Zvezda 1/35 Bumerang APC (Звезда Вумеранг БТР) - Finished model and review

Hello again!

Today I finished my 1/35 Zvezda Bumerang. The Bumerang is an 8-wheeled armoured personnel carrier slated to come into service with the Russian Army. It is likely a small amount are either in testing or currently in service. This is one of my favourite vehicles so it was exciting to tackle this build. All up it took me about three weeks to build and paint, working on and off.

The kit itself is high quality. I'm continually impressed with Zvezda's detail on their parts. This kit also went together much better than the T-90 I built from them - the product of 6 years of experience on Zvezda's part since the T-90 was released I imagine. The only issues I had was some minor gaps to be filled where the hull went together. The build is still not perfect - I missed a couple of gaps and the wheels aren't on perfectly - but that is more me than the kit. The wheels are vinyl but hide their seams well. There is no photo-etch with the kit. Instructions were clear and easy to follow. The price is certainly right as well - at 50AUD it is priced very competitively as are all Zvezda kits.

What was frustrating was the ultra-thin mirror mounts. These were difficult to clean up and mount due to their fragility and I snapped one off early on during painting (entirely my fault, I'm clumsy and brutal with models). The piece snapped in multiple places and was sadly not repairable. The second one broke soon after. Given how much I weathered the model it's not implausible that they would be removed for combat or break off in the field so I'm not too concerned but it is still disappointing. If you build this kit be very cautious with them.

I tried a few new things with painting. I did an oil dot filter over the model. I intended for streaks but probably blended them too far. After this I did chipping with a brush - I think I went too far here, particularly on the top of the model. The dust and mud was applied with more care than on the T-90, using a combination of three different Vallejo pigments and enamel thinner to "wash" the dust on. Once dry, I used a dry brush to clean up obvious tide and brush marks and blend the dust in. After this I applied Vallejo thick mud on the wheels and underside to simulate fresh, wet mud. Finally I used a thicker enamel/pigment mix to flick on mud spatter onto the sides. I think the finished model looks pretty good but I still have plenty to learn and try. So, onto the pictures. Thanks for reading. :)

The built model. The vinyl wheels are nicely done so as to hide the seams. Plenty of antennas to break...

Basecoat down. I used my new Border Model airbrush to do the cam. I was very happy for a cheap airbrush.

The oils going down. This shows the contrast between the filtered hull and yet to be done turret.

Chipping! Probably too much. I need to be more careful next time.

The finished model.

Beautiful day to be in the Russian Army. T-90 and infantry are also Zvezda.

Finished Zvezda 1/35 modern Russian infantry

Hello friends,
Привет друзья,

Today I've finished the last of my Zvezda Russian infantry. To be clear this is two sets - the first is the "Polite People" set I reviewed in my last post. The second set is the Russian Spetsnaz kit (also Zvezda). Both of these kits went together really well, though the proportions on the newer "Polite People" kit are noticeably better than the Spetsnaz kit, which has fairly chunky features. The Spetznaz set is likely based in the 1990s or early 2000s. I decided to paint them in the modern Russian camouflage scheme anyway - perhaps they represent a regional unit yet to receive more modern weaponry and sights or even a militia unit fighting Ukraine in the Donbass/Luhansk region. Not accurate certainly but for my purposes (wargaming modern conflict) quite sufficient.

Russian troops in Crimea, 2014. The "digital flora" uniform fades to what looks like plain olive green at a distance but retains the detail up close.

The cam pattern I went for is called единая маскировочная расцветка (unified camouflage colouration), perhaps more commonly known as "digital flora". This was... not easy to paint. The uniforms Russia is using seem to fade fairly quickly. The infamous "Little Green Men" who appeared in Crimea in 2014 had clearly deployed with fairly faded uniforms and outside of parades it seems rare that the pattern isn't faded heavily. The pattern also uses what seems to be much smaller pixels than other digital patterns such as that of the US Marine Corps. This presents two challenges - the faded uniform from a distance appears to pretty well be flat olive drab, yet up close has a reasonable amount of colour variation. I needed that affect on the miniature. I ended up using a combination of sponging and washes and I think I got there in the end.

The finished "Polite People" set.

The rear

The Spetsnaz kit. Much chunkier figures. The figure on the right was painted as a (failed) test figure for the camouflage scheme and basing which is why he looks different.

The pattern up close. Dark green, black and brown over a lighter greenish-khaki base.

Thank you for reading :)

Zvezda 1/35 Modern Russian Infantry "Polite People" (Современная Российская Пехота «Вежливые Люди») Review

To the scale modellers who have found this review through a Google search, welcome. You're on what is normally a wargaming blog. Lately I've been working on a 1/35 T-90 Russian main battle tank, something a little different to what I usually do. Working on the tank has sparked a bit of an interest in a side of the modelling hobby that I haven't really ventured into - mostly in fear of the difficult modelling and painting techniques that are required to get a good result. But it was a challenge and so I've persisted, and have started diving in head first...

This is the second set of Zvezda 1/35 infantry I've purchased. I have their older cпецназ (Spetsnaz, Russian special forces) set so I was intrigued when I saw this set online. The set depicts the "Little Green Men", as they were known in the West, who appeared throughout Crimea during 2014. Despite initial Russian denials they were indeed Russian Armed Forces troops. The moniker "Polite People" seems odd at first, but refers to the reception they received from the Crimean locals. The Russian troops were by many accounts very polite to the locals that they were interacting with and acted with a high degree of professionalism.

The set contains four hard plastic figures all in various states of rest. For the scale modelling crowd these will make very nice diorama pieces alongside any modern Russian armour. The figures are depicted in ратник (warrior) gear and armed with appropriately modern weaponry. There's also a cat, modelled off a photo below and also possibly related to a quote from the Russian Minister of Defence at the time that“It is difficult to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there... It’s all the more stupid if this cat is smart, brave and polite.”. A nice little easter egg from Zvezda there either way!

The quality is high here. The figures are well molded and the mould lines that are present are easily removed. There was very little flash present and all the parts went together remarkably well. The PKP Pecheneg light machine gun is a bit fiddly to assemble so make sure you give it plenty of time to dry before mounting it under the figures arms - and be careful of the very slim bipod!

Overall this is an excellent kit. I paid 20AUD plus shipping from an Australian store and at that price the figures rate highly. This is not a common figure subject and collectors of modern Russian armour will be very happy with this kit. I've mounted the figures to MDF bases - I am currently attempting to write my own modern warfare skirmish wargame to use 1/35 figures so basing was a must. Expect more photos of both these figures and my T-90 when they're complete!

Спасибо за протитаете. :)
Thanks for reading. :)

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The box art is wonderful and depicts the figures in the kit well

Detail is high and the poses are very nice.

Plenty of detail on the back too.

Three weapons are left spare for you to do with what you wish - 2x AK-74Ms and a VSS

The cat!