BG Kursk - Soviet Artillery Units

So looking at my Russians which I started collecting back in 1993 (so some of them are nearly 20 years old!) I thought they needed some new additions in time for BG Kursk. 

First up are some new artillery pieces. Three of these are the 57mm Zis-2 guns, from PSC, which have really, really, long barrels.

Zvezda had recently released a Katyusha and Peter Pig now made a loading set for them which I had to add (only then to find out that Katyusha's don't make it onto the table, oh well).

Digging around in the spares box found a pair of Zis-3 guns from Battlefront (Horrible) and Peter Pig (showing its age). Using the spare PSC crew men from the set with a couple of PP crewmen add a pair until Father Christmas arrives with a new box from PSC.

I still have a spare 57mm gun and some crew in a box waiting to be added at some time in the future.

L - R.  Battlefront, PSC, Peter Pig

Crew painted in the quick (for me) fashion I have now adopted for most of my figures:

Stick figures on base.
Add basing material
Undercoat the whole thing with a white spray can
Paint the base and highlight it.
Give the figures a watered down coat of the base uniform colour (Khaki Grey for these)
Paint the boots
Paint the metal items on the weapons
Paint the wood items on the weapons
Flesh
Add leather/cloth items
Helmets
Wash the figure with the GW Earthshade wash
Hightlight the helmet
Paint the edge of the base.
Flock the base once everything is dry
Dullcote to finish

For those who wanted to see a close up of the Katyusha Crew here are a couple more shots