Hello Everybody,


As perhaps some of you have noticed, I have tried to replicate the so-called “Hessian Tape”-Camouflage netting, which has been used by british armed forces during WWII on their vehicles. Because I was pleased by the result and perhaps others have tried to replicate this netting as well but have not found a convincing way of doing so, I made a short "How-To" which I want to present you here. I would be happy if some sort of discussion and of course ways to improve this method could emerge.Unfortunately, due to a little mishap with my camera, 2 or 3 pictures are out of focus. I do apologise, but because I didn` notice this early enough and counstruction progressed, we have to live with that. I have numbered the pictures so for reasons of easy understanding, one should mention the number if questions are to be asked.One thing in andvance: I am not an native english speaker, so, if you are not able to understand at a certain point because of my grammar or spelling, just please ask or drop me an PM.



Let`s go!



Pic 1: We need: olive green army wound bandage, in this case german army ones. I think that other armys supply these as well so this should not be a problem, water-soluble ehite/wood/PVA-glue, some tea filters (as big as possible and square-shaped for easier work, ), a pair of scissors, a soft brush with long hair (avoid hard brushes as you can easily ruin your work with these), some toothpicks, a pair of tweezers with a fine tip, some wire (use a diameter you like, depending on the model), some tissue paper or handkerchiefs,a small pot to mix something in and of course: a model. I strongly recommend NOT to use white wound bandages. You are risking to complicate things because these will leave white fluffy, well, fluffs which are hard to wipe of and it is likely that you will leave some white spots where you can`t reach with the airbrush. Just don`t risk it.




Pic 2: The first step: take a minute and have a look on your model to decide on which parts of your model no camouflage net should be applied. There`s no sense in hiding your models outstanding details. You also should, for reasons of reality, avoid adding camouflage netting to

- muzzles and optical equipment ofweapons
- rotating or moving parts like the lower part of the turret and hatches
- vision ports
- ventilators, fans and(on the real thing probably hot) exhaust pipes and air outlets
- lamps, reflectors and headlamps
- tracks and wheels or places, where the net could easily be torn apart by these

Sounds simple, but you should invest 2 minutes for this Now we will finally start with the fun part: the construction.



Pic 3: First thing is to get a tea filter and cut of the fold left and right. Keep the fold on the bottom where it is.



Pic 4: Now you have a double layer of tea filter which is held by the bottom fold.



Bild 5: Fold back the double layer (or just leave it, as it is. I`ve just unfold these for illustration), then bend it, that the bottom fold is eather on the right or left side. Bend it as often, as you can.



Bild 6: Now cut of small strips of the folded tea filter. for 1/35 scale i`ve tried to get strips with a width of aprox 2mm. You only need a minute to figure out, how to cut these best. If you like you can of course vary in width, regarding your taste and the scale of your model.



Pic 7: After some minutes you have plenty of these "strip-packages".



Pic 8: Now open these with the tweezers and pull out the single strips.



Pic 9: Now cut the strips in individual pieces variing in lenght.



Pic 10: I tried to gather an assortment of strips ranging in length from aprox. from 5mm to 5cm.



Pic 11: After some minutes I have quite a lot of strips, which I sorted for easier access while modelling the net.



Pic 12: Next step is to cut some strips of wound bandage, also differing in width.



Pic 13:Next step is to unroll your wound bandage an to cut it in little pieces, whereat you can tear apart the smaller ones easily with the tweezers. The biggest pieces of wound bandage which can bee seen in the picture are perhaps 1cm², the smallest ones consist just of few strings.



Bild 14: Afterwards you need to mix some PVA-glue with water. Not the biggest challenge for sure, but you have at least to avoid the mixture getting to thick or to thin. . If the mixture is to thinn, the tea filters and the bandage wont harden out properly, if the mixture is to thick, the bandage will not get soaked with the mixture; only some thick glue drops will form on the surface of the bandage. Just try before you applie the mixture on the bandage.



Pic 15: If you like to do so, you can use some thin wire to replicate strings holding the netting. I tried this with some wire, which is only knotted around the armour ring of the drivers periscopes and fixed with a small drop af instant glue.



Pic 16: Now you can apply some netting on the model for the first time and fix it with the water/glue-mixture. I prefer using smaller pieces of bandage instead of one big net, because I am able to work forward step for step to achieve the result I desire. So I am able to put each small part on the exact location. The excess of work to cut the bandage is manageable. Now you can also apply the first strips of tea filters. In this stage of the process you are free to use some longer strips, as these will be covered with netting later. So, nobody will see, that these are in fact real long strips. Thus will save you some work, cutting the strips. The main advantage of using longer strips is in fact that it is much more easier to give some effects to them like curves, bends, sharp bends, knots and els than it would be with shorter strips.





Bild 17: During the whole process, I am repeatedly touching the netting with some tissue paper to soak excess glue of the model. Otherwise the glue could settle as a kind of film, destroying the structure of the netting. You also minimize the risk of glue running over your model. It is posible to add more glue, if necessary, perhaps if the netting is not going to harden properly. Removing excess glue is much more difficult, so you should not use to much at once. Adding glue at a later time is, as mentioned, possible everytime.



Pic 18: The easiest way to apply the net is to give a small amount of the glue/water-mixture on the model, apply the net, wait until it sticks to the surface and than to dab the net with a soft brush and the mixture. So the net cann settle on the model and you can now use the brush, tweezers and toothpicks to push and pull it the way you like..



Pic 19: Now you can, step after step and piece after piece, cover the area you want to be furnished with the net. In this stage you should add holding strings and some tea filter strips until you have coverd your model with a basic layer of net and strips.



Pic 20: While appliing the base coat of net and strips you can already add some effects to your model. In my example, Tamiya`s Cromwell i left some parts of the turret and the holding strings uncovered to replicate the effect of a camouflage net slipped of the turret and hanging down the side. So you can achieve a nice contrast between the straight turret side and the woven net. The strings showing through the net are also some nice details.

Pic 21: The next thing is, to add some smaller pieces of bandage to give some volume to the net. You shpuld also no cover some parts of the longer strips with netting to let it look like these were in fact several different smaller strips woven into the net. The crossovers of several strips and longer parts marked here......



Pic 22: ...... are now covered with small and smallest pieces of bandage so that the whole net looks more entangled and mixed up. Some sort of controlled chaos. So you can achieve a 3-dimensional look, even if the whole mess is only 1-2 mm thick.


Pic 23: By now comes the main work: one should cover the whole basic layer aforementioned with pieces of bandage and tea filter strips until you raech the desired result. The pieces of either strips or netting should vary in length and shape to give the whole thing a chaotic look.This way you can end up with some very delicate patterns. The very small parts marked here......



Pic 24: ....... are now covered on one end with the smalles pieces of netting which are really only some single strings. With this extra effort, you can replicate a look of strips coming out of the deeper parts of the net and avoid the look of strips disposed without any attatchment on the net.



Pic 25: In this picture you can see some effects on the strips by using strips distorted between your fingers or with some bend effects made using tweezers and toothpicks.



Pic 26:Next step is the gun barrel. Here you should pay some attention and work very carefully because the metal is very slippery when wet and you are rusking the barrel to slip out of your fingers easily.



Pic 27: Here we follow the procedure and first add a basic layer of netting and long strips. In my opinion it is indeed very interessting to add some strips which show some respect to physical laws by hanging down as the would in reality.. You only have to make sure, that the strips and the net are hanging down . You have to pay attention about the orientation of your gun barrel which in my case is indicated by the openings in the muzzle break. It won`t look very convincing if the nett would stand to the side in a 90-degree-angle when dried, so check this before letting the glue settle.



Pic 28: More and more, step by step......



Pic 29: ........ with small pieces of bandage.....



Pic 30: ......and our tea filter strips, with which I created some effects with the methodes allready known.



Pic 31: Here we will also get rid of excess glue from time to time.



Pic 32: We slowly build up our net as we have done before.



Pic 33: Also now an old friend: thin wire attached to replicate strings holding the net



Pic 34: The final result. I recommend to place the barrel in its mounting to let it dry. This way you can use your fingers to correct the placement of the net hanging down after. aprox. 30 minutes when the glue starts to settle, .



Pic 35: Bevor the glue settles definitely I use some twezers with a sharp tip to loosen the net from parts of the models on which the net is sticking to due to the soaking effect of the glue. This way you can avoid unrealistic effects.



Pic 36:As long as the glue is wet you are almost unably to see the strips but when the glue settles, the strips are clearly visible and rock hard..



Pic 37: To avoid that the net is sticking to much to the structures of the vehicle forming a carpet-like layer, I use some tweezers to pull it up here and there while it is still wet. Especially on edges I try to replicate the effect of a net beeing under tension.Also on straight surfaces you can add some volume this way picking the net in an unregular way. It is ideal not to use the basic layer on net and strips for this but one of the upper layers to add an 3dimensinal effect so that you can look through the upper net to the lower net. This adds a great effect of an entangled multi-layer net.



Pic 38: As soon as the glue has dreid thouroghly, best overnight, I use a nail clipper to get rid of annoying little pieces of string which will occur unavoidably. A piece of string in scale size of 30cm pointing straight upwards towards heaven looks more than unrealistic. This work is done within few minutes and gratly enhances the overall appereance of the model. Therefor you should take some minuts to avoid anger later.







Pics 39, 40 und 41: The completed model.

The complete netting took me 6-7 hours but of course I first had to find the technique. It can be done pretty fast if you know how to do anfter some practice. I really hope that you like the result and the methods I described. Critics, comments and any suggestions are highly appreciated. Again, if you are not able to understand a single point because of the language barrier just ask.


Best Regards from Germany

Dennis

Dennis,

That looks REALLY good, and it seems much easier than what I've seen previously done. Thank you!

I would like to see how you now paint it up. Please follow up with more photos after painting.

Looks great Dennis .... very believeable. Nice one mate.

That does look a very good method for making this type of camouflage net and gives me an idea. Would this work if laid onto plastic card stock and allowed to dry, then lifted off of the plastic card giving you a sheet of material to work with?

I would think it would be too stiff to be really workable if done like that, but maybe...

Hello Everybody,

Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you like it.

@Jesse: You can bet that I am as curious about the panting stage. As I can not see any easy way, it seems like it will take some longerlasting painting sessions. I`va just primed the turret with Tamiya-Primer which looks really nice. But I will not have enough time to start painting soon. But I will keep up with some pictures someday.

@Frank: I didn`t like the available sets like the Blackdog-Hessian Tape as I feel that they are not really realistic. So I am very glad that I managed to get a result which others and, of course, myself regard as convincing, especially if it will only cost some cents for materials. Thanky for your kind words

@Darren: Well, I never tried this as I`ve never figured a reason for this. What do you want to do with this plates? Do you just want them to take of for better painting? The placement on the model itself is not this difficult. On the other hand, I feel that Jesse is absolutely right because the netting and the strips are really rock-hard as soon the glue has dried. So I won`t recommend the way you are describing but, as I said, I would be interested to know what is behind your idea and what you want to achieve with this. So let us hear a word or two. Perhaps we can find a way together.

I will spend some minutes these days to correct these lousy spelling mistakes. I wrote it late in the night so perhaps I was to tired. I added some more pics on which you can see the Cromwell from some other angles and my experiments in building the crew members. Nothing to spectacular, but perhaps worth a show.

Best Regards

Dennis

Jesse and Dennis I was just thinking a sheet of material would be easier to paint.

Great tip and how to thread, Dennis. Thanks.

I think I see where Darren is going with the plastic card bit and he may be on to something.

Dennis, is it possible, in staying with Darren's suggestion, to keep the whole assembly together and still have some flexibility?

Also, Dennis, beyond military bandaging materials (usually found at surplus stores in the U.S.), Kerlix bandaging (available at any drug store/apothecary) would also work well for this technique.

And your English is fine.

Hello Everybody,

@Darren: I now see the point. When I thought about how to best replicate the hessian tape camouflage netting on my Cromwell I also had the idea to model it in a way wich would enable me to take it of for the painting process. I thought about wrapping the model with this thin wraping foil people use to wrap their sandwiches in. I soon afterwards decided to apply the netting directly on the model because I could not seen an advantage because the main problem, painting the strips entangled in the netting, would still ocur this way. I am, at the moment, very confident that I will manage to give a base coat of colour to the net even when it is allready appliied to the model. If you look at picture 34 you will see on the right end of the barrel that the net there consists of only few threads glued onto the model. The same can bee seen at pic 41 on the top of the left stowage case. I dont think that one will be able to loose this net from the model without damaging everything. Perhaps it will work for very small nettings, but I am very sceptic if one can manage this for nets covering a bigger part of the vehicle. Sure one can give it a try, but, as for me, there will be no major advantage.

@Jim: Thanks for your kind words. As I said above: I doubt the possibility of removing the net without damaging it and, as the "direct apply" method seems to work well for me, I am happy with this. Of course, on the other hand, I am very courious if others succeed in removing the net and would prefer this method.
Thanks also for the hint with the Kerlix bandaging. These seem to have a very interesting structure, but as I mentioned I am highly sceptic about using white bandages. It would be interesting if colours used to dye the bandage before appliing it to the model would compromise its flexibility. Perhaps a next "research projekt"

Best Regards

Dennis

Regarding the white bandage I usually stain it with coffee.

Fine tip Dennis...Thanks for sharing....

Hi Dennis,

Excellent tutorial - thanks for sharing it with us! (I never thought to cut the netting up into little bits. As a result, I've always had to wrestle with a large strip of netting that wouldn't go where I wanted it...)

Tom

Thanky you very much for the kind words, Gentlemen.

@Darren: thats a nice idea. I will sure try this once I will have to use white bandages. Thank you.

@Tom: Yes, I also tried to apply a huge net first but, believe me, with small pieces of net you will avoid a lot of stress and anger....

Best Regards

Dennis

Tea might also work, and theres more colors to work with. Then there's the possiblities offered by watercolours.

Hi Dennis,

I just wanted to say that this is an outstanding piece of work and I am going to try this out very soon. If I may be so humble to suggest this:

To avoid having to detail paint white gauze and tea filter strips, how about pre-painting them? What I've done in the past (once) was to use your PVA glue/water mixture but add some acrylic model paint to it. I used Polly Scale acrylic Dark Olive onto a regular white gauze bandage material. This technique gave it a mid-green color and had the benefit of the glue/water mixture to fix it in place as you described in your article. Once dry, it can be painted/drybrushed/weathered like any other part of your model.

Also, you don't need to apologize for your English...everything you wrote was easily understood. Please keep up the great work and I would also like to see the finished, painted model soon.

Regards,

John Z
Buffalo, New York, USA

Dennis
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, as mentioned above I also have struggled with large gaze pieces and using strips of teabags is a brilliant solution.
Lennart
Gothenburg, Sweden

Very nice technique and SBS.

Hello Gentlemen,

once again: Thank You very much for your kind words.

I am very pleased that some of you have thought about improving this technique. I started with the motivation of trying the most basic way with strips and bandage. I am very curious if someone will try to refine this method with the ideas described, e.g. with the tinted glue or dyed bandage and if the results are also an improvement over the basic method.

Unfortunately I am kind of a slow builder with few time to spend in the "Man cave". And, obeying Murphys Law, I screwed up the base coat on the Cromwell. I chose a color which was far from beeing accurate after drying. Perhaps I will be able to get on with the next paint session soon.

By the way: what does the abbreviation "SBS" stand for? I can imagine the meaning but don`t know the exact translation.

Best Regards from germany

Dennis

Well, simply going by the photos of the netting applied to the model, I tend to think you've prety much cracked what is a very difficult subject to replicate.

What you have certainly done is very important - to stop us thinking in terms of the netting as a an item to add and drape over the model - adding the netting in small sections is, for me at least the most innovative part of all this.

Great work, thanks for sharing it with us!