Waffen SS M44 dot camo tunic colors

No worries barrett. As I say, you can just use that as a guide. When I did the plane tree, I followed it to the book. But I was more interested in getting the pattern right and working on the flesh and eyes, something I have had problems with for years. Now I have that right, thanks in no small part to jack, I will work on the colours and try and get down the number of I need.

I look forward to seeing your figures along with that Tiger II.

Bish and Jack, Thanks for this ongoing conversation. It's really helpful. Barrett

Jack, I agree. Like many thing's, I don't think the exact colour matters. Given the quality of German cloth late in the war, the way SS clothing was produced added to wear and tear, exact hues would indeed vary. Though I always thinks its handy to at least have a rough guide to start from and then you can work your own colours from there.

Bish - thx for mentioning that osprey book, looks pretty handy, and it's author I'm very familiar with for his boxtop paintings for Alpine figures.

Individual's call about investing in all those extra paint bottles.  I think getting the pattern shapes (and in scale) will be more important than getting the right hue.   The colours really depend on what you use for reference.   Also, these patterns were printed on as many as 6 different types of material, which can result in a slightly different colours:

More literature here:
http://www.atthefrontshop.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=423

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What I did was load an image of a tunic to this site
http://scalemodeldb.com/paint
Then choose a pixel that gives a close approximate paint matches, and take it from there. 

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The earliest patterns were hand screened, the patterns being about 70 inches long.  By 1940-41, this had switched to roller printed to save on production time.  The patterns here would be about 18 inches in length, so it would be easy to see the repeat of the the pattern on finished garments.  

Barret, that is the first  I've heard of that story, though the initial link I posted does mention that caps and helmet covers were not produced in the dot 44  pattern, so these were made out in the field.   It's not clear though if that means soldiers painted the material themselves, or just cut up existing material.

regards,

Jack

LOL, I know, a lot of mixing. Its not to bad if you do a lot of German figures, that way you can mix up larger amounts and keep them for when you need them, that's what I did with the plain tree.

I have never heard that before and to be honest I can't see that's likely. It would probably cost more and the troops would not have that much time by the period the Dot pattern was introduce. And why get your troops to do it when the slaves at Dachau will do it for them.

Bish, Yikes! At least you gave me one color I can use straight out of the bottle.;-) Thanks for putting in all this effort. I appreciate it. I read that in some cases soldiers were actually issued a plain uniform and bottles of dye to make their own patterns. Is that likely? Barrett

Jack, Thanks very much for all of this. The links are really helpful, too. Now to actually do this! Barrett

The Osprey Modelling, Modelling Waffern SS figures gives Vallejo colours as well as some nice technics for painting the camo. I used this for the SS figures in my Panther Dio, though they all had the Plane tree pattern.

These are the colours, with ratios, it give using Vallejo Model colour for the Dot Patten.

Base colour. US Field Drab 873: 5   English Uniform 921:  1  Ger camo Black Brown 822:  1

Med Green. Reflective Green 890.

Light Green.  Sunny Skin Tone 845:  3  SS camo Bright Green 833:  5   Militarty Green 975:  1

Dark Green.  Military Green 975:  2   Black 950:  1

Sand/Pink Spots.  Sunny Skin Tone 845:  3   Salmon Rose 835:  4   English Uniform 921:  1

I have not painted this scheme yet. But the images of it completed do look really good, and I was very pleased with the plane tree pattern. I would defiantly recommend the book if your likely to do any more SS figures and it has some great tips for painting personnel equipment which will be useful for all German figures.

There's actually just two greens (olive and grass green), black, light tan and chocolate brown.

Some of these colours you should already have in your paintbox.  Can only suggest though, as I've never tried painting this.  The tan looks like a cross between a sand colour and flesh tone.   Definitely add white to the tan swatch I've linked below. Maybe pick up Vallejo's lime green?  

http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00117.php

http://www.artizandesigns.com/painting-guides.php

hth

regards,

Jack