Andrea Miniatures Fallschirmjager, Holland 1940

The advent of 3D printing is slowly making its' mark in our hobby and this release from Andrea Miniatures is a great example of how these new digital sculpting techniques are becoming more common.
Oddly enough, this figure is a mixture of both resin (main body and head) and white metal (arms and equipment). I'm quite bemused by this, obviously Andrea are well known for their white metal figures but I can't understand why the mix of two materials ? Anyhow, once cleaned up and primed it doesn't really make that much difference.

Andrea are slowly adding to this range and these figures are also available in different scales, again an advantage of having digital data to start from. The one main reservation I have about this range of figures is the price, this 1/35th scale figure retails at around the £20 mark. A little expensive compared to say, an Alpine figure but that choice is obviously something to consider.


The figure is depicted in typical early-war Fallschirmjager attire; Fieldblouse over jump trousers, an MP28 slung over his right shoulder and a stick grenade in his left hand. The pose comes from a picture in Der Adler magazine from 1940, showing a member of the 2nd Battalion, 1FjR standing on the Dordrecht Bridge over the River Maas estuary.

There is a lot of equipment to paint on this figure, some of it quite difficult to get at, so I left off the Right arm until later in the paint stages so I could reach those awkward places a little easier. Anyway, here are the colours I used to paint this figure along with a few in-progress shots: (All Vallejo Model Color unless otherwise stated).

Flesh

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

Helmet

Base - 888 Olive Grey
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Scarf

Base - 899 Dark Prussian Bluie
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black
White Spots - 820 Off White

Fieldblouse

Base - 816 Luftwaffe Blue
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black
Yellow Trim - 953 Flat Yellow

Ammunition Bandoliers

Base - 314 Canvas (Panzer Aces)
Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light (Lifecolor)
Shadow - add 887 Brown Violet
Press Studs - 830 Field Grey, (point highlight with 820 added)
* Interestingly, as the figure is armed with an MP28, these KAR98 ammo bandoliers are completely unnecessary !

Gas Mask Bag

Base - 886 Green Grey
Highlight - add 971 Green Grey
Shadow - add 830 Field Grey
Straps - 988 Khaki
Press Studs - 830 Field Grey, (point highlight with 820 added)

Leather Case

Base - 871 Leather Brown
Highlight 1 - add 981 Orange Brown
Highlight 2 - add 819 Iraqi Sand
Shadow - add Andrea Black
Wash - Chestnut Ink (Scalecolor)

Brown Leather (Tropical Webbing)

Base - 875 Beige Brown
Highlight - add 876 Brown Sand
Shadow - add 941 Burnt Umber
Wash - Chestnut Ink (Scalecolor)

Trousers

Base - 830 Field Grey
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Jump Boots

Base - Mix of 971 Leather Brown and Andrea Black
Highlight - add more Leather Brown then 819 Iraqi Sand, selectively
Shadow - add Andrea Black

 

 

 

Personally I'm really happy at how this one turned out but just when you think you have painted a nice figure you find an example painted by Jaume Ortiz and realise you have a lot to learn. This is his sublime version of this figure in the same scale ! - think I may just give up now.

This figure and others in the range are available in the UK from Steve Kirtley at SK Miniatures