New US Marine/army Camo

I have been waiting for sombody to do it. Its been out for a while.
But it is just about impossible.

I am working on an IRAQ dio havn't decided wether to use this camo or not it looks very spongelike it's pretty intimidating.

Well I think and I could be wrong,, those of you in the regular army can correct me if I am wrong but I think that the Army will not be fielding those new pattern uniforms till 2006 so if you do an Army dio you wont have to worry about the pattern till then, and even then the Army is still planning on using the old BDU's till 2007. The Marines are using the new pattern now.

well im safe cause i dont do modern figures lol, ww2 is way funner for me to model lol.

You are right fieldgrau, I just included the Army name in there since they eventually will switch. Maybe jessiah was onto something when he said "they look spongy". I wonder if those small make-up sponges would work if they were torn irregularly?

Believe it or not I was just reading some of the Army write up on it and according to the report the Army pattern is different to the Marine design. I've seen both, the marine up close and a picture of the army pattern,,,, they look the same to me. I think this is just the Army's way of making sure that it can claim the pattern as their own design. Who knows.

That's funny. Apparently the inter-service rivaly extends to camo patterns. IS NOTHING SACRED??

Funny thing is the US Army's Natick Labs developed the USMC's pattern for them. They were working on a US Army pattern concurrently, but separately. The Marines wanted a pattern that they could call their own and the US Army wants a pattern that can be used in the desert as well as temperate climates. So not only do the patterns and colors differ, but also the cut of the uniform.

The Marines will have a separate pattern for woodland, desert and urban environments.
The US Army will use one pattern for all environments. It is supposed to be mandatory by 2007, but will be fielded starting in 2006.

Rob,, When I was doing my two weeks out in Leavenworth this year they had a poster with the new uniforms on it. Not sure I like all the velcro Patches and stuff on it. Knowing some of the guys I have been with,, that will be easy targets for patches being put upside down ,, in the wrong place,,, I think you probably know what I mean. Else wise the design ideas seem to be good. Heck by 2006 when they are first fielded I will only have 2 to 3 years left to go on my enlistment anyhow so I think I can deal with them for that short amount of time.

MAJ G,

Has the fielding of the ACU been pushed back? Last I heard, it was supposed to start fielding in April 2005. Some units in the Stryker Brigade have been wearing them in Iraq since October, according to Guard Experience magazine. I've heard lots of mixed opinions on them, but I think they're pretty cool other than all the velcro on them!

I saw a book awhile back with some pics of the British special ops stuff and they have been doing this for a long time(circa 1991).
Fine lines with geometric patterns on their helo's and other things.
the Indian army has some MBT's with lots of small squares around 6"x8" overlapping in a random pattern.
Confusing and hard on the eye's and real cool looking.
I wish I had the skills to lay one out but alas I feel that a person could go mad trying to mask it all off.

I actually had a letter published in the Army Times last week regarding the Velcro. I stated that I'd rather pay $1 to have a patch sewed on once than to pay $4 to replace the patch everytime it fell off and I lost it.

They will be phased in during the next two years. Yes, there are units testing them right now. Everyone is supposed to be wearing them by FY07 (Oct 06), the year I am eligible for retirement (Jul 07).

Oh ya, I'm very scared of the new ACU's, sheesh it takes me long enough to paint figures as it is.

Here is the skinney on the ACU's as taken from a document dated 10 June.
"The ACU: Consists of a jecket, trousers, patrol cap, moisture wicking t-shirt and improved hot weather temperate boots in the new universal camouflage pattern."

"The uniform will be fileded to deploying units starting in April 2005, and fielding to the entire Army will be completed no later than December 2007"

"The new uniform costs $88, an increase of $34 over the old uniform." (That just sux)

"What will be the wear out date for the current BDU? The army will introduce the ACU in April 2005. Wear out date for BDU is to be determined. Production ramp up of the ACU will cause production of the BDU to end in early FY06. Residual stocks of BDUs will be sold or issued until exhausted. The wear out date will provide an adequate amount of time for soldiers to procure the ACU."

Well there you have it sports fans, so we all have some time left to perfect this pattern. By the way, the marine version has the eagle, globe and anchor in it so I want to see that on all of your little 1/35 scale marines ROFLMAO!!!!

As for the velcro patches, I think PVT Snuffy is going to end up doing a lot of push ups for putting things upside down, in the wrong place, and I am sure other things that we have not even thouhgt up yet.

Hello to all;

Regarding all of the above. The CADPAT uniform now in use by the Canadian Army is just as troubling to produce in 1/35. Oh for the days of the "pickle" suit of olive green.

The Marine Pattern does have the Globe and Anchor etc. in it as a "copyright" the CADPAT uniform has Maple Leafs, tiny Beer Bottles and Back Bacon sandwiches. (Okay so the last two are not there) It wouldn't surprise a lot of people if they were though.

For some good reference photos of the new patterns visit the Canadian Forces website it has lots of great links and covers a ton of areas. Not just modern conflict coverage. Excellent links for World War 1 and 2 and Korea as well.

Cheers;

Greg
CDN Soldier (Retired)

I wear the MARPAT every day and its really grown on me. The material is better and I like most of the other changes that were incorperated into the new design (slanted chest pockets, pockets on the upper sleeves, etc). And we did trademark our pattern with the eagle globe and anchor in it, just to keep the army from "stealing" it. Yeah, right.

Still haven't really come up with a good way to represent it in scale yet. I've heard of using a square end of a toothpick to put the pattern on, but I don't think I have the patience to try that. My idea is to make sheets of decal film (like the lozenge patterns on WWI planes) in the pattern that you could put on your figure's unifrom and then use a LOT of setting solution to snug it down onto the creases and folds. I don't know if it would really work, though...

Let me know if you need reference pics, I can't share them here, but I can email them. The US Marines and Navy Corpsmen are the only ones with the Digital Cammies right now. The Army will be adopting it soon, but right now they're still using the old NATO camo uniforms. During the opening months of OIF, the new digital camoflauge was few and far between. The Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion used the old desert camo because anybody with new cammies just bought them, and they didn't want their new duds to get messy in the dessert. Email me if you need pics... ridlecj@wna-linknet.com

Hiya there,
Just to let you guys know, I am here in the 82ND and these new uniforms are starting to show up here, and will be given to all deploying units (infantry) here starting in Jan. 05. Just to let you know.