Painting 10mm WW2 Soldiers:
NOTE - all pictures are thumbnails - just click on them to open a much bigger, clearer version in a new window
| These are the unpainted troops - this picture shows Germans, US Paras and German Paratroops. They are small enough that there is never going to be that much detail, so given a 3cm x 3cm base there's no significant concerns about basing them before painting causing problems with hard-to-reach areas |
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| This is the first stage - painting all over in a fairly dark
colour. I chose a dark brown for the Screaming Eagles, as some pictures of
uniforms have a brownish tinge. There is a "problem" with
WW2 uniforms generally in that whilst lots were made, and fairly recently
relative to other periods, a combination of differing manufacturing
processes, battle wear and tear and - most irritatingly - period photos
having both aged, and being originally taken in quite widely varied
lighting conditions (never mind how this translates when viewed on your
screen over the internet!) means there is little actual objective
"fact" to find. So, my take, after far too much contradictory
web research was to just pick a single picture/image that "feels" right
and go for something close - chances are you won't be far wrong from
at least some of the units in the field you are trying to model.
Many sites give a darkened Olive drab for US para uniforms - I used Humbrol 98 |
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| This shot shows German infantry undercoated in dark grey, US paras in dark brown and German paras in a slightly lighter brown. For the Fallschrimjaeger the brown is because the camo smock is the dominant item of clothing - grey trousers can easily be added later. |  |
| Camo patters being added to the German paras with a very, very dodgy brush.
The blotchy camo pattern is built up by splodging the troops with an semi- dry splayed old brush like this in dark brown and then green - before doing any other parts of the figures ! |
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| The fallschrimjaeger trousers are then given a slightly tidier coat of dark grey - this will be an undercoat to the eventual finish, so could probably even be black if you wanted. I preferred dark grey as it gives a different effect to the shadows when compared to the guns, boots and webbing, which will all be black also on the Germans |  |
| These are the US Paras, after a Dark Green heavy drybrushing
has been applied.
To be fair, in 10mm its not really that different to just painting them green from the off, but it does (I think) give the colour and uniform a bit of depth. See the guy at the front (slightly out of focus - sorry!) for an example. Many sites give a darkened Olive drab for US para uniforms, but some are even a grey colour? I used Humbrol 98, as it was the closest paint I had to the pictures I could find, and would be different to the helmets (see later). See the Painting WW2 section on my links page for more pics from better painters than me! Both these photos also show the basing - its my ancients style basing with Cuprinol Woodflex "natural" colour woodfiller, but here with some small rocks (from a railway modelling accessory shop) just pressed into the basing whilst it was still wet. This stuff dries really quick, and is adhesive enough to allow you to base prone figures just by pressing them into the wet woodfiller. |
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| Here I've simply painted in hands + faces in Miniature
Paints tanned flesh, and used black for the weapons. Shades of grey or
metallics aren't really necessary in these scales - you will wear out a
lot of expensive small gauge brushes drybrushing tiny bits of grey onto
weapons if you try, and IMO only the Pendraken figures have weapons cast
well enough to make this even half worthwhile anyway!
Some of the soldiers have had parts of their own (metal figure) bases painted Miniature Paints "Sand", as they were too small to mould the woodfiller over without losing sight of their feet! |
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| Here a Miniature Paints "Chestnut Brown" has been used to give stocks to the 101st's guns, and their boots have been painted "Burnt Umber". Helmets are painted in a different colour to the main uniform - Humbrol 155, the US army tank colour. |  |
| This is the near finished article - bases weathered with a
wash of Windsor & Newton Peat Brown, and even an attempt to add the
eagles head unit insignia onto the shoulders of the men.
Realistically, this is a white splodge with a yellow splodge next to it - but of you are looking for it, it kinda looks like an eagles head ! |
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| And this is the finished article - with grass added to the bases, and a bit of extra detail added on the helmets. Straps were added where the models were deeply moulded enough to make it possible, in a sand colour - possibly slightly bolder than in real life, as at this scale realistic colours tend to appear too muted |  |
...and this is the entire company, in the tin and ready to go. To differentiate the three platoons I've glued on the grass in different patterns - the left hand one has "two corners", the middle has "a stripe down the centre" and the right hand one had a sideways "Y". Simple, but not too intrusive on the table.
for more 10mm pictures see my 10mm pictures page
for more painting plans for ancient figures see Hoplites or Bowmen
for half and fully painted 15mm Spanish Civil War, click here
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