Looking mighty fine there Martin. Excellent work in adding the texture and details !

Joe

40. Day, December 22, 2015

Head ready painted...:






















I will continue here after Christmas...

Thank you very much, Nap!!!

Happy Christmas to you, too.

Cheers

41. Day, December 28, 2015
After beautiful and deeply relaxed Christmas Agen I turn now - the head's finished - to the torso of the...:


First, the thing gets two holes on later invisible places: first, to secure the torso with a steel bar in a working block, the second to here to avoid having a "backup toothpick" to beware the torso can rotate on the steel bar later.





Then, the torso is cleaned off. For this, I use the "white stone", a "miracle" soap, which is often offered on flea markets ...:
With the stuff you get almost everything from ALL back down - and in the many undercuts the bust I wanted to play it safe.
This soap has intus relatively large abrasive particles, making the surface rough but this unvisible - good for the primer and the paint.
After thorough rinsing I put the torso aside to dry ...

42. Day, December 29, 2015

Torso fixed to the working block and primed...:

Hi Nap!

Thanks a lot - you will see it here when I will paint the epaulettes.

But further on it is painting "white"...


Cheers

43. Day, December 30, 2015

Before I begin tomorrow to paint the shirt, at first a little research.
The summer uniform shirt of the Russian soldier was at that time still called "kittel" and was white ...:

The group in the picture, however posing for a photograph after a after receiving an order (they all wear the St George cross on the chest) ...




... and - maybe - they had given it back afterwards.

The reality was quite more confusing!

In the Russian army, the field force from the depots was delivered not finished uniforms but bales of cloth, buttons, etc., from which the regiment taylors then made uniforms.

Although there was a formal regulation...



... but the floodgates were by this system for deviations, preferences and "fashions" opened - hardly a "kittel" was like the other one hundred percent.

In Addition:

Russia had the Russo-Japanese war indeed provoked and were told at the casinos and wrote grandly in the media: "Let them come, this little yellow monkeys. We cover them alone with our caps!"
When the war was there he found Russia completely unprepared in truth!
Every bit of supply of uniform fabrics, food, ammunition and soldiers had to be transport with the Trans-Siberian Railway to easterrn asian theater of war.
Only the Trans-Siberian Railway was not yet ready at this time!
It lacked the stretch to Lake Baikal - the trains ran only to Irkutsk, then everything was unloaded and loaded onto ferries (some units even had to march around the lake!). Then was reloaded onto trains and it went to the theater of war.


The "Transsib" was also by then only one lane expanded - and alone completely overloaded by troops and ammunition transports!


So you had to take in the units on the battlefield for uniforms etc. often, which was to get on the spot - which contributed not a little to the different appearance of the uniforms.
Actually that should have "kittel" two buttons at the collar and two more on the placket. Had no buttons, was spared such a way that one of the "kittel" a button sewed to the collar.
On top of that the white shirt was unspeakably impractical! It made the soldiers on the ground to an ideal "target" for Japanese shooters, resulting in huge losses.
During the war, they went quickly to the Russian side about spending more practical Shirts on brown fabric and the caps finally miss a screen which protected the eyes of the soldiers from sun and rain ...:



The different look of the "kittel", (later called "Gymnastiorka") incidentally, was after a nine-year period of peace at the beginning of World War 1 the same.

On the next picture - taken in August 1914 - shows three soldiers of the same unit wearing all different shirts with different buttons. The standing man in hunter base wears the - 1910 actually abolished! - peakless cap...:



And anyone who thinks that was only at the regiments with the "high house numbers" so, you are wrong!

The next picture shows a soldiers of an guard unit (indicated by the colored braid on the placket) - and each one carries a different shirt ...:

i've always enjoy your sbs martin, lovely work on this russky

Thanks mates!!!!

Cheers

44. Day, December 31, 2015

Started painting the "kittel" - a segement at the back side...:







I will continue here next week....

Interesting bit of background info Martin.
At least they agreed to wear their caps consistently tilted!

Cheers,
Adrian

Thank you, Nap and Adrian!

Cheers

Leave it to you to even come up with a pattern for the 'kittel'! One thing for sure is that their uniform wasn't all that uniform, as borne out in the reference pics. Your detailed project continues to impress . Happy New Year to you Martin !

Joe

Thank you very much, Joe!

Cheers

45. Day, January 4, 2016

Today we come to the wide fabric belt, worn by our hero on his shoulder. This belt belongs to a large shoulder bag, as seen in the next picture as well...:



In those bags food, equipment and personal items were transportated - the colors could differ considerably ...:



And it is the rear part of the belt is finished ...: