Hi guys I’m doing some figures of panzer div commanders and drivers… Does anyone have any good examples of their uniforms (from books or your own builds)? Specifically what colour their ties, shirts, boots, belts were. I guess divisionally it is different between SS and Heer but I’m sort of confused since most pictures are black and white.
Much thanks
Mike
Boy, that is a lot of info. that fills volumes…but some general things to start with: Tanker uniforms in both the Heer and Waffen SS were a black wool mix…the main difference is in the rank insignia areas: the SS utilized rank insignia on both the shoulder boards and in the collar tabs/boxes, while the Heer utilized insignia on the shoulders only and had the “skull” emblem in the collar boxes…the branch color for armor was pink, and this piping can be seen on the uniforms and headwear…officers also used aluminum cord piping but it was often “mixed”…the national eagle was on the breast in the Heer and on the armsleeve in the SS…elite units also had their units names on cuff bands: right for Heer and left for SS…
…shirts were generally black, field grey, mouse grey or white…ties, when worn were black…the SS cut of the uniform was a more “tailored” look while the Heer cut was more “bulky” w/ longer lapels and tapered front seam…gloves were generally soft deerskin leather dyed to a mouse grey color…here are some SS renditions in 1/35th:
(Chicks dig Tankers…)
(this pic features 4 primary types of soft headgear seen on Tankers: L to R, soft peaked cap (also known as the “crusher cap”), '43 pattern field cap, dress peaked cap, and garrison cap (very poplular w/ tank crews until end of war because headphones could be worn easily over it)…
(Tanker on Right wears surplus U-Boat leathers that were issued to some elite SS Divisions from Spring '44 onward: 12th, 1st, and sAbt 101 SS)
(Tanker on left sports “panzer wrap” uniform in pea-dot camo cloth)
(note above SS uniform shows the exception of insignia in collar tabs…3rd SS Totenkopf Division utilized skulls in place of insignia, as their Division insignia was a skull)
Heer:
(Assault gun uniforms were the same cut as Tankers but were issued in field grey or reed green as this Tanker sports, w/ black tanker garrison cap)
thanks Manstein, that is exactly what i was looking for. I’m doing 3 figures, all SS but I will have to search for the pink… its not a normal colour really, red and tan should mix pink no? was pink the colour for the SS or Heer? or both? I did not know that the national eagle was only on the breast of Heer soldiers, thanks for that detail. Anyways much thanks for your examples.
For less than the price of an average model, ($35), I can recommend an excellent book; The Panzer Soldier, by Wade Krawczyk, The Crowood Press, ISBN: 1-86126-856-4. 128 pages, hard cover, with 250 color photos of reenactors wearing various Heer and SS panzer uniforms, close-ups of medals, collar tabs, ribbons, personal equipment and more. A worthwhile investment in improving anyone’s figures.
No problem…
…pink was the branch color for armor, SS and Heer…you can mix red and white to get it…I always thought that the pink trim on black uniform was a cool look…
…don’t forget to put the national eagle on the left upper sleeve of the SS (see pics)…
…also, notice that the symbol on the headgear for the SS was a skull; for the Heer it was a wreath around a cockade (again, see fig pics)…
…don’t forget to put correct insignia on uniforms, use actual pics for ref…a lot of modelers get this area wrong…
…great advice…and there are many other good books as well: Field Uniforms for Germany’s Panzer Elite by JJF is another great title…
A few more examples:
SS:
(note that wounded Tanker in the middle has the lapel of his panzer wrap buttoned up in the cold weather)
Heer:
[quote user=“Manstein’s revenge”]
I wonder why I don’t have this title, must have slipped under the radar.
Fedorowicz has the worst search engine I have ever used… I had to look pretty hard just to find this title. I did find this errata sheet on this book, have you seen this?
http://www.jjfpub.mb.ca/gpe.htm
Sorta blows when you shell out $95 for these tomes and they aren’t proofread very well at all. At least they are nice enough to correct it, so many other publishers wouldn’t even bother.
[quote user=“Kykeon”]
[#ditto]
…another example of 1SS Tanker in U-boat leathers…this time from Battle of the Bulge timeframe (note that the garrison cap came in black, field-grey and mouse grey):
SS Tanker in shirt sleeves w/ pea-dot patterned pants:
…late-war Heer Tankers w/ camo. clothing over their “panzer wraps”:
An excellent reference, Kykeon–I own that and many others of his fine books in my personal reference library. Here’s the lot of them and some others which are invaluable references for German figures and uniforms.
…and their content examples…
As I remember, they were all under $40.00. I found them all at Border’s Book Stores, but you can probably find them on the Internet at Half.com or Amazon
wow…nice refs on German uniforms…I find some of the best ones, from a modeling perspective, are the ones that utilize pics of reenactors wearing original uniforms, as the pics are of high quality and in color…
Yeah, Manny–these are all top-notch, seriously! They are all like, 99% color, and many are still in print. I just got “The Panzer Soldier” (lower right) like, two weeks ago!
…looks like a winner; where did you get it and how much???
Try www.half.com—it’s an offshoot of ebay. Great deals there! This one’s available for around $25.00 from several sites! Should be able to find most of the others there too! Use the Search feature…I’d refer you to Border’s books But I doubt they have them there in the Ukraine where you’re from?
Let me know if you have any problems finding it![:)]
“edit”…yup, they’re all there, all for less than $35.00 each! You might need to hold your credit card with a tweezers it’s gonna get so hot! [(-D]
…yeah, it is already on fire; Tigerman talked me into the Das Reich Tiger book and I ordered a book on the King Tiger and another on German Panzergrenadier Divisions on Friday…
YIKES! [(-D]
Oh well–ya can never have too much good reference material! In fact, when I go to shows, I spend my money on books first, AM parts decond, and kits third.
I’m sure those books will give you oodles of great inspiration for some more cool dios![swg]
…that sounds like me; I’m sure I spend more on mags and books than anything else in the hobby…and many of the “good” (JJF volumes, etc.) books are $100 a pop !!!