American Uniform Guide and colour ?

[ulverston]

Hi Guys,
I have a box of Caesar US Infantry that I would like to paint up in a colour scheme for and up to the Fallujah period but my old eyes canyt reall ID the shade used for the main uniform on footage from Youtube.
Has anyone painted this scheme before? I assume that it will be covered by an Osprey but has anyone any idea which one would be best?
20mm is becoming my go to scale for moderns as it can be affordable to start an army in plastic and supplement it with metals as you go on. Currently on order from China are some BTR 80's and Humvees-I have no idea of the quality but they will be repainted and cost less than £10 for 4 vehicles. Again does anyone else do this?

[Cypher226]

UCP would be the most likely pattern for Army up to that point.  I've seen various techniques, most use a light grey as the base colour though I'm sure I've seen Tamiya deck tan used as well (it would go that colour quite quickly once exposed to dirt, iirc)

This walkthrough might work well at 20mm?

[CapnJim]

Hmm.  I think it depends on WHICH battle of Fallujah to which ulverston refers.  Are we talking the 2004 battles, which saw large numbers of US Army and USMC troops (along with Iraqi and UK troops), or the more recent battles against ISIS, etc. (which were mostly an Iraqi affair)?  Once we know that answer, we can provide advice on colors...

[ulverston]

Hi,
I was thinking of troops that would have been at the second battle, 2004? The box art and vids I have seen show a grey colour. Possibly Valleyo 884 stone grey as a base? A thin wash on top of that maybe enough on 20mm but it would b good to discover wat others have used.
Caesar are releasing a box with mortars in and HMG which has tipped me into having a go at these....

[CapnJim]

Ah.  I thought maybe the 2004 fights.  The Army didn't field the grayish ACU until 2005.  Most of the pics I've seen of Army boys in the Fallujah op wore the tricolor desert BDUs.  Marines wore that and their desert MARPAT uniforms.  Both the Army and the USMC also had some woodland BDU gear mixed in also, like vests, chest carriers, etc.
Does that help at all?

[ulverston]

Thanks Jim that really does help and indeed makes things a little bit easier. In 20mm the tri colour stuff is not too difficult.... woodland vests etc also help mix things up. What would be the best colours to use please?
I have found an Osprey.... it always seems to help if others have trodden the path before you though. I am having a bit of a thing with 20mm moderns at the moment. Spectre works well for this scale and I have just discovered Bolt Action moderns....

Thanks for the help.

[CapnJim]

You're welcome.  Glad to help.  I have tons of 20mm/1:72 modern stuff.  And having said what I said, some of my US guys are in the grayish ACU.  And I have gobs of die-cast 1:72 vehicles.  Mostly, I just weather them a bit, and maybe paint a few details. 

[ulverston]

Thanks again Jim, I am glad its not just me using this scale and cheapish plastic figures! Everyone has fallen for 28mm it seems but to me 20mm just looks better on the table.
i think I will use the stonegrey as a base with darker patches and then a dark wash...

[Blackwolf]

AK Interactive do a very good to painting modern uniforms,albeit for larger scales,however very useful for colours et cetera.

[CapnJim]

As a suggestion, put some spots of tan/khaki in too.  Otherwise, I found it's a bit too dark.

I painted mine several years ago.  It'd been nice to have AKs colors back then...

[CapnJim]

And I tried to get the feel for that camo scene at that scale, not an exact reproduction...

[carlos marighela]

Have a crack with Iraqi Sand or Beige for the khaki/sand base German Cam Brown or Chocolate for the brown stripes and Sky Green for the green bits.

[CapnJim]

I'm guessing you may have already done a Google Image search for these, but in case you hadn't here are the 4 patterns we've been discussing.  The first is the standard woodland BDU.  The 2nd is the desert BDU.  the 3rd is the Army ACU (fielded in 2005).  The 4th is the USMC desert MARPAT.

[ulverston]

Thank you for this it is fantastically helpful. The third pic is the uniform I keep seeing and is what I will try to paint on a few of the figures.
The dear old Woodland camo is a favourite of mine... I swapped my old combat jacket with an American chap... the US kit is still like new wheras I suspect my 90's jacket will have fallen to bits by now!
I dont have any AK paints but will certainly have a look at them, most of my stuff is games workshop or Vallejo so branching out would be a good idea.

Thanks again for the help it is very much appreciated.

[CapnJim]

No worries.  Again, glad to help!  Looking forward to seeing what you paint up.