hi guys,

I want to do something new (for me at least) and that is to paint some figures in the interesting camouflage most seen on figures of the Waffen SS, I think it is named pea dot pattern or something similar. A few questions though:

1. are the uniforms in this pattern identical to the plain ones from, say, the wehrmacht? in other words, can I use just any set of German soldiers or do I specifically need SS troops (or whatever the manufacturers call them to avoid the designation SS)?
2. if I indeed need a special set, which do you think is the best / most interesting set (looking at poses, etc). I prefer plastic, BTW.
3. does anybody have a link to a good reference site for these camo patterns?

best regards,
Harry

The 'Pea Pattern' or 'Erbsenmuster' was used only on SS uniforms - any late pattern tunic with straight cut pocket flaps (no scalloped edges and remember to remove Heer collar patches and breast eagle and shoulder flaps!) can be used, as well as SS pattern Panzer uniforms, and the two-piece reversible parka and pants combo. The usual SS style rank collar patches were supposed to be deleted from these uniforms and replaced with the sleave oak leaf and bar rank system, but exceptions always occurred. Depending on your sources, SS Fallschirmjager may or may not have had jump smocks in this pattern. I believe the SS pull-over camo smock was never printed with the Erbsenmuster - they had stopped producing this item by the time Erbsenmuster was being used. The DML set "Last Battle in Austria" has the figures wearing the very late waist length (similar to British Battle-dress) jackets. These items, plus pants, were also printed in Erbsenmuster. I don't know of any sites in particular, but just do an image search for 'erbsenmuster' and you will find plenty of useful pics of original items, re-inactment garments, detail shots, and other modeler's efforts of this camo pattern. When painting this pattern on your figures I find it helpful to increase the contrast between colors ie. make the dark colors darker than actual, and the light colors lighter than actual. This tonal separation makes the dot pattern more visible at normal viewing distances and not make an otherwise good paint job disappear in a brownish blur.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.epicmilitaria.com/shopimages/products/thumbnails/t_4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.epicmilitaria.com/section.php/113/1/ww2-waffen-ss-uniforms&usg=__oBpBcZW1HTJefFjN7Kyuy8IsaHk=&h=378&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=5yn3-3XrZ-kD0M:&tbnh=122&tbnw=97&ei=jCj5Te6_JYHd0QGsn82rCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dss%2Buniforms%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D1%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1
The first pic is the one you would be interested in. Although this is a reproduction garment it is a good representation of the late simplified style of jacket. In addition to making straight pocket flaps, you would also have to carve off the pocket pleats if you are going to use figures with standard Heer tunics. More:
http://www.warelics.com/images/SSdot44F.jpg
http://www.artizandesigns.com/guides/new/painters%20guide%201944%20German%20Erbsenmuster.gif
http://www.1944militaria.com/44_dot2.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.1944militaria.com/44_dot2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.1944militaria.com/waffen_ss_camouflaged_uniforms.htm&usg=__6DOKLFBgWn4FQ2Xx7g8n1llGqbQ=&h=450&w=311&sz=122&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=pygrAuLGFGN7jM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=88&ei=Qyv5Tb3RDpSq0AGYt9zACw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Derbsenmuster%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D1%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

thanks for all the info and links! And now to the hobbyshop and see what's available....

Harry