MODERN DESERT UNIFORM COLORS

Sand as the base color of a battlefield

From the 1980s onward desert uniforms settled on a light sand base, into which spots in brown and greenish tones were printed. Desert patterns came a long way from a six-color version with its characteristic pebbles through a three-color variant to the later digital prints, but the light base underneath stayed common to them all. The six shades in this set are built exactly on it.

From the lightest to the darkest

White Grey serves as the highest highlight in the places where the cloth has faded most from the sun and from washing. The base desert tone holds the whole surface and Brown Black goes into the deepest folds, under pockets and into the shadow under the sleeves. Mud Brown and Field Drab cover the brown spots of the pattern in a warm and a cooler register, and Grey Green completes the greenish element that appears in the later desert patterns.

Credibility through wear

A desert uniform only looks convincing once it is uneven. It pays to lighten the shoulders, the tops of the pockets and the knees, while leaving the lower hems of the trousers and the sleeves darker, because dust from a different layer settles on them. The transitions between tones should be soft; sharp edges look unnatural on cloth.

What it all suits

The shades will cover figures from modern operations and vehicle crews, and you will also use them on canvas accessories, packs, plate carriers and helmet covers. Dust has the last word. Once the tones are finished, a light dusting of the bottoms of the trouser legs and the boots is enough to make a figure look as if it really had walked somewhere.