Fallschirmjager Display - Overloon

This year, rather than fly over for the Scale Model Challenge show in Veldhoven, I decided to take the car and try and visit a few museums along the way. One of the highlights for me was the Fallschirmjager exhibition at the Oorlogsmuseum in Overloon; just North East of Eindhoven near the River Meuse and the German border.


As well as the vehicle exhibits at the museum, they have one of the most extensive displays of Fallschirmjager uniforms and equipment in existence and it has really got me thinking about a future project.
For obvious reasons the exhibits are all behind glass - I shudder to think how much this collection must be worth - and it does make photography a little tricky. So apologies for the quality of some of the photo's but hopefully they are of some use;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alpine Miniatures BAR Gunner

There can't be many in the modelling world that haven't heard of Alpine Miniatures, their extensive range of resin figures has continued to grow over the years and I for one eagerly await their new releases.
This figure depicts a US Army BAR gunner in typical winter dress with a somewhat relaxed pose. I painted this recently and thought it would be a good idea to note which colours I used, not only to share but also to remind me what I did too.


Generally I will use Vallejo paint, on this occasion I also made use of Lifecolor and Andrea Acrylics too. (The Lifecolor references below will start with a UA prefix).
I find that sometimes Vallejo colours will dry with a slight sheen; to avoid this I generally add a small amount of Tamiya Flat Base into the mix; this isn't usually necessary with Lifecolor or Andrea.
You will have noticed I make use of Andrea black instead of the Vallejo one. As I mentioned above, some Vallejo colours dry with a slight sheen and this black is one of them; it is also slightly lighter than the Vallejo black and I reserve the Vallejo colour for when I really need to go dark.
So below is the breakdown of paint colours I used for each of the specific parts of this figure along with a few work in progress shots;

Flesh

Base - 876 Brown Sand
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add 814 Burnt Cadmium Red

Helmet

Base - 50/50 mix of 893 US Dark Green and 822 German Camo Black Brown
Highlight - add more 893 US Dark Green, then 988 Khaki
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Helmet strap (Canvas)

Base - UA421 Olive Drab M1943
Highlight - add UA426 Olive Drab Green Tone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Helmet strap (Leather)

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown and 875 Beige Brown*
Highlight - add more 875 Beige Brown
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown


* You can see here that the base colour is made up from a dark tone; Chocolate Brown; and a light one; Beige Brown; this technique is really useful as by altering the ratios you already have your light and shadow colours without introducing a new colour that may change the tone.


The head is complete here and the jacket has been blocked in with the base colour.

Scarf

Base - 50/50 mix of 887 Brown Violet and 875 Beige Brown
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Jacket

Base - 314 Canvas (Panzer Aces range)
Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light Tone
Shadow - add 887 Brown Violet, then Andrea Black


Jacket pretty much complete here, webbing is still in the jacket base colour.

Webbing & Medical Pouch

Base - 988 Khaki
Highlight - add 986 Deck Tan
Shadow - add 822 German Camo Black Brown

Webbing Buckles

Base - 862 Black Grey
Highlight - add 990 Light Grey
Shadow - add Andrea Black


I like to paint buckles in this Non-Metallic Metal (NMM) style, I find actual metallic a little bland for this but that is purely personal preference. Webbing complete here, starting to work up the BAR pouches.

BAR Pouches

Base - UA426 Olive Drab Green Tone
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add 899 US Olive Drab

Waterbottle

Base - UA421 Olive Drab M1943
Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light Tone
Shadow - add 899 US Olive Drab

Gloves

Base - 890 Reflective Green
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Trousers

Base - 893 US Dark Green
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Boots

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown & 875 Beige Brown
Highlight - add more 875 Beige Brown then a little 819 Iraqi Sand for the final highlights/scuffs
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown then Andrea Black for the final outline.
The boots are then glazed with a thinned Chestnut brown ink, Scalecolor in this instance. This imparts a slight sheen to the leather and unifies all of the colours together.
The soles were painted with 862 Black Grey, highlighted with a little 988 Khaki.

BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle)

Metal Body

Base - 50/50 mix of 721 Burnt Iron (Vallejo metallic range) and Andrea Black
Highlight - add more 721 Burnt Iron
Shadow - outlined with Black Ink; Scalecolor here but any black ink will work

Magazine

Base - 50/50 mix of 703 Dark Aluminium (Vallejo metallic range) and Andrea Black
Highlight - add more 703 Dark Aluminium
Shadow - outlined with Black Ink

Wooden Parts

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown and 846 Mahogany Brown
Highlight - add mo876 Brown Sand
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown
Wooden parts then glazed with Scalecolor Chestnut Ink.


So that about does it, really pleased with how this one came out; these Alpine figures really are a joy to paint - Until next time.