28mm late war British & Germans

[Grumpy Gnome]

Cracking job mate. I've always taken the German approach to their camouflage patterns, do what you want  You're correct in that hooded smocks and helmet covers weren't officially made in Pea Dot, but unit tailors made all sorts of interesting things from different bits of clothing. A modern example would be some of the lads on my section taking a spare desert shirt to the tailor and having him make hoods for their shirts. I'm sure someone somewhere did that to a Pea Dot tunic, get the rivet counters to prove they didn't

I agree.

And great brushwork Ash. 👍

[FreakyFenton]

I agree.

And great brushwork Ash. 👍

No worries, Ash. It wasn't to nitpick. I have to agree with Rick F that I'd imagine with the battering the forces of Wehrmacht and Waffen SS got they'd probably take what they had and what was to hand. If not for the camouflage loops you could even say he cut a piece of Pea Dot cloth from some tunic or pants he found and just wrapped it over his helmet, probably enough unlucky buggers about he could alleviate the cloth from. Much like the Wehrmacht did with white bedsheet or what other white cloth there was in order to get camo-cloth for the winter.

But when I painted mine, I came onto the same question whether or not and what existed and some folk can get nasty over that. I definitely like the figures and agree with GG and Rick to do what you like and what looks good, it is just model soldiers in the end.

Teleo Memetico is a neat camo, but also one with hsitory of what colours look right. But I reckon with how hodge podge supply got, you shouldn't worry about different camos on the same bloke. New issue of helmets came with a new issue of cover, so I don't dare to think what varied uniforms and odd personal kits there were.

Edit: Also worth mentioning, much like other nations, the camouflage was received in stages. I do think the only german state to issue new camouflage to all troops in full was the GDR, hoping to equip the NVA with new camos such as "Ein - Strich - Kein - Strich" and the like in one swoop, and even they at times suffered from said problem. Just a tidbit I found interesting though! Either way Great Painting!. 

[Shahbahraz]

I'm on a fairly steep learning curve on the Jerry uniforms front, so always appreciative to have all and any faux pas pointed out. That's how I found out about ARVN vehicle crew uniforms and Brit para rank chevrons, having forum friends share their knowledge is part of the reason for being on LAF. All very helpful and much appreciated.

Also, on the future figures front; I'm now looking at the Offensive miniatures SS blokes for Arnhem, they seem to be in lighter weight kit and from what I can see pretty compatible height wise (hopefully).

So for the occasional figure with a helmet cover, would the green/black/brown Oakleaf pattern be the way forward (for SS) or are there other options?
Zeltbahns on SS, are they the same as Heer or did they come in any SS camo?

I used the Offensive Miniatures figs...

[carlos marighela]

So for the occasional figure with a helmet cover, would the green/black/brown Oakleaf pattern be the way forward (for SS) or are there other options?
Zeltbahns on SS, are they the same as Heer or did they come in any SS camo?

The SS had their own zeltbahns printed in a variety of SS patterns as well as the Italian telo mimetico.

[carlos marighela]

By the by, the SS did have their own hooded smocks, albeit they were mostly the reversible white and camo winter versions.

[Ash]

Cheers for all the info chaps. I've redone that particular helmet cover and think he looks a lot better for it!

Had a go at an Italian camo jacket on a bailed out tank crew bloke, just gave it a wash of umber brown and sort of lost the pattern a bit, mmm...

Found a few colourized photos:

Check out the face of Mr Seriously Pissed Off on the right.



Fair amount of Italian kit.




@ FreakyFenton: That's not nit picking mate, that's being helpful.
@ Shahbahraz: Thanks very much for the picture.
@ Carlos: Cool, Oak leaf pattern Zeltbahn added to the to do list.

[CapnJim]

That's because Mr. Seriously Pissed Off has a boo-boo on his arm.

But regarding Ash's OP, those SS do look good.  (so do Shahbahraz's boys).

When my SS chaps wind their way up in my lengthy painting queue, I think I need to to get some Empress and Offensive figures to add to my Warlord plastics and Artizan metals...

[carlos marighela]

While the Germans are alleged to have taken some of the printing machinery for the Italian camo back to Germany, you'll find the photos in Normandy show a preponderance of use with 1st LSSAH and 12th 'Hitler Jugend' Divisions. That's because the former were in Italy in 1943 and involved in the disarmament of the Italian Army and the latter were formed from a cadre of ex LSSAH officers and NCOs. Most of their stuff was apparently tailored using Italian shelter halves, actual camo uniforms being pretty much limited to the paras in Italian service.

So while it's certainly possible, you are going to find higher concentrations in those units and in that time frame. Like most things wargamery, the 'anything goes' thing is tempered by circumstance as much as SOP's etc.

[FreakyFenton]

Nice to see the difference of printing rollers used for the Dot 44 on the first colourized picture. And shocking to see how young the bloke in the italian camo in the second picture is, probably was a die hard nazi, but still scary to see what the Reich threw away in man and material.

Same with some of the faces in the third picture. Some look to be very young, mixed with troops that already knew battle and the like. This seems to be underepresented in models in general. Always usually adults, whereas there was some thinner youth in there as well.

I always thought Hitlerjugend divisions couldn't have been too good, seeing as in effect they were kids. But after reading the account of Peter White in "With the Scots" some of these divisions seemed to fight tooth and nail.

Also, 3rd bloke from the POWs int he first picture looks a tad like Boris. 

Speaking of, if you mean to depict ragged troops, the Charlemagne division troops box from Warlord has a few good poses in, I especially like the Mg 42 gunner in that one and a loader of his who is decked out in ammo.  Might be worth a look, Ash.

[Ash]

Cheers for all the comments and info chaps.

Here's the mk 2 helmet, and also added shoulder boards and some detail to the officer's hat.

Speaking of, if you mean to depict ragged troops, the Charlemagne division troops box from Warlord has a few good poses in, I especially like the Mg 42 gunner in that one and a loader of his who is decked out in ammo.  Might be worth a look, Ash.

I saw those, definitely got the grizzled veteran vibe going on.

@ Carlos: Here's my attempt at the Italian camo






...and the torso bits.






Bloke on the left will end up in the Panzer lV I did a while back, the crouching bloke will end up on the Stug lll, with Mr Leather Jacket ( probably pinched from a U boat) sticking out of a hatch on the Stug.

[carlos marighela]

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off..."


Lovely work on the er 'Italian Job'.  Suitably impressed.

[FreakyFenton]

Nice attention to detail, even down to the Pink of the Panzerwaffe.

New helmet looks great!

And +1 to Carlos, the italian camo looks great and matches with the colourized shots before.

[Vanth]

And shocking to see how young the bloke in the italian camo in the second picture is, probably was a die hard nazi, but still scary to see what the Reich threw away in man and material.

That is a pretty famous set of pictures: the young guy was named Klaus Shuh and was, at that time, 18 years old, like his MG Team mate Otto Funk, just behind him. They both received an Iron Cross for taking out a Canadian Churchill just with their MG42 by firing tracer rounds at the fuel tank. Klaus Shuh was KIA just a few days after this picture was taken. The officer with the bandaged head in the following picture was their unit commander Rudolf Von Ribbentrop, the son of the Reich's Foreign Affairs Minister.

[CapnJim]

I echo Mr. Fenton's and Mr. Marighela's comments.  And I particularly like that officer.  Well done, lad! 

[Kikuchiyo]

They look great, not sure I'll ever get to that stage with my 20mm obsession