were medals worn in battle? Or just in posed photos?
Always - orders and medals were part of the uniform.
But such "collections" as our friend carries them came together only after the war.
.........................................................................................
28. Day, January 12, 2021
While the epaulettes dry out in front of you - I can't paint the insignia and piping beforehand! - I turn to the leather gear of our hero!
And there we come across a detail that actually didn't exist:
Our veteran wears the insignia of a non-commissioned officer rank (I'll come back to that in more detail), but his leather gear doesn't match at all!
Actually, he ought to wear the team belt - either the 1932 model ...
...or the model of 1939...
... where the belt lock was often painted in green for reasons of "Maskirowka" ...:
Instead, our veteran wears an officer's belt with a two-pin buckle, along with the shoulder strap that goes with it, which was also only reserved for officers ...
... and the shoulder strap on the wrong shoulder, namely on the left, while according to regulations it was actually to be worn over the right shoulder!
These leather things could have a wide variety of shades, from dark brown ...
... over red brown..
...up to "leather nature brown"...
... depending on the production location and available raw materials.
In addition there were some that were manufactured in the USA as part of the lend / lease agreement for the Red Army.
I decided on a medium shade, which I mixed together from these colors ...:
The dark purple intensifies the shadows, and I've added more skin color for the lights.
So far so good (?)...:
Gruß