WW1 German uniform

[Terryb]

Hi chaps
Apologies if sounds like a stupid question, but was the German Field grey that the Germans used for WW2, the same shade as the WW1 uniform.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Freddy]

Hi chaps
Apologies if sounds like a stupid question, but was the German Field grey that the Germans used for WW2, the same shade as the WW1 uniform.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Yes.

[Fitz]

It's pretty safe to say yes, since the colour of "field grey" in both wars was wildly variable, ranging from quite green to quite brown. Also, the colours of the dress uniform and service uniform were distinctly different.

[2010sunburst]

I’d say yes, but then it wasn’t even the same in WW2 as it was in WW2.

[Terryb]

Thanks guys , very much appreciated 😃

[carlos marighela]

Pre-war uniforms were often a lighter, greyer, tone than later war time items. So if you are looking at 1914 then perhaps aim for a less greenish grey.

Later war uniforms can be a spectrum of colours. I have an actual, very moth eaten, 1917 model feldmutze, with the universal green band. It's a rather coarse grey wool with a distinctly greenish cast to it.

[Freddy]

Indeed, the exect colour of a uniform depends on the manufacturer, exact time of the manufacturing and how many times it was washed. But the German army did not generally change the uniform colour between the two wws, so from modeling point of view using the same colour scheme for both wws is more than justified.

My recipe is: Tamyia Field Grey base, Nuln Oil wash, drybrush with a mix of Tamiya Field Grey and white.

[Terryb]

Very, very helpful, thank you guys

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

You mean it wasn’t the purplish dark grey shown in my old comics and on the Airfix boxes? I feel betrayed!

[Freddy]

You mean it wasn’t the purplish dark grey shown in my old comics and on the Airfix boxes? I feel betrayed!

I think most German-themed modellers went through this ,,daaaaaaamn" moment somewhere along their journey. Including me

You might find some solace in the fact that this type of German uniform faded into a more and more greyish tone with several washing cycles. Also ww2 Luftwaffe ground units really had that blueish grey uniform. And if you really can not imagine your ww1 wargamer carreer without blueish grey guys with Stahlhelms, you can always join the glorious armies of Austria-Hungary.

[vtsaogames]

I recall an issue of Life Magazine that came out on the 50th anniversary of August 1914, with photos and paintings. One painting was of a unit of Austro-Hungarian troops squatting around a road, trousers down in a circle facing out. In the middle of the road was a mounted officer. The unit was suffering dysentery and needed breaks. The CO decided the men shouldn't be looking at him while performing that bodily function, so they all faced away. Strange image, to say the least. It made a lasting impression.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Yet, 60 years later, you still haven’t completed the diorama?

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

You might find some solace in the fact that this type of German uniform faded into a more and more greyish tone with several washing cycles. Also ww2 Luftwaffe ground units really had that blueish grey uniform. And if you really can not imagine your ww1 wargamer carreer without blueish grey guys with Stahlhelms, you can always join the glorious armies of Austria-Hungary.

But weren’t the early ones bright gloss? Surely everyone knows that!

[vtsaogames]

Yet, 60 years later, you still haven’t completed the diorama?

 

Who makes squatting Austro-Hungarian infantry with trews down? In 15mm?

[carlos marighela]

Who makes squatting Austro-Hungarian infantry with trews down? In 15mm?

Arschloch Miniatures. It's quite a niche range, mostly covering the Balkans. Bulgarians with dysentry. Italians undergoing checks for venereal disease, Albanians stealing donkeys,  Serbians romancing donkeys, Greek Evzones Voguing etc, etc.

Leaving aside Balkan maladies. I wonder how many German paratroopers have been painted with bright blue helmets and trousers over the years as a direct result of Airfix's box art?