Camo on 1/35 scale figures

WOW thanks ill read this and see what i can do with those "NOT nam but GULF WAR guys" LOL

Believe it or not, you can get a reasonable facsimile of some patterns with an airbrush. Have to paint in details by hand of course, but it works for large areas.

For practice, start out by finding the pattern you need, either in a surplus catalog or online. The catalog will let you match colors more easily. Take a piece of scrap plastic and try to replicate the pattern on a flat surface. When you're satisfied with your results, try it on a figure.

Tip for more realism...unlike a suit, the patterns on the pockets and various panels do not match up except by accident. You'll get better results if you treat each of these as a separate piec of cloth.

ajlafleche wrote:

Tip for more realism...unlike a suit, the patterns on the pockets and various panels do not match up except by accident. You'll get better results if you treat each of these as a separate piec of cloth.

Excellent idea.  I was digging through my collection to find my 'brown' tiger stripe to confirm a thought I had had last night.  I was right, that pocket flap really does have 4-5 horizontal 'repeat' of the pattern on it.  Which reinforces my opinion that tiger stripe is probably the toughest 1/35 pattern to "do right" ('gold' and 'seafoam' for the color range).  The pattern is tought to get right, and then shading that, too . . . it's a good thin we does this ofr the fun, that avocation of it <g>.

Ok, went back to look.  My "duck hunter" actually is matched, pockets, sleeves and all--now, it's very "annonymous" other than the "NX" contract number; I got a good deal on it since it was so 'abberant,' too.  My MC reversible from that era is mismatched, as is my ERDL. 

Second hardest camo pattern has to be the ERDL; although Flektarn and the various German 'raindrop' are right up there.

Yeah, I'm about to ruin my eyesight (and my sanity) by taking a shot at flecktarn.

Then I'll try something easy like Belgian Jigsaw (you know, the one w/ the purple splotches...)

...here I have replicated (tried to) several types of German camo:

That is some loverly work, man!  And your sumpftarn in the other thread, too!

I figure - I painted 6-color desert a few times way back when - so surely flecktarn can't be too hard??

(as I own full-size examples of both patterns, I know for a fact fleck is faaaaaaaaaaaaar more intricate...)

[qoute user="Manstein's revenge"]by the way, what is flecktarn ?[/qoute]

Ah, that would be the name (if possibly the surplus/collector term) for the current Heer camo pattern.  It's a bit coarser a "grain" than the US digital, but with either 5 or six colors; there's a desert and european color scheme if memory serves.

The overall visual effect is a bit like leaf litter raight at the juncture of summer and fall, reds, browns, tans on a field of green (not that any one color is really "dominant").

Probably no more difficult than, say, lozenge biplane camo at 1/144 <g>.

Here's a pic of flecktarn: 

(it is, btw, incredibly effective in Louisiana mixed-wood forests, as well)

...doesn't look too bad---sorta looks like a hybrid of German oak-leaf and pea-pattern...

...is this pattern for private or military use...?