Able Archer/ RFR rules - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 16) - Ukrainian SU-27

At the beggining of the war in 2022, the UAF had around 32 serviceable of these potent if relatively old fighters. At least 20 have been lost and, as no one has these fighters in Europe, receiving new aircraft or parts is impossible. Even so they are still at use, with some having been modified to fire western weapons like GBU-39 bombs, HARM missiles and JDAM gliding bombs. 

This 1/72nd scale model came from Aliexpress, without any brand being mentioned and its a companion to a SU-25 shown here some time ago. 

The model comes cleverly painted and is made of blocks that fit very well. A bit of super glue makes all parts bond easily. In fact its the digital camouflage that made me leave my Italeri model inside the box and turn to this much better and quicker to build option. 

The only added part was a plastic pilot. 

And the only paint added was the complicated UAF emblem. The stand was also painted and textured as it came in black plastic. 

Next: the Belgians at Waterloo

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 16) - Ukrainian Su-25s

 

The Su-25 was and still is the main ground attack aircraft of the PS ZSU. The Ukrainian air force went to war with 43 flyable Su-25s, got an extra 18 airframes from Macedonia and Bulgaria and lost at least 20 of the jets in action, leaving at most 41 in service.  The models came from Aliexpress and they build very easily with all parts already painted (thus two Number 9...). This is great as the digital camouflage is very hard to paint and that reason is kepting me from making a Su-27 and a pair of Mig-29 from the stash.

 They are meant to be toys and a few details are missing like the front sensors. The aircraft stands were painted to look like the Altaya stands in the collection. 

I have all aircraft for this conflict with pilots inside and these last ones were the only addition. 

They came with some simple wheels and if you don´t use them some holes will be left to be seen. Nothing you can´t live with as this angle is not seen in wargaming (I hope...).

Next: More Retroaranda models for WW2 or more Napoleonics.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 15) - Ukraine turns (more and more) to Europe

 

With Trump/US weapons having to be paid for almost a year by now, Ukraine shifted almost completely to free European weapons. Its the case of the Italian B1 Centauro (November 2025) and the French VAB (already since late 2022)  and Mirage 2000-5F (February 2025). All models are repainted Altaya die-casts.

While the vehicles were easily blackwashed, dusted and some markings added, the Mirage 2000 was more complicated with the erasure of the French markings and the painting of the tricky Ukrainian markings. Fortunatley they left the camouflage as it was and forgot the geometrical greys! Also a pilot was inserted in the cockpit. 

The problem with nowadys vehicles in Ukraine, both Ukrainian and Russian is the anti-drone protection that really I still didn´t figure out how to do in a simple and speedy way to both fleets. 

Next: the 3rd US Marine Battalion for the Pacific.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 15) - The Russian Tor M-1/2 AA systems

 

Recently the Chinese brand 4D released the HQ-17 missile systems. Initially I had no idea what the HQ-17 was but it looked somewhat familiar. By reading a bit on the issue I found that the HQ-17 is a direct copy of the Tor Russian system (NATO name SA-15 Gauntlet). So three of them were ordered from Aliexpress.  A quick arrival was followed by  quick but also complete build. Like this, together with three Pantsir, I have six AA short/medium systems for the my six BTG´s of the beggining of the war. 

The differences between the Russian and Chinese variants are minimal. The Chinese version has bigger mudguards and these were cut down until the size of the Russian original version. Of note its important to say that the first batches of Tor had a chassis with 6 wheels while the later ones (M-1/2), including the Chinese,  had 7.  The latest versions of the Tor is still used in the Russian army while the Ukrainian army had to reactivate their own early versions (6 wheels). That is why all the three models went to the Russian side. 

Another difference between the Tor and the HQ-17 is the rear part of the chassis, with a different stowage box arrangement. That was solved with camouflage nets covering that part. 

Next: The Horsa gliders 

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 14) - The Russian BREM-K recovery vehicles

The BREM-K is the standard Russian recovery vehicle for towing the wheeled series of the BTR-80 and similar or lighter vehicles. It's a relatively numerous vehicle in the nowadays war in Ukraine and you can find plenty of  images in the web and full articles about it. 

I had a number of BTR-80 leftovers after building a number of regular BTR-80 and converting others to the BTR-82A variant. This BREM-K didn't look too difficult to convert besides being a normal company of the basic version. 

Due to a number of added details and absence of its heavier guns this version of the BTR-80 becomes quite different from the basic one. 

The figure is another Orion soft plastic figure. 

The basic materials for these conversions were:

- 3d printed replacement wheels

- plastic card tubing and plate

- metal parts from HO trains

- WW2 Tiger front wheels from Hasegawa.

Many parts are over simplified but after painting the result is OK. 

The winch became a bit too thick but at least is unbreakable :). 

 

The front needs a coulter-stop for fixing the machine on the ground when working. 

For extra strength some of the supports of the winch in the turret are metal parts.  

Next: a video on the nowadays Ukrainian army. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 13) - Ukrainian Leopard 1A5 and AS-90 SPG

 

These three are the latest addition to the Ukrainian forces. The AS-90 is a 4D model with new wheels as explained later. According to the famous leaked papers by a Portuguese descendent (it had to be...) it can be found at least in three of the mechanized brigades in the nowadays counteroffensive, the 21st, 116th and 117th MBs. The old Leopards 1A5 (Esci models) arrived in sufficient numbers to equip three Ukrainian mechanized brigades but it will be hell for them to keep up with the amount of technology and hardware in the actual battlefield a bit as the old Russian T-62. For me the arrival of old material (and lack of ammunition) at the front is the proof that both sides - Russia and NATO- were not expecting this war to go as far  and no one really was expecting to escalate as it did. And this applies to  the provokers of this conflict that exist on both sides.  

 

These are the wheels that came along the majority of the 4D first series of tanks (both 1/87th or 1/72nd). Obviously they had to be replaced. 

 With a decent hull and turret and the addition of some T-72 wheels from ModelCollect leftovers the 4D AS-90 becomes pretty decent.

The usual journalist's view of the Ukrainian SPGs. 

The Esci Leopard 1A5 were in the stash for an entry into the Turkish army of the 90s and for an eventual conflict with the Iraqis, but obviously ended up in Ukraine. In the Ukrainian service some pictures emerged with them covered in camouflage netting (here made of gauze dipped in white glue and modelled directly on the tank). The only addition in relation to the Esci model is the turret range finder, tank commander and antenna. Fortunately the gauze also covers other missing parts in the Esci model that the real tank has like hull side boxes and other small details. 

The end result is ok. I still have the Altaya Leopard 1A2 in the stash and I´m thinking of converting it to the A5 version thanks to Saint Gauze as it will hide most of the differences.  

The tank commanders are the Esci Nato officer converted to tank commander with a new Russian tank helmet (TSh-4M) made of GreenStuff. 

Next: Atlantic New Kingdom Egyptians for Impetus. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 12) - The best heavy metal from both sides arrives

In the last few months the best armored machines from both sides - Russia and Ukraine/NATO- started to show on the battlefield: the Russians introduced the T-90M  in increasing numbers, as they have the industrial capability to do so, and the Ukrainians received from Germany and Portugal 21 Leopard 2A6 taken from the stocks of each armed forces. Excluded here are the Leopard 2A4 and the Swedish Strv122. 

The T-90M is the state of the art of the Russian tanks (not counting the T-14 Armata, very expensive and with problem in ist production). Its based on the T-90 series, derivative of the T-72 series, but solving an old issue with the automatic loader for its 125mm rounds by displacing the ammo store and carousel to the back as many of the western designs did, and introducing newer armour and engine, a remote-controlled HMG and other details like a new telescopic mast and so on. 

The models are Modelcollect (left) and 4D quick builds (the two to the right). Years ago the way to have contemporary Russian vehicles in 1/72nd scale was to buy Modelcollect which at 25 euros each was a good way to go bankrupt, specially when you want always big units. The 4D models, ordered through Aliexpress cost around 3 (!) euros each and don't owe much to the Modelcollect as a finished product. If you take pleasure of the model building, then you are at ease with the Modelcollect series, filled with parts that fit marvelously, but, if you want a quick (and cheap) build still with detail then you go 4D, which has nowadays the same quality as PSC, Armourfast and alike. 

When first showed up, 4D was intended for kids to play with some 20 or so models from WW2 and modern periods, all with the same ugly wheels in both 1/87ish and 1/72 scale. I bought a big pack with all of them but could only use some 3-4 and these only after placing new wheels and tracks. Well, for around 1 euro each it was not a problem and in fact I'm around a AS-90 SPG from 4D which turned out nicely - after new wheels and tracks, of course!

The German Leopard 2A6 is considered one of the best tanks in the world surpassing all opposition - east and west - in many events and military shows. Even so, some 16 (Oryx) to 31 (Weeb Union) Leopards 2, all variants combined were already put out of action. This variant was apparently concentrated on the 47th Mechanized Brigade.  

The models are Altaya die-casts of the Leopard 2A5, with the shorter gun. In order to make the gun larger, up to the A6 variant size, an extra piece of EverGreen styrene was added and everything was disguised with GreenStuff in the form of camouflage netting. I did the same to my Portuguese Leopard 2A6´s of the Brigada Mecanizada and to my nowadays Germans. The camouflage was left as it was and the only additions were the stencilled crosses and the usual antenna and stowage.  

Finally some Marders for the 82nd Airborne Brigade joined the group. In fact only the one to the left is the correct variant for Ukraine, the Marder 1A3. Both models are die-casts. The colour applied on the Marder fleet by the Germans recently seems to be a plain medium green and not this NATO camouflage, but this older scheme was also spotted in Ukraine in some units. 

Next: More Russo-Ukraine war. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 11) - A new Ukrainian motorized battalion and its IMV´s

 One more Ukrainian battalion on the shelves slowly trying to get equal to the numbers of the Russians. The infantry figures are more of the usual plastic figures and its usual conversions (Esci, Revell and Orion) but the most interesting are the MSL Shield 4X4 armored vehicles that you can find in Chinese shops and supermarkets. The idea here is to place each infantry company in the MSL Shield vehicles and the command and support companies in the Humvees. 

In this picture I was still trying to picture the MSL Shield vehicles as the more usual IMV Kozak 2 vehicles with the double antenna at the front, but somehow its possible that a true accessible model of the Kozak 2 comes to the market (there are 3d prints but expensive) and that was left aside and the MSL vehicles idea stayed firm. Ukraine managed to buy (at least open information, with probable licence to build more) 11 of them from Italian TEKNE company with ex president Poroshenko´s money (he says...) and some crowd funding. The vehicles are on the service of the 79th Air Assault Brigade. You can find plenty of photos of them as Poroshenko flooded the web with its pictures, like this one:

"Yes, I wish I was wearing that green uniform the small guy is using..."

The MSL Shields and Humvees are the kind of Die-Cast toys supposedly 1/64th  scale but, I think and according to pictures, much closer to the  20mm size miniature and thus reasonable 1/72nd scale. Here you can see them with new wheels, surplus Hasegawa and Atlantic, and the top transparent plastic parts on the MSL Shields that need to be erased. They still don´t have the MG posts on top of the roof you can see in other pictures but important here is really to replace the Hot Wheels type of wheels by something bigger and more convincing.

The roof MG posts on the Humvees are different from the MSL Shields ones and all are made from plastic card and a Revell lying down figure cut appropriately by the waist. 

The delivered MSL Shields were all plain green but I camouflaged them in the usual Ukrainian digital camouflage for the sake of uniformity. An extra spare wheel was also attached to the right side.

This is how they look nowadays. Eventually I believe they will be painted in the digital camo in the future. 

The camo netting hides the ugly cuts made to erase those transparent plastic parts in the original toy model. 

The Humvees got white crosses for the Kharkov offensive but this is no limitation as this symbol has already been seen in the Kherson area maybe due to the transferring of units from one area to the other. As extras from the original you can see the weapon station, the engine exhaust pipe, the surplus wheel and the antenna. 

The command and heavy weapon's figures of the 2nd battalion are the usual plastic brands this time with yellow tape in the uniform and helmet. 

An example of an Ukrainian infantry company with converted Esci (US infantry and NATO boxes) and Revell (German Paratroopers and PzGrenadiers) figures. The rifle armed figures got their weapons converted to the AK-74 with some cuts and the famous curved ammunition clip and an anti-tank RPG. The Ukrainians received thousands of them from their partners and nowadays you see many times each infantryman carrying at least one of those. As many of the bullet proof vest are also camouflaged I didn't bother painting them differently from the uniform.

Next: a return to WWI most probably

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 9) - Ukrainian new and old material and some musicians

This post is a mixture of old material - the Zil-159 command truck and the Polish/Czech T-72 M1 - and new - the Polaris buggies with the Stugna-P ATGW. Also a few Wagner PMC figures joined the previous group on the modelling table for a few days. 

The Polish/Czech T-72 M1 have been very active on the Ukrainian counter-attacks on the Kherson and Kharkiv fronts. These two have the yellow squares used in the Kherson counter-offensives at least in one of the sectors. Close to them were seen some Portuguese M-113 and also the Dutch YPR-765. 

The models are Revell and Altaya Die-cast. Both had plenty of Kontakt explosive reactive armor (ERA) cassettes placed in the most likely areas to be hit for some extra protection. Each ERA block is made of two small rectangles of 1mm thick Evergreen plastic sheet glued together. The frontal ERA are Modelcollect leftover parts. The Ukrainians pay more attention to camouflage than the Russians so gauze was mixed with PVA glue to model some of it around the gun barrel, front and turret.  The tank commander is a Xan Miniatures figure. 

The Polaris Stugna-P armed buggies are used apparently by some SOF and they have been used for quick hit-and-run attacks. 

The models are Die-cast Matchbox models in 1/64th scale. A few days ago I was looking at a parked civilian one and they are really smaller in 1/72nd scale. The military version has some extra protections at the front but they are complicated to scratch built so gauze was used to disguise that part. Only a piece of extra armor can be seen in front of the driver. The Stugna-P ATGW is scratch built and the Esci crew got new arms made of GreenStuff. 

Some kind of command vehicle is necessary for the Ukrainian brigade so I used this old ICM Zil-157 for that purpose. The original idea was for it to be built once more to my Iraqis but there is at least one photo showing this old model in the current war.  

               

Only some resin 3d printed jerrycans and some gauze was added for it to look nicer. 

                                       

Mixed in this lot are some Russian Wagner PMC soldiers which have been used by the Russians as some of its best assault units together with the VDV. I´ve used different colors for the Wagner uniform than the greener Russians as I think Wagner doesn't use the Barmitsa or the Permyachka infantry equipment. 

The figures are easily found on Aliexpress and are made in 3d printed resin (no brand name though). The detail is simply amazing and they are sturdy and clearly designed for 1/72nd scale wargaming. They also end up being better for wargaming than the Alex Miniatures I´ve showed you a few post ago as they are far more resistant with the Alex Miniatures being better for dioramas. 

 Next: more Russo-Ukrainian war or maybe a return to ancients.