"How would you paint this Engineer-Sapper Battalion ?" Topic

I'm going out on a limb here. Me of all people trying to accurately figure out how to paint this unit.

The box in question

link

Examine soldier number 3 in this plate

picture

Which taken from Armchair General's site

link

Scroll down to "Land troops 1943-44"

I actually like the plate uniform better.

Question is what technigue could I use to get the helmet and breast plate to look like the plate ?

In that pic they look metalic green. The uniform also has a greenish tint to it, at least on my monitor.

I'm thinking base coat everything except the flesh, and weapon, then do a green wash over it maybe, then paint up the flesh and weapon.

Opinions ?

The coveralls that they are wearing come in a variety of colors. You could use a yellow-gold base with brown spots, or a green/grey with black/green splotches. Here is one picture:
picture
It has been said that these might be reproduction smocks though. A place that is a very good reference is:
rkka.ru
but it is all in Russian. If you don't read Russian, then rkka.ru/iuniform.htm will take you directly to the infantry uniforms.

Since I saw where you had posted the same question on the Flames of War forum, I'll give the same answer I just posted there:
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As you can see from the photos from the link below, sometimes the plates of the SN-42 armor showed a shine; in others, they are dead flat. The figures on the box cover show both "fresh" and worn armor plates: a nice job. The actual color of the paint on the plates no doubt varied some, especially with wear.

link

If you're talking about the artwork on the box, the only thing I see that might look like fabric is the "neck roll" padding of the lining and suspension system; it *was* fabric, and as you can see from the photos, it might or might not vary more or less from the color of the plates.

The plate from Armchair General looks like it was interpreted from a fairly worn surviving example. I see no problem with the Battlefront box art portraying something that looks quite new, with a very matte finish. And the paint work on the figures is just cracking.
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Look carefully at the individual painted figures from the box or the Spotlight article:

link

Some of the plates have been painted with varying nicks and scrapes or entire worn sections, which give the appearance of shining. Very well done, for 15mm.

Allen

with reference just to the painted FOW examples, it looks like the worn effect seen on some of the figures was achieved simply (and effectively) with a grey drybrush. I would add a brown wash which would give you the armour brown tinge as in the RKKA pics. If you wanted to splash out on techniques i would "spot" scratch the armour with grey rather than dry brush. In 15mm i dont think a metalic drybrush will give you a better effect than grey.

neil

Carefully?

Yes. Very, very carefully. Do not poke your eye out on the webcam trying to get too close to the screen.

Allen

Allen, your slavish FOW fanboidom is noted. How dare you say they ever did anything remotely historically accurate!! :)