Hi!

I'm working on a 1/35 halftrack diorama with maybe 7-8 guys (France, 1944). This is the first figure done, but since I've never really tried this subject before, I'm in unfamiliar territory. The kind of questions I have include, does the coloring of this camouflage pattern ring true? I was going for the summer "oak leaf" pattern, I think they call it. Also, am I right to interpret the jacket this way? The Tamiya box art suggests this, but I haven't seen too many actual photos of one. How about the rank and insignia? I'm no expert on that either. I have a reference book showing "camouflage rank" insignia, a series of stacked green bars for enlisted and wreaths over bars for officers, but nothing showing how or where these were worn. From what I can tell, there was no marking of any kind worn on the collarless smock that laced or buttoned at the neck (several of the other figures wear that). How about the helmet straps? They look terrible just painted on. I might try strip styrene if I can figure out how to 1) paint it on the inside, 2) make it look like it's cinched properly, and 3) add a buckle. Were they ever worn as in the pictures now?

Any other thoughts? Thanks --

John Antkowiak
Manassas, VA

Mr. Antkowiak,
Photos are a tad grainy but I like what I see. Especially considering it's 1/35th scale.
I'm not sure about what's what as to proper insignia but if you're asking about adding extra detailing to the helmet, you look to have a pretty deft hand. I'd sure try if'n I had your touch.
Your guy looks great.
Don

Hi John,

Impressive, very impressive - wish I could paint figures that good

CB

Hi John. Nicely painted figure.

You ask if you are right to interpret the oak leaf pattern in this way. While this is good for a first stab, unfortunately the figure is wearing the M1944 camo suit (similar to the service dress in cut, rather than the fuller loose smock). This was only produced in what is now referred to as the "pea pattern", which consists of small dots of colour & patches in light brown & dark brown, dark & light green in a random pattern. Some suits look almost pink in places. This was issued with matching trousers, & usually worn with gaiters, although there are numerous photos of it worn with marching boots. It was not unknown for sleeve eagles to appear on this order of dress, although against regulations. Rottenfuhrer & Sturmann stripes have also been seen in wear, despite compromising concealment. This suit was intended to replace both the smock, & the reed green denim working dress. It never fully replaced the smock, as it did not have the smocks showerproofing (the smock was made of close-woven cotton "duck"), so it is not uncommon to see mix-&-match of the two, even in small units. I have seen pictures taken in Normandy of the suit being worn UNDER the smock - really gilding the lily!

As regards the smock, no insignia was worn originally, this was because the collar of the tunic was intended to be worn over it, showing the collar patches. However when the low visibility system was introduced, these were normally sewn to the upper left arm, coincidentally, many SS men had by now removed their collar patches for security or concealment reasons anyway. This system was printed in green on a black background. For the SS, the ORs wore 1-5 green bars from Unterscharfuhrer to Stabsscharfuhrer. Officers from Untersturmfuhrer to Hauptsturmfuhrer wore an oak leaf & 1-3 bars. Field officers wore 2 oak leaves etc. These rank badges were also worn on the 1944 camo suit of course.

The smocks were printed in several patterns, "pea" was NOT one of them, but they are commonly seen in oak patterns, either browns (fall/autumn) or greens (summer/spring). Smocks seen in Normandy tend to be late pattern, with loops sewn to upper arms & chest for foliage. The smock had a an opening in front which laced up & early ones had holes so that the wearer could reach his jacket pockets or ammo pouches (the smock was originally intended to be worn OVER the equipment, but this was almost never done).

Incidentally, the collar patches were not edged for ORs by 1944.
Originally the SS-VT had worn a black & white twisted edging, but this fell out of use in 1940, your man would have to be a pre-war veteran to still have it, & he probably wouldn't wear it on the 1944 suit jacket anyway.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the helmet covers never appear to have been made in "pea", so the combination of an "oak" pattern helmet cover with the 1944 suit is normal. I think this is what attracts people to SS uniforms, the proliferation of issue equipment that could be worn together in various styles.

Before anyone writes in about the mixed pouches, this would be correct, as the canvas ones (on his left) are for the semi-automatic or self-loading Gewehr 43 or 44. The canvas pouches hold magazines, which were loaded from the 5 round clips in the right pouches.

Hi John. For a first time, it looks great. Your painting skills are quite obvious... especially on the skin areas.
Steve has taken care of the uniform question, so I wont try to add any more (not that I can).
Just chimed in with a tip for your helmet strap issue. Ive seen this done a few times before it looks really good ... using black electrician tape ... straight from the roll. Cut on a glass or ceramic surface and place. Its own glue will hold in place, no need to paint either. Bend a little thin brass wire around a suitably shaped plastic profile, approximately buckle size and thread the tape through it. Quick and it works.

Thats awesoem for a 1:35 scale keep up the good work.

Thanks for the feedback, gentlemen. That was just what I was hoping for. The rest of my figures will be much improved for it.

Steve, if I understand you correctly, you would suggest:

1) Replace the oak leaf with the 'pea pattern' on the jacket
2) Add the same pattern to the trousers. (I'd prefer to keep the field grey - although it's a bit too green at the moment - if at all possible. Is it missing some telltale evidence of the earlier grey trousers?)
3) Lose the piping on the collar patches - and most likely, the collar patches themselves
4) Add the low visibility rank patch to the upper left arm (under the present eagle, or above it? Is this in addition to, or instead of, the shoulder boards? I painted those on; they weren't detailed in the casting.)

Is it acceptable to leave the chin strap off? If not, wasn't it attached to the helmet in such a way that the strap would be noticeably separate from the face at that point? In other words, if you just painted the strap on the face, it would appear to be in direct contact with the skin all the way up past his temple. That can't be right!

Frank, that's a great idea for making the strap. I like it, and I'll try it on a subsequent figure in the group.

So: the way I envision the rest of the group is to have a mixture of pea pattern and field grey trousers and tunics, summer oak leaf pattern smocks and helmet covers, and bare helmets with no insignia emblems (as I guess they had earlier in the war). Would they have left the collar patches on or worn the low-visibility rank badges with the grey jackets?

Thanks, too, for the compliments. I'll post the next figures here in this thread as well.

John Antkowiak
Manassas, VA

Hi John,

First time for a German figure, eh? Man, it's awesome! I think the photo quality doesn't do it justice. If this helps, try a zoom lens, back off from the figure and zoom in with the lens.

Keep up the good work!

Gary

John, to take your questions one at a time:
1) Correct.
2) This is optional. Photographic evidence suggests field grey trousers were worn with the camo jacket & vice versa. A fully badged field grey jacket worn with camo pants is a different "twist" you may like to try. Don't sweat it too much over shades - "field grey" covers a multitude of colours ranging from almost "steel grey" to a greenish brown, depending on manufacturer, lighting, wear & date.
3) Yes, it is very unusual to see collar patches worn on the camo jacket. However, never say never. Although regulations were quite precise over what insignia should be worn on camo clothing, they appear to have been widely ignored, especially by combat troops.
4) The low visibility insignia were worn high on the left upper arm, so above the sleeve eagle. On a smock they would appear roughly at the seam where the sleeve joined the body of the smock. Evidence suggests that shoulder boards were sewn to the jacket on occasions (never to the smock of course). There is a photo of prisoners from 6th SS "Nord" captured in Op "Nordwind", which clearly shows an SS schutze wearing these. In the same shot is an Unterscharfuhrer wearing conflicting rank insignia!
As regards helmet insignia, it used to be thought that these were in abeyance from mid-war on, however there has been some discussion on the site recently which would seem to suggest this is not the case, & that transfers were applied, & worn much later than hitherto realised. The chinstrap could be worn over the brim of the helmet as in other nations. This may be another look you could try.
I hope this info is useful, I don't wish to appear too pedantic or critical!

Steve,

Thanks for the additional detail! Oddly enough, I would have said that my goal is to avoid such blatantly obvious "not-in-a-million-years" errors such as conflicting rank insignia, but clearly that's not unheard of...

John A.

Well, I'm not really sure what's going on with these photos. All I know is, I spent about an hour and a half taking pictures and selecting the ones that came out the best and the most sharply focused, then another half hour making them even better with my imaging software, then another half hour uploading them to Kitmaker - only to find that after all that, the image quality is worse than what I started with. Why do these look so much better on my computer?

Anyway, here are the two figures that are done now. Just imagine you've had a few beers too many...



John Antkowiak
Manassas, VA

John, these are very nice indeed. I shall have to re-assess mine! Glad I could be of help.