Introduction

Russian Infantry Uniforms WWII by LifeColor is a set of 6 paints. It is set CS42. The Airbrushes.com product pages tells us;

Water soluble acrylic colours for modelling and hobby. LifeColor is excellent for paint brushing or airbrushing on plastic, resin, metal, vinyl, wood, cloth and ceramic.

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The Set

This set of six 3/4 fl oz (22 ml) screw top bottles is packed in a good looking flip-top box. There are no instructions other than as printed (in multiple languages) on the back of the box, plus six printed color chips. Lifecolor reminds us that these can be mixed with Tensocrom Medium to create washes and glazes. The bottle caps are molded with an internal rim which both provides a small palette cup as well as inhibits paint fouling the bottle cap thread.

These paints are made with very fine ground pigments. They have no noticeable odor. I find them to be thinner than other brands I am used to, almost like a heavy wash. These colors seem to be formulated for one-pass brushing; I did not try airbrushing tem and yet they seem thin enough to shoot without thinning.

This set includes:

UA 446 Helmet
UA 447 M35 Tunic
UA 448 M35-41 Tunic
UA 449 M43 Tunic
UA 450 M35-41 Trousers
UA 451 M43 Trousers

What You're looking At

For your color judging pleasure I present the colors under a variety of light sources. As modelers see their work under a variety of lights sources I made a swatch by dropping a few drops of each equally shaken bottle on a fresh piece of white styrene. After drying overnight I shot the swatch under a sunlight-calibrated OttLight, outdoors under a clear noon sun (set on the ground and held towards the sky), and finally scanned on my printer. (That's the unlabeled bottom swatch.)

Demonstration

I did not try these through an airbrush. I brushed the paints onto a pair of Armor35 Red Army figures that had been primed with a satin tan.

The rifleman is painted with UA 447 M35 Tunic and UA 450 M35-41 Trousers. I used UA 446 Helmet on his pilotka field cap.

The officer slingin' the revolver is painted with UA 449 M43 Tunic and UA 451 M43 Trousers . Officer uniforms tended to be more olive but this one is being more egalitarian in dress.

After they dried I shot them under an OttLight with a white and a blue backdrop. The images of them in front of a green background were shot in shaded natural light. These paints dried without a sheen and have not rubbed off with normal handling.

Accuracy

The Soviets had a "regulation" pattern for their uniforms and yet the Red Army probably wore the most decentralized variations of any major power. Described as "khaki," the color varied from a tan through olives and browns. What non-colorized color photos of Soviet soldiers I have viewed does support that. A couple of the LifeColor paint chips on the box have the olive tint.

The four colors I used on the figures all dried - with a matt finish - as tan colors. I wonder if a different base color would affect this? There is a slight variation between the colors but they are very hard to distinguish on the models. Perhaps if I mixed the M35 and M43 colors, we would see more of a difference? I have been painting my Red Army soldiers a khaki similar to these colors.

Later I will apply some shading and tinting and will post the images in the forum so you can see the results.

Instructions

These are printed on the back of the box. The English and Italian text is very fine and challenging to read.

Conclusion

LifeColor's Russian Infantry Uniforms WWII is a good water-based set of paints for those who want to reproduce the tan-khaki colors of Red Army uniforms, straight from the bottle. The paint is thin and yet brushes well. I like the bottle design.

I used four of the colors for the tunics and trousers, and painted the rifleman's cap with the helmet color. Despite the different colors of the chips on the box, I can't see much difference between them; perhaps if I used the M35 and M43 colors on the same figure we would see more of a difference? The paints did not dry with the olive hue of two of the colors.

Regardless, I have been painting my Red Army soldiers a khaki similar to these colors so I am satisfied with this sets potential.

Recommend.

Please remember to mention to vendors and retailers that you saw these paints here - on Armorama.

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SOURCE

Windrow, Martin. World War 2 Combat Uniforms and Insignia. Squadron Signal Publications. 1977.

A French language video which you can view at Click here for additional images for this review, below.