Any offers on a good way to "winterize" German steel helmets?

Paint grey then dry brush (off) white?

Paint (off) white and "chip" to reveal the grey / metal?

Others??

Thanks in advance!

- Steve

Ola Steve

I'm don't remember it completely how I did it last time I painted a winter camo on a helmet but I believe it was something among the lines of Painting the Helmet grey or green. When that was dry paint it white. doesn't need to cover all the grey may be a bit shoddy. Then take a piece of tissuepaper and dip it a couple of times on the white when it is still wet. Chip the edges of the helmet a bit and I added some groundcolored washes on top of it. The result should be something like this:




This would be my technique... In my opinion it looks good and it is quick

with friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Never tried this, as I dont do figures at all... But why not try a bit of sponge dipped in your colour of choice. Dab it on as required just like you would to apply paint chips.. You could vary the amount of "wear" as you like...


Dave

I'm with Dave. I would paint and weather the helmet in a non-winter version, then i would apply some masking, then shoot it with white paint, then remove the mask.

Cheers, fellas!

These all seem like good methods to try. So I think I'll experiment a bit on a few tin hats and see which one works best for me.

- Steve

Another way (which works well) is to paint the helmet as normal and dry brush with white acrylic. Do it very sparingly and gradually build up the white - if you want to give it a more 'used' look, use a gentle touch with some steel wool to scratch off the white.

Or put a white cloth on the helmet, that was done on regular basis as well.

All great tips, I usually drybrush on white (the poor quality paint used often washed off over time) then add a few chips.
Another method I have yet to try is to paint on the grey with enamels and once dry to spray hairspay over the helmet, then airbrush/paint with white acrylic, give the white a couple of minutes (no longer) then use a fine brush dipped in water start to rub at areas where you want chips. The solvent in the hairspray will react with the water and take off the white paint giving a realistic chipped/flaked paint effect if done properly.
This is usually used for winter whitewash on AFV's so you'll have to be delicate doing it on a small area like a helmet.
Let me know if you have any success!

Good luck with what ever technique you use,

James