28 June 2015

West German Police & Border Guards

Yes - it's been a long time and it looks like I've been doing nothing - quite the opposite in fact - just nothing that I can post here - until the weekend, when I dragged myself out of my sick bed to take these photos.

First of all - I must say all the figures come from Elhiem - possibly the best source of 1980s Cold War era figures - I heartily recommend them.

Next - these I the photos I used as a guide to try and paint the figures - bear in mind I know next to nothing about the West German Police and Border Guards in the 1980s (or any other time) so all I was trying to do was match the figures to the uniforms in the photos.  I beleive that these first two are of Police - quite possible I'm totally wrong...



While this one, may or may not be Border Guard


Considering the chap on the left has the word "Police" on his pocket doesn't help...

So I can't give any painting tips, or I used this here and that there, as I struggled to find a paint that matched (I expanded my Vallejo green slection considerable trying to get a match!) - so I mixed and mixed until I got what I thought looked OK.  Sadly this means that my remaining unpainted Police and Border Guard figures may never get painted as they will never look like these ones!

So onto the painted figures - not I painted them to be a single unit - the equivalent of an irregular "squad" plus a small command element.  The photos are by "look" rather than how the units would go together:




I'd split them into a GPMG Team of 3 (with the MG3), a light Anti-Tank/Rifle Team of 5 (with the Pzf 44) and a Command Team of 4 (with the girl with the radio).

Here's the obligatory group shot:


Hope you like 'em.

Richard




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6 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 29, 2015 at 10:47 AM

    Great work on the figures.

    Thanks for the reference pics too- they will be very handy.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  2. History PhDJune 29, 2015 at 6:46 PM

    The first two photos are indeed police. You are not mistaken

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 30, 2015 at 11:01 AM

    The top photo I believe is of the BGS as on the motorcycle it says Bundesgrenzschutz, which in english is Federal Border Guard. In the third photo the two men on the right are BGS from the shoulder patches they are wearing. Great job with the minis, they are great! Thank you for showing this to us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SparkerJuly 1, 2015 at 12:23 AM

    Great work mate! Second your thoughts on the quality of Elheim too BTW.

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  5. ChrisZJuly 1, 2015 at 2:09 AM

    Really a nice topic "our police" fighting back the red invasion :-)

    About the pictures:
    1) This is "Bundesgrenzschutz" (=Federal Borderguard) from the '80s/90s. Former "Bundesgrenzschutz" is now called "Bundespolizei" (=Federal Police) since 2005.
    2) The usual Police unform used throughout the 80s/90s. Can still be seen sometimes in some counties today.
    3) This shows some history of Bundesgrenzschutz uniforms (BG on the licence plate). On the left a current version. The woman wears the older version from the '80s/'90s, probably still used on special occasions today. The two men on the right are in very old uniforms from the '60s/'50s. The car on the right in the background is from about the same time.

    Really a nice topic and great paintjob.

    Regards,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  6. RichardCJuly 4, 2015 at 10:06 PM

    Thanks for the nice comments - but especially for the useful information! Great to have people with real knowledge around (unlike me!)

    Richard

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