Flecktarn German Camouflage Figures Set

The mottled pattern that dressed the Bundeswehr

Flecktarn took hold in the German army at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s and has been the identifying mark of the German soldier in Kosovo, Afghanistan and on exercises across Europe ever since. Its essence is small clusters of spots in five colors that overlap one another: from a distance the eye does not assemble them into the shape of a figure but into an indefinite texture. That is exactly why the pattern is so demanding for modelers in small scales.

Box contents

The core is five shades from the figure range: Outlining Black for outlines and the deepest shadows, Yellow Green FS-34259, Medium Russian Green FS-34092, Midgrey FS-36357 and Red Brown. The sixth bottle is the matting product Transparator Matt, 17 ml, which evens the finished figure out to a uniform matte surface and removes the differences in sheen between the individual layers.

On a figure it pays to work from the lightest area: lay the base green down, then, once it is dry, scatter clusters of spots of the other shades with the tip of the brush, and finally add the fine black dots that hold the pattern together. In 1:35 scale it is enough to suggest the clusters; in smaller scales the spots are reduced to a hint. The paints are thinned with water and it cleans the tools as well.

Spot size by scale

A real spot measures a few centimeters, which in the usual modeling scales comes out at a fraction of a millimeter. Anyone who paints literally ends up with a gray mush. It is more practical to enlarge the clusters to roughly double and to reduce their number instead, because the eye looks for contrast rather than an exact count of dots.

Figures are not included in the package.