1:16 German military boots with gaiters

1:16 German military boots with gaiters: an accessory for figures and dioramas

This is a separate modeling accessory, not a kit of a figure or a vehicle. It offers low German military footwear supplemented with gaiters, in the large 1:16 scale, that is in the ratio in which figures around twelve centimeters tall and radio-controlled models of vehicles are built. The gaiters have a complex shape: they wrap around the calf, fasten on the outer side and form a marked division against the trouser leg above the ankle. It is precisely this transition that tends to be simplified on series-produced figures, which is why it pays to replace it with a separate part.

The real subject

The German army introduced canvas gaiters as a complement to the low lace-up footwear that replaced the traditional jackboots from the middle of the war. The combination of a low boot and a gaiter is therefore typical of units equipped in the later part of the war, while high jackboots are characteristic of the early campaigns. Modelers get a practical pointer out of that: the footwear lets a scene be set in a particular period without having to be explained in a caption.

Usage tips

• Shorten and level the leg of the figure so that the new part joins exactly where the gaiter begins.
• Pick out the lower edge of the trouser leg above the gaiter with a darker glaze; that gives a legible division.
• The canvas of the gaiters takes a different shade from the leather of the boot: the difference in materials makes the figure immediately more legible.
• Pick out the buckles and straps with a fine brush in a large scale, otherwise they disappear into the overall tone.
• Direct the dusting from the bottom upward, most of it onto the sole and the lower part of the gaiter.

Who the accessory is for

It is meant for modelers of figures in large scales, builders of dioramas on German subjects and everyone who wants a figure shod correctly for its period. Fitting it assumes ordinary skill at sanding and gluing small parts; no special tool is needed.