Ahoy there. Just got some 1:35 German figures and wanted to paint them in winter camo. Any experts on winter camo? Help!

Well, German "snow" camo was simply white reversible parkas and parts with a splinter scheme on the opposite side, so I'm guessing you are looking for help in painting white.
My best white was a on a continental sailor. I started with a medium gray and added darker gray shadows then started builging up he highlights in lighter grays and off white with pure white only for the brightest, topmost highlights. This was achieved by layering thin coats of Vallejo acrylics.

The reverse colour of the garment depends on the item and period. Not all garments were reversable, but for those that were field grey (feldgrau) would probaly be the most generic. The camouflage also depends on whether you're portraying Heer, WSS, or paratroopers (Luftwaffe).

Yes, the "snow" side was white, but it was prone to wear fairly quickly and tinted yellow, grey or brown or combinations thereof.

Jaume Ortiz did a "Modelling Falschirmjager figures" book with Osprey a few years ago. Don't be fooled by the title, the techniques demonstrated are applicable to various subjects, but key to this discussion is that he and his co-writer put a fantastic winter scene together and he demonstrates about 3 different "recipes" for painting the white side of padded and reversible jackets and trousers, with different visual results in each case (as it should be as not all clothing wears or fades the same).

Which figures do you have?

And what medium are you painting in?

Rudi

Thanks for the replies guys!

@ Al - Clever method you have there my friend. I'll give that a try.

@ Rudi - I have Dragon 1:35 kits: German (sorry I forget the name of the kit but it's the Cherkassy 1994 variant) & German Snipers. Unfortunately, I work with Tamiya enamels. But I'm saving up on Tamiya acrylics.

Don't use Tamiya colors for painting! Everybody here seems to favour Vallejo and most of my colors are Humbrol. But I've had bad experiences with using enamel colors for white clothes. Acrylics are much better.

DON'T TTRY THIS AT HOME!
Seriously, if you're planning on doing any significant amount (like even one) figure painting, don't waste your time in Tamiya acrylics unless you also have a time machine that can bring you back to 1983 when their formulation was quite rush frindly and I painted quite a few figures using their paint. Back about 15-17 years ago, the formulation changed.Paint dried in the mixing bowl. A fresh brushful touched previously applied paint and lifted it completely up. Attempts to correct this just made things worse. While some folks with advanced degrees in alchemy who are willing to concoct these elaborate mixtures of (proprietary) thinner and/or esoteric ingredients and the patience of Job to allow each brush stroke to dry for several hours before applying the next may have some success with Tamiya acrilycs, Vallejo offers a truly economical, brush friendly paint (for which the manufacturer recommends distilled water from the pharmacy or grocery as a thinner) redesigned to work on figures in a far greater array of colors than Tamiya ever did.

m3orm5 -

Not sure if this will help and I'm sure you'll do much better, but this 'Vignette' I did with Dragon Fallschirmjaeger figures was fun anyway. Used Vallejo and mild washes then 'chipped' helmets some.


Blade48mrd

I've heard great things about Vallejo acrylics, and I would very much like to use them. But, unfortunately, here in South-East Asia, specifically here in the Philippines, we don't have stores selling Vallejo acrylics. So based on your feed backs, i'll have to stick with the enamels I have, for now. Or would you guys suggest other brands?

Thanks. Peace out.

Mike Durr - what did you use for the snow? Are those trees scratch built?

Luckymodel sells them.

You can get decent looking figures using a combination of Tamiya acrylics and Tamiya enamels if Valejo isn't an option. First airbrush the figures a mixture of 50% buff and 50% white in acrylics. After this only use Tamiya enamels with Tamiya thinners. Paint the shadows using a mixture of a dark grey with a touch of dark brown colour and white to vary the shadow, the deeper the crease the darker the colour. You need to add thinner to your mixture to make it a thinnish consistency. Basically your using the layering method to build up layers of darker or lighter colours. Getting the right paint consistency and amount on the brush is vital. When you paint the shadow use a single stroke of 2/0 brush. Using multiple strokes over and over again ruins it. You know when you are doing it right when you barely just notice the difference in colour. You have too much paint on your brush when you stop your stroke and you see that the paint pools at the spot where you stop. So your brush must be wet but not soaking with diluted paint. You do the same with highlights with a mixture of buff and white and thinner. The higher the crease the more white you add. For very thin prominent creases use the side of your brush not the tip - it will look better.

Here are three photos below. The first two were my first attempt at winter camouflage using the above steps. The third was taken at a modelling show and was entirely painted with Tamiya enamels including the faces, and to see it close up they were incredibly well painted figures. So you don't need to use Vallejo, but a lot of the top modellers use them and they do amazing figures.

hi there, tamiya acrylic paints will do for the uniforms and enamel for detailing. here's a good example for winter scheme...flesh and white colors were done in acrylics. the soil and mud plus the linings were enamel. for the flesh....try this..paint the skin with flat flesh and for finale..a mild clear red to enhance the flesh tone.





hope this will help..! ed

@m3orm5: Have you tried Special Toy Center in Binondo? I know they carry Vallejo products -- might be worth checking it out. I would also try the suggestions given above on handling enamels and acrylics. I think you can still get a decent outcome using those media.

@Ed: Haven't thought of using clear red -- might try that sometime. Thanks for the tip.

Cheers

Tat

m3orm5 -

I used the Woodland Scenics Snow and applied with thinned white glue. 'Painted' glue on trees and sprinkled more snow on. These trees were 'Christmas Village' scene trees purchased from a local craft store and came in Winter theme, I just added to it.

Blade48mrd

@Brett - Wow! That looks good, mate. Thanks for the lesson. I'll give it a try sometime.

@Ed - Hey. Excellent work, clear red eh? hmmm..

@Tat - Thanks sir. By the way, would you know how much a bottle of Vallejo cost?

@Mike - I'll look around for something close to Woodland Scenics.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Peace out!

Sorry m3orm5, have no idea how much they sell it. I just recalled they do carry it when I had a chat with the owner sometime back. You can check with their site: http://www.specialtoycenter.com/index.php?page_request=home. Cheers -- Tat