RoE Hobby Painting Splinter B Ca

Splinter B Camo Late War German Fallschirmjäger Painting Guide

Fallschirmjäger models present the wargamer with a challenge and an opportunity. Although the various camo patterns look complicated, a few easy and effective techniques are all that is required to paint these models to a good standard, and extra time and patience, plus a little research, can give you a superb army of tabletop miniatures to game with. The models in the guide are painted to a good standard for gaming and, as befits WWII figures, highlights and detail are not too heavily accentuated. These are the colours I used; all Vallejo:

Green Grey 886 (Smock)

German Camo Med Brown 826 (Camo, Water Bottle)

German Camo Pale Brown 825 (Camo highlight)

Luftwaffe Camo Green 823 (Camo)

Flat Brown 984 (Belts)

Luftwaffe Uniform (Gasmask Canister, Ammo Pouches, Cup)

German Fieldgrey 830 (Trousers, Mess Kit, Helmet)

German Camouflage Beige (Breadbag)

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 stared by undercoating this model in Burnt Umber to provide a good base for the camo and all of the other areas on the model. The blouse is painted in two coats with Green Grey followed by a thin wash of Army painter Strong Tone mixed with a small amount of black ink. After drying, highlights of thinned Green Grey, followed by a further one lightened with white, are applied

Here are a couple of shots of the camo pattern.

Next stage is to paint on the brown camo using German Camo Medium Brown in shapes rather than splodges. You can break the pattern at seams or pockets as these parts would have been cut from separate bits of cloth.

The pattern is highlighted first by adding German Camo Pale Brown, then with German Camo Pale Brown on its own. The highlights avoid the edges of the camouflage sections.

The green camo stage (Luftwaffe Camo Green) covers areas of the base cloth between brown patches. Again, these patches receive two quick highlights by adding Sunny Skintone (I find that highlighting by adding white makes the colour too pale, and yellow makes it too bright), but just using a lighter green would do.

I used the same technique for the raindrop markings as I did for the Tan Water camo. I mixed a darker shade of Luftwaffe Camo Green, thinned it slightly, and painted delicate strokes of paint on the jacket base colour, sometimes overlapping the green and/or brown. Once you get the hang of it, it takes very little time to do each model. The key is paint consistency, and you’ll just have to experiment a bit to find what the right amount of water to add is for you. Finally, you may wish to go over the Green Grey baser colour of the smock in a few places.

Belts are Flat Brown and ammo pouches, gas canister and cup are painted in Luftwaffe Uniform. Belts are highlighted by adding Saddle Brown (any lighter brown of the same hue will do) to the Flat Brown, the rest is highlighted several times by adding white. A thin wash of black ink over these parts finishes them off.

The other webbing equipment was painted, followed by the trousers in German Fieldgrey with a couple of highlights. Much of the webbing equipment came in various colours, whether due to the branch of the military, manufacturer, date of manufacture, length of time in the field, etc., so it’s valid to vary your palette a wee bit on these items.

For the rifle, I used Flat Earth 983 as the base.  I then added Medium Fleshtone and painted thin stripes (woodgrain).  Adding a little white, I then painted thinner strips.  Finally I did thin strips of Charred Brown between the lighter strips.  Once the metal is then done, the rifle is washed with a Black/Brown ink. The skin was basecoated at this time and also washed. Once dry, a quick varnish to protect the paintwork is provided by Testors Dullcote.

When the skin was finished, the last stage on the figure was the helmet. Again, this piece of equipment could be various colours – splinter B, grey, yellow – but I chose German Fieldgrey to go with the trousers. Subtle highlights were added, the straps were done in Flat Brown, and it was given a final wash of thinned Army Painter Strong Tone. This was further watered and applied over the smock, trousers and webbing.

When highlighting the base, I very lightly drybrushed some of the earth tones onto the bottom of the trousers. Following a dose of Testors Dullcote, I added some stuff from the tufts and flower section to finish it off.

Click here - fallschirmjager - to see the range in the GEG shop.