Does anyone have any suggestions for painting the tiger stripe camo pattern on a 1/35 scale vietnam figure?
A steady hand, a small brush, and lots of patience.[:D]
I start by deciding which Tiger stripe I am going to paint. There were two official types, one with a black background, and one with a khaki background. I paint the figure in the background color first, then ,with a “OOO” or smaller brush, paint in the other colors in small stripes. It is tedious, but comes out looking great.
Good luck.
Actually there are several variations of the Vietnam era Tiger pattern. (I own several pieces of the real deal and each is distinctly different) Base color varied from a silver gray to a yellowish gold off white. I start with that overall. Then the camo stripes of a brownish OD and the medium green, leaving the base color visible. Finally the black stripes. Like Gino said, use a fine brush for the pattern painting (maybe avoid caffeine too [swg]) Refer to your references often to get the look you are trying to acheive.
there were many different companies/people made tiger stripe camo uniforms during Vietnam war because it was not a standard issue to the military. I think History channel had a program on camo at one point. My father served in Nam as an infantry officer and he recalls that local markets were selling such pattern uniforms to GIs and other troops. Sometimes the coloring was done so poorly that after few days of use, the uniform turned grey or faded. Most famous ones and recognized as better quality ones came from Taiwan, which my father still has a set from his days. I tried to paint one long long time ago and I remember using black, OD and brown.