NEIGHBORS : Uniform Collection : An Ojai woman with a collection of 70 Girl Scout outfits can easily trace the evolution of the familiar style over several decades.

Thanks to many years of dedicated gathering--and with help from the local Tres Condados Girl Scout Council--Matilda Armstrong of Ojai has a collection of more than 70 Girl Scout uniforms in her closet. Those uniforms are featured on the March page of the council’s 1992 calendar, on sale later this month.

So how, or why, does one begin collecting Girl Scout uniforms?

With five children involved in scouting, Armstrong discovered how expensive it can be to keep a growing child outfitted. She set up a cost-saving clothing exchange program to help other parents avoid the same predicament. One thing led to another and there she was with a sizable collection.

“The oldest ones we have are from about 1917 or ‘18,” she said. “They are made out of khaki. Of course, the early ones were sort of military.” Armstrong can recite the evolution of the Girl Scout uniform without much difficulty. She can tell you when they were switched to gray-green (late 1920s), all green (1940s) and why some are now blue (it was the color of the original uniforms in England.)

And the styles? “Early camp uniforms were middies and bloomers,” she said. “Of course, the very earliest Girl Scouts just had long skirt uniforms down to their ankles, but they found that wasn’t very practical.”

P.S.: Collecting is the rule in the Armstrong household. Matilda’s husband, Ursel S. Armstrong (initials U.S.A.), has accumulated about 17,000 postcards and organized them into various categories, including Christmas and Valentine’s Day themes and cards from around the world.

Remember Camarillo’s Alan Tratner, director of Inventors Workshop International? He is leading a two-week delegation scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Monday to spread environmental knowledge to the folks over there.

The group, sponsored by People to People International, is made up of engineers, scientists, educators, government officials and industrialists.

“The Soviet Union is in horrible shape. They are suffering from decades and decades of abuse,” said Tratner. “The team will be addressing areas of environmental protection, technology and alternative energy sources. Obviously they have to come up with something better than their Chernobyl-type reactor.”

Russian rule-ettes: In preparation for the trip, the delegates were sent a book (a red book, incidentally) of Soviet etiquette, customs and suggestions. Some of the things Tratner found particularly helpful:

* Gifts of gratitude: “A gift of pantyhose to a Soviet hotel floor lady is most recommended,” said Tratner.

* Hotels: “Even though we’ll be in the best hotels,” he said, “we should bring toilet paper, soap and even a sink stopper.”

* Black market: The book emphasizes that travelers selling items such as Levi’s jeans are risking “arrest and prosecution.” When someone approaches a tourist for this purpose, the book suggests, “Just say nyet.”

* Topics of discussion: “It says to stay away from sensitive issues,” said Tratner, “like Soviet Jews and the Baltics.”