http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=19325
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1645ANAN.A. Grigoriev.mdl
For "Anarchist Nikifor Ataman Grigoriev"???

1640GRND. Terpylo.mdl
Danylo(Daniel?) TERPYLO
(Ataman Zeleny: "great cossak leader of the Green Army")
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1) Clear out the background of the original (either via a copy tool or a delete tool)

2) Adjust the coulours:
 I have given up on finding out via which tool the special look of RUS leader graphics was created, instead I use a simple formula which gets me close enough:
 Take a black and white add 50 red, 10 yellow and 20 contrast.

3) Create an Army.png file:
a) Scale your picture to the right size. (Just take the existing ones as example, I use an empty Army.png with markings to save time).
Name: Army_0000.png Size: 10.9 KB
b) do some cosmetiques around the edges.

4) Create a Unit.png file:
a) Create an empty Unit.png or use mine. Its not perfect, but it serves its purpose.
Name: Unit_0000.png Size: 8.9 KB
b) Scale your picture to the right size.
c) Insert it: once you have scaled a historical picture down to the right size you copy it with ctrl + c onto the unit.png.
 After that your unit.png has two layers one above the other.
 In Gimp (I take it from your post that is the software you are using) ctrl + h merges these layers into one. 
d) Copy the frame above it:
 After you have unified the layers the general will probably cover the silvery frame.
 In order to change that select the frame (and only the frame) and copy it above the rest of the picture. Ctrl + h again and you are done.
((There is a much more elegant way using a blending technique with different layers. It saves the trouble of step d) entirely.
 But it is also more complicated.))

5) Naming conventions:
Unit and Army png must share the same name:
example:
Unit.png: Unit_RED_Zhukov.png
Army.png: Army_RED_Zhukov.png
The model file only references the Unit.png in the line "Portrait =". 