Howdy folks! I’m just getting back into this after a 20 yr siesta (college, work, family, etc). I am working on a FW-190 A8 (Hasegawa 1/32 scale) and am putting the figure in. Unfortunately, the instructions are a little light on detail for the paint. Here are my questions:
What color should the pants/helmet/parachute/seat belts/goggles be? the kit says light blue for the pants, but I can’t believe it would be just a Testors light blue.
What type of paint should I use (acrylic, enamel)? Brand?
Any suggestions would be helpful! I hope to have something I feel comfortable posting some day!
I am treadhead not a flyboy, so I’m not going to be nuts on here. Google “Luftwaffe pilot” images, you should get plenty of returns, mix your paints to match whichever theater of action you are looking for. You are not going to find names for paint brands and colors unless someone has something that matches, which I doubt. This isn’t rocket science, close should be good enough.
Others will certainly agree, do yourself a favor and get some Vellejo acrylics, if acrylics are your paint of choice. Good paints, engineered for painting figures specifically and are also designed to be used with a paint brush. They go on nicely, though some (myself included) find advanced techniques difficult to master. I use them for base coats to paint oils over and they work splendedly in that capacity as well.
As for color, as was mentioned above, the web is a good source, though most of the photos will be black and white. The Luftwaffe used a blueish gray color that could be achieved with a mix of Testors flat blue and Testors flat gray. Check you LHS for Dragon or Tamiya figure sets with Luftwaffe figures in them and see what colors they used on the box art.
Osprey and Squadron/Signal also have great books with lots of pics and color plates that would be of use too. Your LHS would likely have them in stock and you could just browse through them to get the color ideas you need without buying them, though owning them isn’t a bad idea.
I’ll echo the idea that it’s not rocket science. Every identical article of clothing wears and fades differently, so four guys wearing the same uniform will show differences in color. Also, uniforms were made by more than one factory and fabrics and dyes differed from one factory to another. Throw in wear and tear too. So you’ve got a lot of room for error here.
Yes german uniforms are anything but. And the Luftwaffe were the worst nonconformist’s, They would wear jumpers, jodpers, pants with big side pockets,fallschirmjadger splinters, and the popular Uboatman leather tunic. Brown tan grayish blue and what appears to be a darker gray set. I usualy find a reasonable color ref mix something close and go to town. If you’re new at mixing color, get a color wheel from an art supply, it will save you from mixing twelve bottles of brownish gray.
;D