Contrast paint German paratroopers

[Tom Dulski]

Working on some bolt action and black tree paras using contrast paints.

[CapnJim]

Very nice!  Personally, I haven't tried the contrast paints yet (too much "regular" paint in the semi-ready rack...), but these sure look good...

[Frostie]

Nice, what colour did you use for the smocks

[has.been]

Very nice!  Personally, I haven't tried the contrast paints yet (too much "regular" paint in the semi-ready rack...), but these sure look good...

Likewise. 

[Tom Dulski]

Nice, what colour did you use for the smocks

Thanks, for the smocks I used 2 parts apocothery white and 1 part militarium green. I find contrast paints mix very well due to their liquid nature and you can come up with loads of variations.

[fred]

They have come out well - good idea on mixing the contrast paints - will have to give that a go (along with getting a few more colours).

Can I ask about the weapons (which seem late war) and the uniforms (which I think are mainly early war) - I thought that from mid war onwards camouflage smocks were standard - but it may well have been by late war that plain ones were being issued again (or I may be mis-remembering).

[Tom Dulski]

They have come out well - good idea on mixing the contrast paints - will have to give that a go (along with getting a few more colours).

Can I ask about the weapons (which seem late war) and the uniforms (which I think are mainly early war) - I thought that from mid war onwards camouflage smocks were standard - but it may well have been by late war that plain ones were being issued again (or I may be mis-remembering).

 Good eye! They are black tree and bolt action and come with a mix of both late and early war weapons. I decided to use the early war colors on the smocks as I don't have the skills necessary to paint the camo patterns convincingly. Besides I do think the early war uniforms look smarter.

[carlos marighela]

The FJ’s trousers were actually field grey. Not as dramatic a contrast admittedly but that was the colour they were.

[Tom Dulski]

Yeah I'm not really a sticker for historical accuracy. I'm more interested in something that looks cool. I tried a few with the field grey trousers but decided on the Luftwaffe blue/gray color instead. I think it works better with the green smocks.

[ColonelMutumbu]

Contrast is brilliant for ww2 I have found. I actually painted my Fallschirmjager recently in a mix of camo and early war uniforms and both have come out looking pretty good. You don't really need a justification for it but if you do; the argument I make is that its probably more realistic. It's documented that units many units suffered supply issues. Lots of people don't consider that supplying an army is really hard, during a war its doubly hard and doubly hard again when you are losing a war. I imagine plenty of spare uniforms sitting in the regimental depot got handed out to replacement soldiers when they were hurried to the front along with whatever weapons they had to hand

[Rick F]

I wouldn't worry about it, there's lots of photos of plain green smocks being used right up to the end of the war.

[MaleGriffin]

Great looking figures! I love the way you used the contrast paints. I'm not fond of contrast paint in jewel tones like the red, white, blue and green of AWI or Napoleonics, but for WWII they work superbly!

[fred]

I wouldn't worry about it, there's lots of photos of plain green smocks being used right up to the end of the war.

That’s good to know - I’ve got some 10mm I have been putting off, these will make them quicker!

[Tom Dulski]

Contrast is brilliant for ww2 I have found. I actually painted my Fallschirmjager recently in a mix of camo and early war uniforms and both have come out looking pretty good. You don't really need a justification for it but if you do; the argument I make is that its probably more realistic. It's documented that units many units suffered supply issues. Lots of people don't consider that supplying an army is really hard, during a war its doubly hard and doubly hard again when you are losing a war. I imagine plenty of spare uniforms sitting in the regimental depot got handed out to replacement soldiers when they were hurried to the front along with whatever weapons they had to hand

  I’d love to see your paratroopers anyway you can throw up some pictures? Always get great ideas from watching what other people have done.

[Vis Bellica]

Can I ask what the mix was you used on the trousers please.

I use Contrast all the time, and mix them regularly, but haven't tried them for WW2 yet. I have a few Gebirgsjaeger to paint.