This fellow was started over 15 years ago. Never had the courage to attempt the camo but have now decided to give it a go. Quiet a bit needed doing to get things to fit properly and there are a couple of things I could have done to further enhance it. Still not a bad figure for what it cost. Work so far.

First attempt at the trousers somehow didn't look right





Went back and added some larger patches of the salmon pink. Started blocking in the fieldgear. Still lots to do.

Will be standing him alongside this fellow that I finished years ago but now need to make some changes to.

Hi Chris,

I think you've done a fantastic job on that pea camo, and the rest of the figure is coming along very nicely too. Even the older KG Hansen trooper looks decent enough (love the leather on the holster by the way).

I actually think that those DML 1/16 figures are for the most part pretty good for injection-moulded kits in that scale and cheap at the price (although some seem to be easier to get hold of these days than others). As a group they're certainly far superior to the Tamiya figures in the same scale, only a couple of which (IMHO) pass muster.

Without wishing to hijack your thread, here's my rendition of the DML 'Hanschar' machine gunner that I painted up circa 2008-ish / 2009-ish.



I have a couple more from that range that I'll get round to doing at some point - in among the approx. 15 years' worth (at my current rate of building & painting) of models I have waiting in the stash.

Looking forward to seeing yours finished Chris. Keep up the excellent work!

- Steve

Excellent figures you've got there gents! Chris- you've done a stellar job on the dot pea pattern camo- its one I always find difficult no matter the scale- you've managed a fantastic, natural looking rendition of it. I must also compliment you on the faces- very effective painting you've achieved there showing plenty of character- what paints did you use for the faces?

Both the figures posed together should look great, they seem to interact quite well in the photo you took.

Great work on the Handschar figure too Steve- the base really suits it. The camo pattern is good too, as are the leather items- they look excellent.

Steve, many thanks. I agree, the Dragon figures are great value for money. Need a bit of work but that lends to the sense of satisfaction when they near completion. Have got my eyes on a couple more I'm going to order and maybe try converting one.

Karl, thanks for that. The camo is something I've put off trying for 15 years. Once I started though it was pretty easy going. I'll post up a method how I tackled it (got to go get the kidsfrom school now) The faces were a mix of Vellejo and games workshop with a few oils over the top. Not happy with the latest one and need to go back to it.

Great job on the figure by the way Steve. Very nice camo work.

Nice work Chris. The cammo looks spot on to me! No need for trepidation as you have the skill.
J

Karl this is the method I used for painting the Dot camo:

First the base coat was painted on. In this case it was VJ English uniform brown mixed with a buff colour to tone it down. Dot camo consisits of 5 colours. The base brown, dark green patches and dots, salmon pink/tan patches and dots, bright green and a sage green. Here is a nice shot of a rero tunic to show the colours and dots.



I've also put rings around to show how the pattern repeats itself. This can make the painting a little easier. Once the base coat was dry the easiest thing was to divide the tunic up into sections. The back is split with the seam running down. Sleeves and trousers have seams running verticle also. This gives you sections to tackle one at a time.

With the pic of the tunic on my laptop and also one printed out in roughly the same size as the figure (this gives you a good idea on the size of the dots) I started by painting the dark green patches. This is the next predominant colour after the base coat. I tried to start along seams and paint a patch then move down and copy roughly the same patch again, repeating the pattern as the original. I only painted patches at this stage, no dots.

Once I had complete all sections I mixed up the salmon pink colour (the trousers this is a little too pink)I then painted in patches, again repeating where appropriate and also started painting in dots. The dots were concentrated on the base brown with only a few over the dark green.

You can see on the shot of the back of the sleeve how I have started along the seam up by the shoulder with a dark green patch, salmon patch, dark green, slamon and so on.



The dots I didn't try to replicate too much but did try and keep clusters the same on each section.

Once this colour was complete I then went on to the bright green dots. This was VJ bright german camo green toned down a bit. Most dots were concentrated on the dark green patches. To change the shape of the dots I changed the angle of the brush so not all dots looked the same. The dark green dots were also added going over the pink patches and brown.

The sage green dots were added sparingly. If a section looked like it needed more dots or more of a certain colour they were added where needed. Finally I added some of the base brown as dots on the pink.

Once all this had dried I used an earth GM wash to go over seams and enhance them. The same colour was watered down and painted into creases, building it up in the deepest ones. A light highlight of sunny skin tone was dry brushed onto highlights

The main steps were:

Good large image of the pattern
Printed out version roughly the same scale to give an idea on dot and patch size.
Tunic and trousers divided into sections
Patches
Dots
Shading
Highlights

The reference shots were key to the painting and these are what I used.

Thanks for explaining that Chris- its always good to hear how people tackle different camo schemes. By the way- when I'm doing these German camo schemes I often use a book called Waffen SS Uniforms in Color Photographs- this is published by the Crowood Press and shows a plethora of camouflage uniforms- but perhaps one of the best things about it is all the uniforms shown are original examples- its a really handy reference for things like the Dot Pea pattern.

That's an interesting how-to Chris. Thanks for the share.

- Steve

Jerry many thanks for hte comments

Steve, I'm no expert but the method I used worked rather well and actually made the whole process seem a lot less difficult. If it gives someone the confidence to have a go then marevelous. Will have to try some of the other camo schemes. Splinter seems do be the hardest, might avoid that for a while.