N is for Ninja Turtles - Ukraine Style!

This is the lead-in to several posts on the products of this Ukrainian company, eponymously titled 'Ukraine'! The full title is (or was) Ukrainian Collectible Paper Soldiers but I will tag them Ukraine.

Firstly a disclaimer; normally I don't cover new production from that part of the world, it invariably gets announced by the PSTSM as 'unknown Russian', then gets named, then turns out (99% of the time) to actually have a Ukrainian address, before being - sometimes - legitimised with an owner's interview in Plastic Warrior magazine.

Why don't I cover it? By the time it's been ID'd properly and/or legitimised it has also been covered-the-heck-out-of on Treefrog in Plastic Warrior magazine and on Stads,. Also; the bulk of the product will be sold to collectors, so is never going to have or hold either the rarity of vintage plastic, or the ephemeral quality of the rack-toy/99p stuff.

Whilst; before it's been legitimised, there remains a chance it may well be an exercise in raising hard cash for who knows what organisation in a place where people's grannies are regularly shelled in villages they've survived-in since the Panzers rolled. Not something I want on my conscience.

However, A) these have come from the owner, who assures me the very turbulence I refer to above has curtailed their production and B) they are not plastic, so Treefrog and PW are unlikely to cover them!

The first of several posts finds us looking at the least 'conventional' of the various items in the range, a range which I like the look of - and those who found the Blog early enough will know I do like paper-flats!

These are apparently affectionately known as 'Ninja Turtles', and are expediency-produced ('ersatz' if you like!) AFV's on a UAZ van/lorry chassis. Used by first line boarder troops in the early phases of the 2014/15 conflict as a stop-gap with both fire-power and personal-protection from fragments. The models are scaled to between 54 and 60mm

As I understand it the vehicles were produced by pro-government/pro-Independent Ukraine (pro-democracy - if you like!) factories or workshops with the technical know-how and/or tools/materials and were paid for by ordinary citizens, following the flight of the puppet President and the Putin-inspired insurgencies in Crimea and the Donbas. [Perhaps my blog will now be hacked by Little/Big Bear and the resulting 'secrets' sent to Trumptonville!]

Well . . . you're not going to escape politics on this one, and the sets wear their hearts on their sleeve! It’s a blue and yellow one.

It's ironic, that with all the hi-tech weaponry swilling around in a world knee-deep in such stuff, these would be recognised by the anti-Fascists of 1920's Ireland (oh yes we were - read-up on the Black'n'Tans!), 1930's Spain, 1940's Warsaw or 1950's Cuba (oh yes you were, mafia-sponsored regime - to a man - Fulgencio Batista!) all of whom produced AFV's from steel-plate, as did the Home Guard and - of course; famously - Clint Eastwood! Or for that matter, Ned Kelly, but his didn't have wheels!

Thanks to Mark Sergeyev at Ukrainian for the pictures.