"Color to Paint Gestapo??? Hm..." Topic

Got a horde of these recently for cheap. They look very nice to paint as all Pulp stuff.

Not sure if to paint black uniform, brown or standard German gray or green.

In this Pulp site picture they are in black which is fine.

What is your opinion?

the above pic is of a 1st SS LAH ceromanial guard with the black uniform and white leather, other SS units had the same but black leather (someone will correct me if im wrong)

you could easily do in field grey as normal wermact with black leather, just dont do the armband and the cuff title, cant tell if these are cast on or just painted on

Al

If you plan to use them in pulp style games, paint them in black. Right or wrong, it has become the color we associate with the Gestapo and SS. Remember Major Hochstetter from Hogan's Heroes?

For NSDAP party functions, like book burnings, Krystalnacht, or fights with rival commie thugs, go with brown.

If you plan to use the to fight Russians, Americans, British, or Nicholas Cage and the Italians, you'd want standard German gray or green.

For what it is worth, most of the Pulp figures look like they are engaged in internal security activities, as opposed to active combat, and they get real weapons, as opposed to clubs and bricks, so I'd stay away from brown and green.

Grelber

Don't they normally look like this….

YouTube link

I guess it is supposed to be brown
but it looks to me that the ones in Illinos
are wearing khaki

YouTube link

I love this figure. I used it to make figures for Immediate Action Organization police as shown in "It could happen here" for my VBCW BUF contingent.

wikipedia says:

With the formation of RSHA in September 1939, Gestapo officers who also held SS rank began to wear the wartime grey SS uniform when on duty in the Hauptamt or regional headquarters (Abschnitte). Hollywood notwithstanding, after 1939 the sinister black SS uniform was only worn by Allgemeine-SS reservists; it was abolished in 1942.[31] Outside the central offices, Gestapo agents working out of the Stapostellen and Stapoleitstellen continued to wear civilian suits in keeping with the secretive nature of their work.

Beginning in 1940, the grey SS uniform was worn by Gestapo in occupied countries, even those who were not actually SS members, because agents in civilian clothes had been shot by members of the Wehrmacht thinking that they were partisans.

Unlike the rest of the SS, the right-side collar patch of the RSHA was plain black without insignia, as was the uniform cuffband. Gestapo agents in uniform did not wear SS shoulderboards, but rather police-pattern shoulderboards piped or underlaid in "poison green" (giftgrün). A diamond-shaped black patch with "SD" in white was worn on the lower left sleeve even by SiPo men who were not actually in the SD. Sometimes this Raute was piped in white; there is some debate over whether this may or may not have indicated Gestapo personnel.

however for pulp I think you should go for black. Here is Herr Flick in uniform (from Allo Allo, a sitcom from the 80s set in occupied France):

YouTube link

Try Paynes grey instead of black. True black is a little too dead. I get paynes grey in a tube from Blick Artists, at the Dick Blick art supplies store. If it's for pulp, looks trump reality.

I used Vallejo Flat black for my uniforms and gloss black for boots or leather jackets.

Phil

Grelber said it for me, very nicely. For Pulp, for the pre-WWII decade, I think having black distinguish the Gestapo or SS from your regular German army guys on the tabletop is an eye-pleasing advantage.