RUSSIAN FLORA UNIFORMS. FIGURES SET

The pattern known at home as the watermelon

The Russian Flora pattern field uniform appeared at the end of the 1990s and accompanied soldiers through the whole following decade. It was not made of blotches but of vertical bands of green, olive and brown, meant to break up the outline of a figure in tall grass and in broadleaf cover. Because of its colors, soldiers nicknamed it after the watermelon. It was replaced only by the later pixel pattern, so today Flora appears mainly on figures set at the turn of the millennium and in the conflicts of the first half of the 2000s.

Four shades that make sense together

The package is not a random selection of bottles. The basis is two greens, a medium Russian green referenced to the FS 34092 standard and a dark olive green, FS 34130, joined by a red-brown for the brown element of the pattern and a black intended for lining. With that you draw thin lines into the folds of the cloth, into the seams and under the webbing, which on a small figure stands in for the shadow that would otherwise be lost.

Where else they suit

The shades are not confined to the cloth itself. The same green can be used on canvas bags, on pouches and on wooden crates around the figure; the red-brown serves for rust and for leather webbing, and the black for gun barrels, for boot soles and for small metal fittings. The set thus covers a whole figure along with what it carries.

A procedure that has proved itself

Paint from the bottom up: first a continuous green area, then, once dry, the vertical bands of the other two shades drawn in freehand, and finally the lining. The paints are water-thinnable, so a brush need only be rinsed in water, but the dry film already resists water. For a brush it is best to mix them to the consistency of cream, and noticeably thinner for an airbrush.