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"Elusive Feldgrau" Topic


8 Posts

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2,418 hits since 6 Mar 2014
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

Digger06 Mar 2014 5:05 p.m. PST

I've tackled the thorny question of how to paint Early First World War German infantry in my latest blog post. I don't profess to have used a time machine. It's just a formula that seems to work, and not cause me too much painter's angst. See the results at:
diggershome.blogspot.com

painterman07 Mar 2014 3:37 a.m. PST

Results and colour tone looks great!

spontoon09 Mar 2014 2:18 p.m. PST

Of course it's elusive! It's supposed to be camouflage-ish, innit?

cplcampisi10 Mar 2014 9:46 p.m. PST

Gray-green is tricky. I have some familiarity with grigio-verde in person, and have been to enough reenactments to have a good understanding of the difficulties.

The cloth is basically a "heather" (not sure if that's the right term) -- different batches of wool were dyed in different colors (gray and green), then were spun together into threads, then woven into cloth. Up close you will notice different colored blotches, but they blend together at a short distance.

The effect is impressive. Even in person, the lighting will affect how it appears, sometimes looking more gray, sometimes more green, sometimes more brown. The lighting can have an even more dramatic effect when photographed, if it's not carefully controlled. Then there are the natural variations that occur with wool dying, compounded by war time shortages.

Trying to match that color in paint is therefore tricky, and kind of open to interpretation. In my opinion, most of the time the uniform "plates" failed almost completely, and instead of an accurate portrayal of the color are just the artist's attempt to distinguish the wool color from other colors on the equipment, etc., without being too confusing.

I think you've done a decent job, I might even go a little greener for early war feldgrau.

iain191422 Mar 2014 4:59 a.m. PST

So when do we hear about 'asphaltum'??? :-)

michaeltill25 Nov 2014 8:56 a.m. PST

I had never realised what a can of worms this subject was.I am trying out green grey with pale grey mix. both vallejo

Fizzypickles27 Nov 2014 10:36 a.m. PST

Your Feldgrau looks good to me Digger. Here is another approach people might want to try. Nearly all Hobby acrylic Black paint is blue/black. Get yourself a collection of different yellows and add them to your black. You will end up with an almost endless array of grey-greens which, in effect, is what the reality of Feldgrau actually is.

spontoon07 Dec 2014 11:40 a.m. PST

Take into account that different arms of the Imperial German Army wore different colours of Feldgrau, too! The Jager units wore a shade considerably greener than that of the line troops.

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