Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

How accurate would PSC late-war soviet infantry be as late-war Finnish troops? Looking at Grey Wolf the Finns appear to have similar weapons and helmets.

Helmets are wrong. The Finn style is more German. You don't really want to have a uniform style or gear that looks predonimately like the guy you are fighting against.

http://mosinnagant.net/finland/Finn-Helmets.asp

Good site for Finnish helmet pictures. I think there is a discussion on one of the "Italian" helmets down the page that indicates it was given to artilery and rear area troops due to its similarities to Russian design.

Shotgun wrote:Helmets are wrong. The Finn style is more German. You don't really want to have a uniform style or gear that looks predonimately like the guy you are fighting against.

http://mosinnagant.net/finland/Finn-Helmets.asp

Good site for Finnish helmet pictures. I think there is a discussion on one of the "Italian" helmets down the page that indicates it was given to artilery and rear area troops due to its similarities to Russian design.

The Finns wore a wide variety of helmet styles, including captured Soviet helmets. My BF Finns have a mixture of WWI-era German, WW2 German, Soviet, and Italian heads/helmets, as well as field caps.

The problem with using Russians is that most infantry (including PSC) wear the "puffy" breeches and the Russian field cap. Finnish kit was more like the Early War Wehrmacht - close breeches, short tunics, Jager-style field caps (when not helmeted), and jack boots.

This is a good resource if you plan on playing Finns:

http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/MAIN.html

Hello guys, after a good think about how I would create reasonable looking Finnish infantry (Summer 1944) I decided to modify the PSC late war Soviets.

Yes, there are quite a few differences and I am having to convert parts - not least the helmets - to make them more 'Finnish', but I reckon these are the best compromise (for 1/72 scale). Here's a couple of pictures of my early tests - see what you think...





The helmets were modified by shaving the Soviet helmet into a squarer shape then adding some Milliput putty to make them look more like WW1 German helmets (which were common among the artillery troops which these models are supposed to be). By this late stage in the war the German 1939 steel helmet was common among the Finnish infantry, so I intend to mix and match the PSC Soviets with parts from the PSC German (early war) infantry.

Using the Soviet bodies is good because of the light-weight webbing the Finns used and also the Mosin Nagant rifle (same as the Soviets) and the Soviet PpSH SMG is a passible likeness for the standard Finnish SMG. And by adding bits and pieced from early and late war German figures you can supply them with the correct helmets, field caps and weapons like the Panzerfaust.

I admit this is a bit of a fiddley job, but if I set up a production line I should be able to churn out my infantry at a fair rate. Obviously - as you can tell from my photos - it's not perfect, but I hope they don't look too bad.

Some Finnish infantry used Swedish, Czech, Italian or a locally made helmet which are easily converted from the Soviet helmets (the Italian and Czech helmets are dead easy to fudge)...

As I said, I looked at all sorts of different ideas - including just using unmodified early war Germans - but the PSC late war Soviets just seemed to have the better personal equipment for passing as Finns (summer uniform).

Winter: If you are thinking of doing late war (1943 onwards) winter Finns, then Starlets make a set of soft plastic figures in 1/72, which include winter equipment and skis, etc.

The fins did steal russian uniforms and did behind the lines raids but it was uncommon for regular troops to wear russian uniform. Helms and weapons yes, they used everything they could get their hands on. It would be more accurate to use german models over russian for base troops. Would be standard Wehrmacht uniforms without any camo webbing would be the closest without getting finnish models.