Captain Blood's Western Desert: P.125 - SdKfz10 half-track with 2cm Flak 30

[carlos marighela]

Exquisite painting.

[former user]

Fiddly because I had to use a wash of browny-black after applying the first couple of coats and before applying highlight coats. The detail on things like buckles, pockets, buttons, gaiters and so on, are just too small too paint in using the layering method with any accuracy.

I can imagine that many of us would appreciate a small tutorial on that....

Can anyone point me the direction to an overview of the different tan/khaki/sand colours in use on cloth during the north African campaign please?

[James Morris]

Absolutely super!  I am about to post my less beautiful efforts, but it's great to see these.

[Andym]

Lovely painting as always Cap!!

[dodge]

very nice, as always expertly painted.

taking me back to my childhood with 1/32 airfix.

lovely

dodge

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Rog and all 

My Grandad was in the desert with the South Wales Borderers, lost his brother at El Alamein, among the many tales he told me was the fact that all their issued kit came in the standard khaki the lads in Europe got (and that he'd had while in the commandoes). Apparently he spent bloody ages scrubbing it to get the dye out of it. So painting everything as washed out khaki is spot on. 

Fascinating insight Ray. Thank you

Can anyone point me the direction to an overview of the different tan/khaki/sand colours in use on cloth during the north African campaign please?

I can't. I've looked at several of my WWII uniform books (Blandford, Mollo etc) with rare colour photos or more commonly 'coloured-in' black and white photos. The problem with all these is that colour reproduction in WWII era photos is very poor and washed out, and in the many books with 'recoloured' photos, you're just getting what the artist thinks the right colour was. And most people think a washed-out pale buff was the colour of all military clothing in the desert. But as Ray's story above makes clear, this wasn't always the case. I guess the only thing would be to look at modern photos of uniform and equipment items from the Western Desert held in military museums or private collections. But those would almost certainly have faded and discoloured with the passage of 70 years, never mind the effects of sun, sweat and dust in the desert to start with. So I suspect it's really impossible to say with any degree of authority.

[former user]

Thank You for pointing me

I guess the only thing would be to look at modern photos of uniform and equipment items from the Western Desert held in military museums or private collections. But those would almost certainly have faded and discoloured with the passage of 70 years, never mind the effects of sun, sweat and dust in the desert to start with.

I actually once visited a website of a modern manufacturer of US military clothing for WW2 reenactors who showed a lot of pictures of authentic faded uniforms in order to demonstrate that colour could vary even on one piece. I wondered if there was some museum about the desert war that showed a collection of authentic uniforms. I am definitely not after the "final truth", but more after an impression on the variability of the palette. For this purpose the faded cloth would suffice. Basically it is always a mixture of Black and Yellow and the appropiate amount of white for bleaching/washing/pastelling, but since Black will always have a reddish or greenish shade when lighted, it is these choices that are made to give a distinct look to the "desert/khaki uniform" of a certain army, and we should have at least five designs there, all with their history. Otherwise one can mix any kind of Khaki/Sand tones but no party will look specific.
Of course in the end it is the choice of the painter, and this approach is both effective and appealing, as @CB shows us, but for this one has to have a "feeling", and I at the moment don't have it, or better I am confused. When I painted North African Campaign in the past, I simply used what colours were named on the box, but this does not satisfy any more....
So which war museums are there around, because here in Germany there is not much opportunity to visit any  ?

[Silent Invader]

Everything Richard says about colour is spot on.

It is possible to see the colours specified to and contracted with manufacturers from documentation and samples held in the IWM that can be examined by appointment.  I once visited and was escorted to a reading room to view a folder of docs that had original contractural colour chips, which had a target colour and a darker and lighter acceptable range. 

So manufacturers were contracted to produce a target colour with a permitted range of variation...... But once issued, what Richard says then comes into play: sweat, oil, abrasion, UV all take a toll and that's without personal and unit nuances coming into play, for example scrubbing webbing for a much paler appearance.

[former user]

Yes, that's clear, got that.
Not the point...
Mybe I did not make myself clear enough.
I meant the basic differences between British, French, Italian, German, US and even Indian Khaki tones.
IWM examination is fine, but this is not historical research 

[Silent Invader]

Ok... Completely misunderstood what you were after.

If it's a comparison of Allied vs Axis colours you are after, then I have no idea, as most UK museums seem to focus on British forces in general or regiments in particular. I don't know of any WW2 museums, as such.

[former user]

Thing is, either you show a clear one faction one uniform image, than it's fine and it doesn't matter.
All look the same, no different colour lots, no special cloth for officers, no wear, etc.
Once you want to get a halfway realistic look, and this includes wearing uniforms of other factions (apart from the cut or the sewed on paraphernalia this is mainly the shade), it gets difficult recognizing who is who, apart from helmets, hats and equipment - even weapons are interchangeable. This goes especially for footwear, pants, shirts, greatcoats which are basically interchangable on campaign. Or what is usually called ragtag, but was reality once troops left the garrison town.
That'd be my quest 

[Tellus]

They look awesome, well done Richard. I like the variations in shades and colors.

After reading former users comment, I'd be interested how you would paint the Afrika Korps, if there is any intention for that

[Captain Blood]

I'd be interested how you would paint the Afrika Korps, if there is any intention for that

Definitely the intention, Marc 

[theoldschool]

Richard, you knew I was bound to ask  What's the new colour recipe on the bases? I really like the richer tones.

[Captain Blood]

Pat, It's the same old gloop, undercoated with Vallejo flat earth mixed with about 30% black. Then the top coat is flat earth cut with about 30% Inscribe 'Caramel' (kind of yellow-brown). Then for the highlights, gradual small amounts of white mixed into the brown mix...

I've built a few more figures.

1. Marching - pretty straightforward build apart from the addition of a beret and helmet slung off his belt... I'll shape the beret down a bit more once it has fully dried.





2 and 3. Bren team #3
On the move, under fire. The gunner is a slightly more substantial conversion. Head tilted down, and the left arm reconstructed from part the mortar arm, with the officer’s waving hand attached, so he appears to be running whilst holding his helmet on his bonce!
The loader is a straight build, lobbing a mills bomb (although his left arm is the one designed for the lying loader, so I had to excise the ammo pouch moulded onto this component).









4. Radio operator. As he comes, but with the advancing rifle arms, instead of the slung rifle and radio handset... Slightly more interesting as far as I'm concerned...





5. The officer is one of the bulkier figures in the set. Noticeably sturdier than his men... His head is actually a bit too too big for the officer's cap provided. So I swapped his head for a slightly smaller one cut from one of the infantrymen, and sliced the top off it so the cap sits down nicely. I also replaced the officer’s free hand with a pointing hand cut from a different arm. The officer's own hand went off to hold a squaddie's tin lid on... Nothing is wasted