"Mitchell Pattern Helmet Cover -- How Would You Paint It?" Topic

Finished my 1/72 NVA/VC. Now working on US. How would you go about painting a Mitchell helmet cover? Technique, mostly, here as I don't use standard hobby paints. Thanks in advance.

Very faded, as they were known for not being colorfast and becoming very faded very quickly

Thanks. I'd suspect US forces at Ia Drang would have had their helmet covers issued in the US, so that would be time for them to fade, yes?

I would say yes. In the heat, humidity, rain, and baking sun of SE Asia, the covers faded out VERY quickly. A matter of weeks, not months. I spent a year stationed in E. Thailand in the early 80s and my Mitchell cover was virtually mono-colored in a surprisingly short time.

Thanks, and thanks for your service. I'm interested to know if you could give me any more hints on how to create the impression of faded covers seen from a distance. It's painting for wargaming, so I have to make some exaggerations or the impression won't work. I keep coming up with light-green helmets with green, dark green, and tan spots. I'm wondering if there are any tricks like brush strokes, washes, or what have you, that would help me give a more realistic painting impression.

This may sound odd, but get a photo of the real thing and hold it at arm's length. Now intentionally cross your eyes a bit so that your vision is blurred. That's how the tiny figures' uniforms will look from 3-5 feet away. Reproducing that is the key. Paint to give the impression. Don't try to paint a crisp, exact pattern. Certainly use faded olive drab as a base, then lightly dry brush small areas in the other colors to give the impression of a very faded camo pattern. Then a light wash of the faded olive drab to blend it all together. If you want reality, the camo pattern should be barely there, unless the unit was just reissued with replacement gear in the previous couple of weeks.

In any case, the heat and humidity in SE Asia are so high that when you look at anything in the distance, it always looks a bit fuzzy because of the "steamy" air you're looking through.

Thanks!

Here's what I finally ended up with that didn't look too bad.

1). Faded helmet cover; paint the entire helmet Ceramcoat Light Timberline Green (which will dry to a lime sherbet color that will make you think you made a mistake). Splotch with Folk Art Clover, splotches about the size of the figure's hand. Splotch with Ceramcoat Dark Forest Green, slightly smaller than the Clover splotches. Be careful to make the splotches touch each other, but not overlap too much -- when in doubt, leave the other colors (including the sherbet lime color) visible. Do a few small splotches (not dots_ with Ceramcoat AC Flesh. Then heavily dilute some Ceramcoat Timberline Green (not Light Timberline, but Timberline) and wash over the helmet.

2). Newer helmet cover. Paint the entire helmet Timberline Green. Using a small brush, paint thin lines of Light Timberline Green in random squiggles over the helmet, making sure the squiggles don't intersect or run in the same direction like stripes. Splotch with Folk Art Clover and Ceramcoat Dark Forest Green as above, making sure splotches obscure the Light Timberline Green lines randomly. Do a few small dots with Ceramcoat Golden Brown. When done, heavily dilute some Ceramcoat Light Timberline Green (not Timberline, but Light Timberline) and wash over the helmet.