WW2 liked grey, it was never really a Russian uniform colour for either field or dress occasions. They were always more into brown and green - teal for ceremonial gear. Likewise the idea they would wear dress kit into battle - more fits stereotype of authoritarian regimes than reality. For that reason I eliminated most of the grey in these figures and tried to cover up leg stripes with camouflage.
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#84 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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And following the theme, using eighties models again and the conceit that Hasbro at the time was willing to spring the extra cost for more accurate painting, here is a small contingent of friendly nations.
Mostly I just wanted to play with more Cold War patterns. left to right: Billabong, Flanker, Geezah, Rupert, Edelweiss, Cordon Bleu and Panzerfaust. Last edited by Joeness; 12-31-2023 at 06:36 PM.. |
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#85 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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Updated Footlosse for his final tour:
This time I experimented with a hand-shaded Multicam variant OCP - the current US Army standard: I own a pair of shorts in the British version and have spent many hours staring at my legs (okay, while drinking beer and reading books on the patio) trying to figure out what the secret sauce was. I noticed eventually that the four base colors (five in the US OCP version) are all almost the same shade - if you look in black and white they'll appear almost as a solid. Layered on top of that are the contrasting three colors - dark brown, dark green and the pale cream/beige. Thus we have a light "khaki" base that blends into a wooded or desert environment reasonably well because of its shifting hues, and some darker and lighter streaks on top that break up the wearer's shape a bit. Of course, it was always meant to be a compromise camo, not the best at any particular environment. Working off a tan base, I shaded in a light green, then a light brown, then a terracotta pink and used the eraser tool to pepper out the edges here and there. Over top that I created narrower patches of dark green, dark sepia and light cream and similarly faded the edges. I cheated a bit with the white by adding a shadow to the layer: this makes it stand out a little more without brightening the overall camo. Now the British MTP and the US OCP have slight differences in shape and shades, so I went for something closer to the US version. There was no point emulating all the base colors because with the small scale of the figure, the differences are negligible anyway so I stuck with four colors under, three over. As usual, the object was to photoshop a what-if scenario rather than a completely accurate depiction of the camo. Last edited by Joeness; 05-21-2024 at 03:34 AM.. |
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#86 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 1,434
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Back then in the 1980s when i was a little kid, I Had other toys besides the usual Masters of the Universe and Star Wars and GI Joe.
I had two figures of Power Lords, I had a couple of the Rambo figures, i had the DC/Marvel Pocket Heroes, I had a few Darkstar figures, I had one figure of the Bionic Six cartoon/action figure line. Even 2 or 3 figures of Captain Power and i had more Gobots than I did of Transformers. Gobots was actually good if other people would spend the time with the show and toys instead of obessing over Transformers all the time. Quote:
So when I was a kid I had Joes. I was a bit of an equipment geek even then. It took another 15-20 years for anything approximating realistic uniforms and gear and by then I was an adult, living overseas and more interested in girls.
To me, the classic Joes remain in the eighties. An eighties force for an eighties enemy. I recognize the flair is necessary and the individuality of the characters, but I still wish their camouflage and weapons looked more grounded in reality. So here's my take on the vintage joes with period-accurate camouflage and guns. Sometimes I stretch it into the nineties but for the most part, it stays in the eighties: woodland, chocolate chip and a few predecessors from the post 'Nam era. I've hand-painted the colors in PS, but the weapons are mostly stock with slight variations. What could have been shall ensue. |
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#87 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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Finally a Viper of some practicality.
I wanted some form of camo, something green but with the navy theme retained and in something squarish like Sweden's M90 pattern. I was somewhat inspired by the old Sri Lankan blue pattern (https://www.airforce.lk/news.php?news=4430) which actually *might* still work in a jungle. To get some contrast between colors I used emboss and drop shadow, giving it a fractal look in the end - I think capturing that sort of futuristic look Cobra strived for. Although Cobra has specialist commandos for the desert and arctic, regular vipers still need to serve in various environments as well. Last edited by Joeness; 06-24-2024 at 03:31 AM.. |
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#88 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: America
Posts: 741
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Very cool, I like it!!
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#89 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: NZ
Posts: 87
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Thank you. Taking extreme liberties here: my original concept was just to put the Joes in BDU in the eighties because that's how I wanted it then.
But playing with the cobras is fun. I first saw the Sri Lankan blue camo in around 2006 on a visit there. Still at war, checkpoints and pillboxes on the roads in downtown Colombo. I tried it on the 1986 Viper but it didn't really work. On a second look at the fractal pattern I've stumbled upon, it's a bit like early helmet and vehicle camos from the First World War. Kinda goes with the industrial-fascist image of the cobras. see above for desert version: the purpose with either of course is not to develop a useful camo pattern but to entertain and create a "look" that fits Cobra canon. Next - crimson guard... Last edited by Joeness; 05-21-2024 at 03:27 AM.. |
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#90 |
O-Ring Overmaster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: A state of melancholy...
Posts: 280
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Great stuff. I always love seeing unusual camouflage patterns and colors. COBRA needs more camo in their ranks, especially blue camo...
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It's an O-Ring thing... |
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