RoE Hobby Painting Luftwaffe Inf

Painting German Luftwaffe Infantry (Late War)

I’m painting up a few test figures so I can help decide which WWII force I will be painting next. One idea is to do a late war platoon of Luftwaffe Infantry or Feld-Division (L) with a Marder II, comprised of a mix of Artizan panzergrenadier models and standard Heer troops.  The models in the guide are painted to a good standard for gaming and, as befits WWII figures, highlights and detail are not heavily accentuated. These are the colours I used; all Vallejo:

Luftwaffe Uniform (Trousers, Gasmask Canister, Mess Tin Cup)

Olive Grey (Gloves, Scarf)

German Camo Medium Brown (Water Bottle, Gaiters)

Khaki (Breadbag)

Flat Brown (Belts, Pouches)

Black (Boots)

Helmet (Earth and German Camo Orange Ochre)

I haven’t listed the flesh, black/white and metal colours I used but, for information, I tend to use Vallejo Gunmetal Grey and Natural Steel for metal, often darkened with a bit of black.  For the skin on these models I have used Vallejo Brown Rose, washed with Sepia Ink (Vallejo Game Color range) and then lightened up with Medium Fleshtone and white.

I have undercoated this model in Burnt Umber to provide a good base for the camo and all of the other areas on the model.

The uniform is painted with Luftwaffe Uniform. These units may have had a mish-mash of equipment, probably mostly standard Heer issue, but to vary things up you may wish to paint the gas mask canister and any canvas or ammo pouches in the Luftwaffe Uniform colour. A second wetbrush of Luftwaffe Uniform gives the first highlighting stage. 

A further highlight of Luftwaffe Uniform mixed with white and thinned a little with water was then added, but the same effect is achieved much quicker by just lightly drybrushing. At this stage the skin, gloves and scarf were painted and highlighted.

The belts and pouches were painted flat brown and highlighted followed by the water bottle and gaiters (German Camo Medium Brown), cup, mess tin and gas mask canister (Luftwaffe Uniform), and breadbag (Khaki). The belts, mess tin and gas mask canister were carefully washed with slightly watered down Army Painter Strong Tone.

The rifle was painted, followed by basecoating the helmet in Earth. I leave the helmet until last because it often gets handled during painting.

German Camo Orange Ochre is added to Earth and wetbrushed onto the helmet. A highlight (white added to the colour) is painted onto the rim and a water-thinned highlight is added near the top. A little weathering is added and, when dry, the helmet is given a thin wash of Army Painter Strong Tone mixed with a bit of black.

The base was heavily drybrushed with Burnt Umber, then a lighter coat of Flat Earth, and finally a very light Brown Sand. A final squirt of Testor’s Dullcote then some tufts (follow link to tufts in the GEG store) finished it off. As with other figures done on the RoE Hobby Blog twenty of these figures could be completed in a week, with a couple hours spent each evening.