1

Painting Modern Camouflage

Modern camouflage clothing can be a real problem to paint. Patterns like the German Flecktarn or USMC´s MARPAT look really

awesome in real life, but the thought of painting minis in such pattern can really make one forget the project at once. Who really

wants to paint tons of little spots or blocks on a mini, much worse a whole set of minis!

But there really are easier ways. Since we are only painting scale models we only need to fool the eye and that can usually done

with really simple techniques. Here is an example of how to paint modern German Flecktarn in the Wald (woodlands) version. The

miniature used is the MG36 gunner from Devil Dog Designs German KSK troops pack (DOW 5201). The mini is in 28mm scale and

based on an Excalibur 3cm base.

As always you should first clean the mini of excess pewter, assemble it, put it on its base and prime it. This is usually done either in

white or black. The former will usually make the colours appear brighter, the later will make them appear somewhat darker.

Bottom line is that it is a matter of personal taste. I primed my mini black since I wanted the final result to look somewhat

menacing which is usually enhanced by a dark appearance. (Photo A)

Next I painted it a bright green. (Photo B) The green should be a bit lighter then the lightest green you find on photos of German

uniforms.

The rest of the work involved what I call “dry dipping". This basically works like dry brushing. Only that you take a brush with hard

hair approximately "0" or "Fine Detail" size. Use an old one if possible since it will be ruined afterwards for anything else but this

technique. You need to prepare it first, which means putting paint on and pushing it straight down on a piece of paper. After a

short time the hairs will be bend to the sides and this is when you can use it.

Put the paint you want to use on, brush some of the paint off using the same method you used while preparing the brush. When

there is only about the amount of paint left you would want for dry brushing push the brush sideways against the mini. When the

paint from the brush is used up refresh. You do not need to dip it into the paint-can every time, but you can refresh it at the spot

you used for getting paint out of the brush. Works about once or twice.

Dry dipp the mini first with moss (Photo C), then a light brown (Photo D), dark green (Photo E), always using colours a bit brighter

then in real life. I would switch brown and dark green on my next go though since I did a limited run with brown after the dark

green... did not like the look. So the perfect dry-dipping sequence should be moss, dark green and light brown.

Since it works the same way as dry brushing the deepest part will mostly be light green. Not as much as with dry brushing since the

dipping gets more into the deep spots, but still not enough. The dominant colours with Waldflecktarn are dark green and brown so

the should take up the most of the mini. Do not try to force extra dark green or brown into deep spots... this would only ruin the

looks and will be addressed later!

Next up prepare a strong black wash with a little brown in it. Brush without remorse. Since pewter is never 100% smooth this will

only increase the spotty appearance. And since most of it settles in the deep places the bright green will not stand out that much

anymore.

Once dried look at the mini to see where there seems to be too much of any colour, still bearing in mind that brown and dark green

should dominate. Those will be most likely either bright green (in deep spots) again or the last colour you dry dipped with (in high

spots). Place just a few dots of the two dominant colours in spots where the wrong colour dominates (obviously not the one you try

to cover or which is abundant in the region). You might have to wash these spots again, but if you do just fine dots you will not

need that. (Sorry I forgot to take a photo of that phase, but you can see what it looks like from the photo of the finished mini, Photo

F)

After that it is only the normal stuff like weapons, goggles, gloves (grey leather with the German Army), boots.... Remember that

the web gear and pouches are in Flecktarn as well. (Photo F)

There also is a desert version of German Flecktarn for desert environs (Wüstenflecktarn). Just paint the mini a light tan instead of

the bright green, drop the moss altogether, replace the light brown with a dark brown and keep the dark green. With this pattern

the tan will be the dominant colour and the size the other two cover is slightly reduced. You also should not wash this pattern black

of course but a very mild brown. The edges of the webgear and pouches have a olive lining.

2

All in all this technique is quite quick (painted 8 minis in one afternoon) and produces a great result. It can be adapted for patterns

like MARPAT as well... just change the colours and the amount of area you dry dip.

3

4

5

6

7

8

Modern US Army in ACU Camo

9

The base coat os VAL Green Grey, followed by GW Rotten Flesh and finally VAL Russian Uniform. These were all applied using the

technique explained above. Once done these were washed with a mix of one part VAL Black Ink and 5 parts water. And presto… all

done.

Authors: DHC Wargames Club