Modeling project, Uncategorized

2K11A/9M8M Krug-A Ganef

My good friend Vladimir Bocanin is a prolific builder. On a good year, he finishes more kits in a month than I build in a year. Lately, he’s been running a massive backlog of unpainted kits. Something like fifty-two. FIFTY-TWO. Let that sink in. He builds mostly weird middle-eastern field-modded armor and technicals as well as Eastern bloc armor and the occasional modern NATO subject.

I’ve been bugging him for years now to let me paint at least one of his numerous unpainted-yet builds. In January he finally agreed to let me paint this humongous SAM launcher.

I’ve opted for a museum vehicle, inspired partly by a picture taken by Massimo Foti, though I made it slightly less distressed and weathered than I would have liked and kept it a bit cleaner. I also somewhat limited the weathering passes to get it done asap.

An interesting project on many counts, my thanks to Vlad for letting me have a go at one of his kits!

Project Specs

  • Trumpeter Soviet 2K11A TEL with 9M8M Missile Krug-A (SA-4 Ganef) (Ref #09523) built by Vladimir Bocanin.
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Uncategorized

Defense Implications of Scotland’s Possible Independence

One major aspect of Scotland’s eventual accession to independence is the implication for both its defense and that of the remaining parts of the United Kingdom. The later’s massively integrated military organization would no doubt go through some severe reconfiguration. But how would it affect both nations? Would it be a good or a bad thing? For someone living in Québec, this is an interesting topic since pretty much the exact same questions would arise here too should La Belle Province ever get back to its now twice repealed independence fever.

Generally, people defending the YES option appear to be sugar-coating their forecasts. Conversely, people for the NO team do the exact opposite and tend to form a rather bleak picture of the future. Nothing new here. But what are the defense topics currently at stake?

French publication Défense et Sécurité Internationale #105 has an article from defense specialist Romain Mielcarek who wrote a quick and dirty overview of some of the hot topics. Here’s a quick rundown of a couple of aspects of Scotland and United Kingdom’s defense that would be affected by Scotland’s independence.

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