Updating my wall display

I recently decided to display my Borodino and GM2 analysis sets inside this cube I have hanging on my wall, so as to free up some space on my cabinet:

As soon as I placed the display inside the cube, I knew it would be a temporary solution, as the bottom row was sticking out, and the set in the back was too close to the ceiling of the cube, shrouded in shadow.

So I painted another wooden display in the same color as the cube (see below). To be pedantic, if the shelves of the display unit were spaced just a bit further apart (a spacing somewhere in between the old and new display unit), that would have been perfect. But overall, I’m quite happy with the result.

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You might also have noticed that between the two images, the finial of the black Borodino queen changed from white to yellow–brown…

I decided the single white finial stood out too much, so I painted it to simulate wood (close-up photo below). I mean, I didn’t paint any wood grain, so up close the uniform surface betrays the fact that it’s plastic. But when viewed from a conventional distance, I think it blends in very well. I used a mix of Army Painter Basilisk Brown and a bit of Vallejo Mud Brown.

Pink colour as background looks good, all pieces are visible very well.

Beautiful

"Seize the Lilac" !!

Beautiful sets, both. Thanks for sharing these - many of us are always interested! You seem to have a serious and focused interest in Soviet and ‘Soviet adjacent’ design. How many sets have you managed to acquire at this point (including current reproductions)? Which designs have eluded you so far? And am I wrong in my first assumption (apologies if so - assuming is usually a fool’s bet).

I hit my limit with Soviet design (or so I thought until I saw your post 🤓). I love the designs, but *think* I have enough… That said, I do have one ‘on order’ and am always tempted by others…

Thank you! I have 28 Soviet sets, and two reproductions. Below are the two repros. I would love to get the real ones, but the Averbakh I is way outside of my budget, and the Soviet Staunton I may be able to afford just barely, but I’ve never seen one for sale. I plan to get a set of more authentic knights made at some point, and refinish the white pieces in lighter ivory. I think at that point the repro will look authentic enough where I no longer feel the need to spend a lot on the real carbolite set.

Beyond that, there are quite a few Soviet sets on my wishlist, but they’re either rare or very expensive. I would love to get the following:

• Smyslov
• BFII type 3
• An older dark red BFII type 5 (the latest variant with the panther knights)
• Vsekokhudozhnik
• Ferocious Knights
• Egyptian
• “Silanovskie” (a lesser-known Mordovian variant)
• A regular-size Mordovian (I have three mini-versions from 1948, 1951, and 1954, but not the common version)
• A Soviet Upright with slender stems
• Chagal
• A ’50s Voronezh with flame finials on the kings

So that’s my bucket list. But I couldn’t say whether I would stop collecting if I had all these sets. In fact, I have sort of gotten into collecting Mordovian variants, and while some of them aren’t at the top of my wish list, I would love to get all existing variants.

I will say though that the expansion of my collection has been halted. I still have three sets coming my way which Alexander Chelnokov has been holding for me (a ’50s dark red Valdai, a tournament-size Red Combine to go with my small version, and that 1948 mini Mordovian I mentioned above), but I haven’t bought any new sets for myself in a while (I did get a mini Red Combine for my wife)…

My monthly budget has been going towards buying Soviet camera lenses lately. It started with the idea of documenting my sets using age-appropriate Soviet lenses, but now it seems I’ve become a Soviet lens collector. Here you can see a few photos I took with a 1936–1937 lens from Ukraine: Photographing Soviet chess sets with Soviet lenses

Above you can see four of my Soviet lenses (another is on the way), and on the second shelf are a German and a Japanese lens as well.

You have a nice wall.

Thank you!