Hi All
Need some help with painting ww 2 U.S Uniforms.
After getting back into modeling again some 18 months ago have been building nearly all german figures & armor so thought its about time i did some U.S figures problem is which colours to use for 1) us tank crews & 2) U.S infantry europe. Have been using diffrent ref books but they all seem to come up with diffrent colours, for example U.S airbourne ive got about 8 diffrent shades for the uniforms.
Many thanks for your help [%-)][%-)]
That would probably accurately give you 6 guys in real life.
Dye batches, wear, bleaching from the sun and other factors would slightly change any material pretty quickly
It also depends on what particular unit and time frame you want to model. Some units, like the 1st, stayed with leggings and wools through 1945, while other units, like the 44th, switched to HBTs with double-buckles and M36 packs.
Khaki was worn by most GIs right through 1945, and it was not unusual to see a mixed variety of OD and later OD7 (darker than the previous) gear issued too.
Tankers often wore khakis, but they also wore HBTs in OD, and the M41 jacket is seen in both khaki and OD, although the M43 jacket is only OD.
In some cases when surplus WW1 gear was issued, it was an even browner khaki than the WW2 variety, especially with cartridge belts for the Garand and BAR webgear. Course, these were also issued in WW2 khaki and OD too.
I guess you can pretty much make it up as you go along. It’s not uncommon to see a GI with khaki webbing, OD musette bag, leggings, and new, dark, OD7 Carlisle pouch.
Let me know (by email) if you need any help. I’m a collector of US WW2 gear and have about 250 items in my collection.
Jeff
Here is a link to a website that someone posted a few months ago. I haven’t been through it with a fine tooth comb, but the info in it looks pretty good to me. I plan on using it when (and if) I ever start my version of an Omaha Beach diorama using the Dragon/DML 29th Inf. Div. figures: