Test paint job for Fallshirmjager

[Rob_bresnen]

I would like to know what you think of my Fallshirmjager. These are By Black Tree Designs. I am going to use BTD and Artizan Designs, as they mix well, and BTD offer a few heavy weapons that the Artizan collection doesn't.

[ARKOUDAKI]

A good start but a few suggestions/corrections:

Your camo on the jackets needs some work...have a look at photos and color plates to give you some ideas how to do this. What you have done looks a bit like US Marines rather than German Paras...but all easily corrected.

The pants need to be field grey, as the Luftwaffe blue wasn't worn by Fallschrimjagers.

The books should be all black with no ankle cuffs.

As I said, a good start but with some more research and some changes as mentioned you are on your way to creating some great German Paras!

[warburton]

Pretty nicely done, But I agree the camo does look a bit too much like the US Marines camo. Minor work should have it looking tip top.

[Rob_bresnen]

Thanks for the advice. After a bit more research I see what you mean. The brown should be a bit more elongated, with green splash. I will see what I can come up with and post the pictures. Thanks again for the advice.

[warburton]

Yes, sounds like you are on the right track now If you have a very steady hand you can also add the little parallel lines (that is a technical term) but what you are suggesting should do the trick nicely!

[Pijlie]

You can add the "splinter" effect, the little parallel lines, with a 0,1 or 0,05 drawing pen.

[Grey Panda]

I think you've done a really nice job and have received some excellent advice too.

I'd love to see the finished article when you modify them a little.

I've a few to paint up myself soon and the advice you got and your photos will be a big help I'm sure

[cram]

There always seems to be some debate as to Fallschirmjager wearing Luftwaffe blue pants. Interestingly I read a post on a forum a while back, from someone in contact with veteran Fj from the 5. FJD. They told him that late in the war it was not uncommon to see Fallschirmjager with blue trousers, but that these were mostly replacements who were not jump trained.

[Into The Eagle`s Nest]

For those who are interested in very good books (e.g. for researching), try to check out anything from SCHIFFER books.

http://www.schifferbooks.com/art-antiques-catalog-956/fashion-831/military-aviation-uniforms-1094/germany-in-world-war-ii-1096/

Their price seems a bit high, but if you`ll have/had just a few of them, you`ll never touch stuff from Osprey or similar again. For many people they are like bibles. Highly recommended!  

[Rob_bresnen]

Thank you for the excellent replies...very helpful.

I have repainted the figures (twice). Here it is. Bear in mind it is a test model, and it had been crudely repainted. Hopefully the final models will look a bit better.

Also sorry about the poor photos. The natural light is poor in the UK and my lovely Ipad is broken, so I am back to using my outdated digital camera.

I am not sure about the green. on some of the photos the green is quite distinctive, but on others it is quite muted...what do you think.

[Gunner Dunbar]

Looks pretty good, you could add the splinter lines, but if that's to difficult I think it looks good as is, I think the shade of green is fine, after a couple of months in the field the colours would fade a little, so there would be many shades of green and brown.

[Amalric]

Rob,

What FJ camo are you trying to paint.
Late war, there were two, Splinter and tan & water, with some captured Italian thrown in for fun.

The following example of splinter is by the awesome Tom Weiss.


from his site of eye candy inspiration;
http://www.twfigurines.de/wwtwo/jager/jager01.htm

Also check out this excellent guide from Artizan;
http://www.artizandesigns.com/guides/FarnworthColoursGermanFallshirmjagerWW2.pdf

Also, there are two great splinter tutorials pinned on the WW2 page here on LAF.

Good luck.

[Rob_bresnen]

Achieving the excellence of Tom Wiess is something I would wish for, but not very likely to achieve. Thanks for sharing tough, because I picked up some useful tips. I am not going to add the 'rain' patterns as I do not think fine lines would be viable in the scale we are talking about- they are virtually pin stripes, and I know a lot of people can paint very thin lines, but I am not one of them. . 

[Amalric]

Achieving the excellence of Tom Wiess is something I would wish for, but not very likely to achieve. ...

I agree wholeheartedly, but I find his work so inspirational.

...I am not going to add the 'rain' patterns as I do not think fine lines would be viable in the scale we are talking about- they are virtually pin stripes, and I know a lot of people can paint very thin lines, but I am not one of them. . 

The few times, I've attempted splinter, I didn't do the stripes either. What helps me was nailing the colors and the shapes to paint, so as to create the effect of splinter in scale.

Tan and water camo is whole different can of worms.

Best of luck and I look forward to seeing your progress.

[Rob_bresnen]

I am kind of happy with this so far- I think this will be the level I am going to go for as it is achievable (to my limited skill) and fairly quick- two figures in an evening. Let me know what you think.