Splinter cammo... WTF is it?

Thank you guys for your patience; I know you probably answer this same question several times a month. I have seen all of ya'lls work here in these forums and am honored to have your help.

One problem I had was not giving the colors enough space to let the base colr really come through. I have applied dry brushing and a couple of filters to try and pull out the base shade, but it's all just turning blurry. it will be close enough for my display shelf, the next project will be 3x as many + British paratroopers, so maybe I'll be much better in cammo painting when it's done.

 Here's a recent topic on covering the same question. I cover my method there.

http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/592041/ShowPost.aspx

What you've done already in those pics isn't all that bad, really. I'd say that the main pattern is perhaps a little too closely packed, and I assume the little splinters, refered to as "raindrops" by Panzerjaeger, are one source of agrevation for you, as I don't see them in the pic. But otherwise, the overall effect is there and looks nice. A little practice will iron out the rough spots.

Hi SteveM

I recently painted a 1/16 scale Fallschirmjager with splinter pattern smock (check out my posting : http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/672355/ShowPost.aspx ). The secret to doing this very difficult scheme is to paint the entire smock with the dominant colour, in this case the light kakhi / buff. Once this has been done, use a reddish brown and paint jagged irregular shapes all over the smock remembering not to make them too large and too many as the base colour should still be dominant. Repeat the procedure with the green. Once you have done this, you will notice that the shapes are too prominent and pronounced. Have no fear! We will deal with this later. For the "raindrops" mix your green colour with a bit of very dark brown or black so that you have a blackish green. Using a 5 "0" size brush, get some paint on the brush and then take most of it off leaving the brush with just enough paint to be able to paint in a thin line. You will have to repeat this procedure every two to three lines until you have added enough. Once done, you now need to blend all the shapes and stripes together. Mix a dark grey colour into a very thin wash, slightly thicker than water and apply this to the entire smock. The first wash will probably not be visible so you will need to apply a secon and perhaps even a third. At this stage the hard edges of the splinter shapes should start to become "blury". You can add more of the wash to your deep shdow areas to darken them slightly more. Highlights can be done using your original base colour. If your "raindrops" disapear, they can always be touched up again using the same black green mixture but thinned slightly. This is indeed a very challenging and time consuming scheme to paint but if you get it right, your end product will look amazing!

I hope this helps!

Good Luck

Arthur

Before painting the figure, practice the pattern on some sheet stock. Also, remember that this is not a fine suit and the various pieces of cloth that make up the smock are not pattern matched. You might want to find a larger example to use as a pattern.