QRF T-72 "Pride of India"

When one thinks of India, they think of an exotic and faraway land ripe with mystery and culture. They likely think of the colonial period when the British-imposed Raj ruled over the entire subcontinent. Alternatively, you may think of the movie The Jungle Book and its myriad of fantastic characters and stories all meshed together in the deep, dark jungles. Or, if you are more of the insensitive or dry-humor kind of person, you think of it as the land of outsourced customer service and tech support call centers.

Whichever image of India best describes your view isn't my concern, but what is my concern is capturing what makes India unique. Their Army is literally an amalgamation of Soviet and American technology. While there was never any doubt that India would have ultimately aligned itself with the Commonwealth in the event World War Three broke out, many of its leaders tended to favor more socialist and communitarian policies as compared to the flagrant capitalist extravagance of the West. As my younger brother, who happens to be a self-educated expert on the colonial exploits of Great Britain, once told me, Nehru was rather sympathetic to the Soviet Union and even considered pulling India (and later Pakistan) into the fold of Khruschev.

Back in my freshman year of college, I was stuck in a dorm with two other guys. One of them I didn't get along with for whatever reason, while I still talk to the other one. Seeing as I've painted several things for his former roommate, I figured it was about time to share the love and paint something up for him.

The model itself is QRF's T-72, located under Modern Russian Armor. The turret itself was very well cast, with only a few imperfections I had to even out with some sandpaper or cut away with a hobby knife. The chassis however, was  different beast entirely. I'm not sure how QRF does their casting process, but the entire right side of the tank's tread skirt was... uh... gooey? It looked like the metal hadn't had a chance to fully set when it was removed, and as such most of them finer details were lost during the cooling process.

The paint scheme was his idea. I offered a variety of camouflages, colors, and some outright ridiculous options, but he was dead set on painting it the colors of the Indian Flag. Himself being from Mumbai, I can understand why. Beautiful city from what I've seen from pictures, but a place I probably won't ever end up going to. Anyways, the Indian Army operates I believe 2400 or so T-72s with roughly 1000 of them receiving aftermarket upgrades to bring them up to Third Generation standards. The rest I believe are T-72A/B export variants, but with plenty of reactive armor to deal with and neutralize potential threats in and around the Kashmir/Bammu border regions.

The painting process itself was split into three distinct zones. The rear was painted with a basecoat of Citadel Jokaero Orange with a highlight of Citadel Fire Dragon Bright. As I've grown more skilled in painting, I've tried to move away as much as I can from Citadel's paints. I know many people swear by them, but to me they've always come across as of poorer quality than Vallejo, and I don't do good with fancy names when trying to match up colors. However, in this case Vallejo only makes MAYBE 3 orange colors that are truly orange and not just some shade or tint of red/yellow, so I had my hands tied.

The center portion, much to my relief, was done up once again in Vallejo colors. I typically basecoat my models in black, just because it gives my heavy-handed painting a bit more leeway when it comes to applying colors. However, in this case I did up the whole model in white and went from there. As such, the center portion didn't need much attention beyond a light wash and some Vallejo Offwhite highlights. One thing I hate though is painting in whites, as there just isn't enough room left to really work highlights, I mean, the basecoat was in Vallejo Ivory which is basically three or four degrees darker from pure white, but at that point can your eyes really detect the highlighted bits? I have the same issue when painting in blacks... even the highlight ends up being the absolute darkest gray I have, and it drives me up a wall and through the ceiling.

The front portion was done in Vallejo Flat Green with a Vallejo Olive Green highlight of all raised bits.

The top of the turret was a pain in the ass to do. I'm not going to sugar-coat it... I never, ever want to paint the center of the Indian flag again. Vallejo Turquoise was the base, and I layered on Vallejo Light Turquoise in raised areas to help add some depth and bring out the finer edges.

For this tank, all the while I was painting it I was trying to figure out some kind of narrative for it. While I do love to paint these things up, I'm also a big fan of storytelling in the process so that each piece has its own unique character that comes out with the paint job. For this guy, I figured there was no way in hell anyone would drive this tank into battle. The white and orange basically scream for enemy attention, and the highly visible blue donut on the top of the turret would act as a targeting bulls' eye for aircraft. Anyone nutty enough to drive this thing into a combat situation must have a deathwish.I saw the tank more in a ceremonial or parade role, perhaps escorted the Parade Marshall or serving as a centerpiece for a photo shoot. Basically, its role was not to fight India's enemies but to maintain India's strength and act as an avatar for continued strength in the face of adversity.

Now that I've handed off the tank to my friend, I was cleared to toss up pictures onto the web. I hope you like it, and let me know what you think!

-Hands