"Sorry, your uniforms are all wrong....(FOW)" Topic

This is not an anti FOW rant but just a thread to get some opinions and start a discussion. I don't need all those FOW haters chiming in just to take a wack here. And I am definitely not the law on uniforms it is fairly subjective. With that being said I must comment.

I have looked around the FOW DAK books and they recommend painting the DAK a Russian Uniform color (924).

Now, if you have some painted this way I think you are way off. I would prefer a Khaki, way before I go with the 924 color.

I have seen countless uniforms and they have been closer to English uniform color and Khaki than to any 924. I mean it hasn't even been close on this so I don't get it.

Where is the color plate showing the DAK wearing this very dark green?

I think they are spot on with the Green Brown for the helmets, BTW. This 924 is a good base coat but if you want to make your troop realistic just lighten it a great deal.

It would be better to go with a Brit Uniform and Tan than this color.

Just my opinion. ANyone agree to disagree on this?

DAK uniforms, when new, were a dark olive colour. They faded due to harsh sunlight and washing in gasoline. I think its the "new" look that they went with, nothing wrong with that IMO.

I used the english uniform coler for my DAK as well. i think it looked better. although a washed out khaki would work because i read that there uniforms bleached out pretty fast. but i went with more of a newer look it turned out pretty good.T

If, and when I do my DAK, I will be using a mix of khakis, ochres, and Reapers "Worn Olive" color (which is a good middle ground between the "fresh" DAK uniform color and totally bleached out "khaki"). I will probrably also mix in English uniform color with a little khaki for the helmets.

I will probrably stick with the Worn Olive for tunics and mix in ochres and khakis for the pants, depending on whether the pants are the tropical (with pocket on the front of the leg) or regular pants.

But that's just me.

I have a Reaper color called Olive is that very different than Worn Olive?

I agree that they SHOULD be painted in more Khaki/ochre type colors, but I have an excellent WW II uniform book (German Soldiers of World War II, by Jean de LaGarde) that clearly shows DAK soldiers in a dark olive drab uniform. I'm not sure if that's similar to the color the FoW book recommends, but it isn't the yellowy ochre color I am used to seeing. What with fading and all, the "proper" color is anybody's guess.

Sage Green's a great colour for bleached out DAK.
What that equates to in miniature paint terms I've no idea.

A pretty good approximation would be Tamiya White, tinted with Tamiya green and Tamiya blue.
It comes out like a very pale turquoise.

If they aren't pink, just say nice job and move along.

Nazrat, if you can scan great! I have seen some. Two nights ago, I watched and recorded a Battlefront "Tobruk" episode on the military channel. You had long coat infantry(early morning) and shirtless artillery (middle of the day) and many grey helmets. The darker shades looked more like the English Uniform Greenish-Brown color than anything else.

The FOW Vallejo choice matches too closely to the Western theater color for my taste. One of the best matches I have found is Foundry's 'Moss.' The Foundry Triad represents (IMHO)the closest match. In a little while I will paint up some and post them to show the three different shades, always comparing them to the Russian Uniform color which I really don't agree with and I guess I understand why they chose it.

Truthfully, I really don't want to get so caught up in such a minor point. They chose it to differentiate early newer troops from veteran troops so I guess it can work that way in 15's. Not such a big deal anyway. In 25's I rather mix it up much more so that you can tell your Afrika troops from your European from a distance.

Well, BF isn't exactly an 'expert' site when it comes to uniforms. For example, they recommend painting the straps on Italian infantry black, when they were in fact grey-green dyed leather and natural canvas. An easily checkable fact that they apparently didn't check.

But then I'm sort of pedantic about these things.

I think they got the uniform green very nearly spot on with real life examples of the DAK tropical uniforms on display at the Australian War Memorial. The tan uniform worn by DAK was mostly of Italian origin.

I made a comment on the FOW forum about the colour of the US Para paint jobs that were in the Stars & Stripes book. The figures for midwar are painted an olive colour and that was also the colour given in the chart.

I stated the uniforms should be tan in colour and that every resource and including the uniforms I had seen in museums with my own eyes agreed with that. The slapping down I got was incredible even though I was right! Apparently the shade they used on their figures were exactly right according to a swatch they got from a REINACTOR group.

Says it all really.

Standard issue tropical uniform during the period was an olive green colour. Fading at different rates and the adoption of captured British and Italian clothing led to a great deal of variation in clothing colour.
I've had three different pices of original uniform and they ranged from very green to akmost white (cap).

There is plenty of refrence available in print and online to check against. Also bear in mind that Luftwaffe tropical uniform was of a different colour and more of a tan colour.

Tony,

I think the Reaper Olive is much too green compared to the worn olive. I'd have to check though…

Oh, I know what it is…I'm using the Reaper "Master Series" Worn Olive paint (what's so "Master" about them I have no idea…). Dunno if that makes a difference to you or not.

Just hit a local Militaria expo (like I did last Saturday) and BLAM hordes of original uniforms in all shades from VERY light tan to that nice pale green color.

Hey Nazrat, you got good references! The book is excellent.

As for the colors, I agree, combatpainter, they are a bit a miss. IIRC I used khaki beige, japanese uniform and a cream (almost white) color for caps, mixing pants and jacket color freely.
I couldn't swear about the colors but it's worth trying

Desert Rat wrote "Apparently the shade they used on their figures were exactly right according to a swatch they got from a REINACTOR group."

Many people on their forum seem to think that Wikepedia is some sort of authority.

link

link

link

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link

And this book is essential:

link

I guess the color photos pretty much says it all.

That's what they looked like new.

The question is, what did they look like after being worn for a couple of weeks in the field?

Trousers on the right are a match for their Russian Uniform in this link but that is the only one. All the others are lighter olive color which is more in line with the green color I would select and would try and recreate based on the majority of the pics you have showed.

link

I also read that new recruits wanted to avoid the 'Green' stigma and began bleach their uniforms almost immediately upon setting foot in North Africa. Also, as an experiment take a new black shirt and place in the sun for the day. It will fade after about 10 hours. This is true. It happened to me. :)

The Germans used a mix of their own and captured British uniforms. After Tobruk fell they captured huge stocks of Khaki uniforms and began to use them right away. My source is the three book work 'Crucible of War'.

Chortle, that's my understanding also – and that if your quartermaster was any good he would horse-trade with the Italians for you to at least get you one of their uniforms, which were considered superior for desert duty (unlike most things Italian ;-)).

Don.

CombatPainter: The other thing to note is that the Russian Green BF suggests shades down well, so if you highlite/drybrush, you can set the shade of the green. I vary it by adding white as the mix gets low.

For personal stuff I mix uniform bits and it does come out well if you over-mix the white. For reviews I keep it stright, but even so a light enough mix looks pretty washed out.

Don.

I just used the Russian Uniform Green ang highlighted it to varying degrees. Simple.

CdlT

I did these to show the possibilities:

link

They all pretty much work.

"Hey Nazrat, you got good references! The book is excellent."

I know Helmet. That book is superb, and it should be as I spent around 75 bucks US for it! Another handy and less expensive tome is World War II Infantry in Colour Photographs. It's chock full of front and back color pictures of modern guys in actual period uniforms. I've used the thing to death. I think it's out of print now, but readily available on eBay.

Jerry

Combat, if you have those pictures Neukray posted then you don't need a scan from my book. It's the same hue.

picture

Its a wee 20mm figure but this is my typical shade. The base is normaly some variation of olive or russian uniform.

NeuKray,

Definitely works. Very nice.

"Definitely works. Very nice."

Geez yeah! That's beautiful work. Well done.

Paint them. Throw some mud on them. Be done with it. They'll look like anybody's troops in any war. Be happy.

Mud?

??

Paint them. Throw some mud on them. Be done with it. They'll look like anybody's troops in any war. Be happy.

Lol….

I finished throwing some mud on this bunch and then I slobbered all over them to finish things off.

link

These were the original guys that I had used three different shades on so you would see what they looked like at the end. I used Vallejo's Green Brown for all the helmets and Tan Yellow for the cap.

Very nice indeed. Nice mix of colours.

They do, however, all look as if they are trying to pass the blame to the figure on their right :-)

They do, however, all look as if they are trying to pass the blame to the figure on their right :-)

HAHA! He did it. No, he did it or They went that a-way.

While the displaced miniatures site is giving an error on your link, it is a rather amusing error, so I'll just sit here and chuckle. I like a site with a sense of humor ;-).

Don.