"Late war German brownish uniforms" Topic

I have read some German uniforms late in the war were almost brown in color. I want to do a platoon in this color and read the recommended color to use in vallejo is English uniform. I am thinking of lightening it up with some white. Any thoughts or ideas?

Vallejo Khaki Grey makes a nice higlight to English Uniform. I have also lightened English Uniform with what was formerly GW Bleached Bone, to good effect.

These over a black undercoat. English Uniform doesn't cover all that well, so you get good shading by "wet brushing" a couple of coats.

Have fun.

I think it was probably much like the Confederacy in the US Civil War. Towards the end of the war, there was a tremendous inconsistency in the industrial processes in the Reich.

Uniform cuts were also changed to save materials, there were new patterns, new colors. Towards the end of the war, there were also a lot of mouse grey (as opposed to the feldgrau).

If you wanted to use a brownish uniform, I would use the English Uniform, and maybe a touch of light grey?

What I am curious about though, is were these really new uniforms, or were they perhaps surplus tropical uniforms left over from the Italian/NA campaign?

link

Hmm, I have a much different experience with my English Uniform Black Wash. I prime white though (and this was on British infantry) and it covered probably better than any paint I have ever used. In fact, I turned to my wife when I first used it (she could care less, but I had to tell someone lol) and said "damn this is the best paint I have used in 25 years of painting).

I wonder if you or I got a weird bottle?

My experiences with English Uniform Brown have been good as well. Maybe we just got lucky with our bottles.

I think for that late war German low quality brownish uniform look you want to use a base of a dark olive brown if you can. English uniform is the right color, but I don't think you want to go lighter by adding white or khaki and I think underneath you want that muddy olive tone. Partially this is because from what I have seen, the brown has that hue to it, but also because it will help mark them as German troops still.

I don't think you want to go lighter either. While there is probably a lot of variation, the pics I have seen of real uniforms show a darker brown with some gray or gray-green. I'm not a paint mixer or highlighter kind of guy, but I think you need to go dark with a gray or green instead of light with a white.

In 1944, the Wehrmacht introduced a new fieldblouse (brand new design, similar to US Ike jacket or British battledress, nowadays called the M44 pattern)in the new color Feldgrau 44, a green-brown. Vallejo English Uniform work fine.

As for the other patterns, at the end of the war there was a lot of variety in fieldgray:

Great pic.

I use the Lifecolour German uniforms set. You get two good shades for late war field grey: One slightly green in shade (like the one second from the left) and one slightly browner (like the one in the middle).

The side by side of the tunics is helpful – thanks,

One tip if I were going to lighten English uniform you might try Buff instead of white

We've looked at that picture many times before, isn't the middle one actually a faded Afrika Korps jacket?

Personally I think English uniform overall is too 'brown', maybe OK for exaggerated scale effect but as both Keith and 79th PA says I'd go with a greeny-grey base and brownish highlights.

I am doing 15mm that's why I wanted to lighten up English uniform color.

@ James Wright:

I've had a couple of bottles and would call them middling for their ability to cover. Of course Vallejo seem a bit hard to mix by shaking, and one's opinion of the relative transparency of paint is going to vary by individual.

That being said I quite like the color and have painted about 120 28mm WWI Late War with it. I do rather wish I had higlighted by just using the Khaki Grey instead of mixing in bleached bone, but I didn't hear that tip until I'd painted a few dozen!

Would this color be for just tunics or also include trousers?