UA407 - German uniforms Panzer Uniform

German uniforms Panzer Uniform - the cloth of tank crews

This water-based acrylic paint from the German uniforms group aims at one particular figure: a member of an armored vehicle crew. The tank uniform was cut differently from the infantry one, a short jacket without skirts so that it would not catch in the tight space of the fighting compartment, and trousers gathered at the ankle. And because it had a different purpose, it also had a shade of its own, which the manufacturer offers as a separate number.

A crew gets dirty differently from infantry

In painting this matters more than the tone itself. An infantryman picks up dust, mud and damp on the trouser legs and on the elbows. A tank crewman, by contrast, gathers oil, grease and abrasion from metal, and those are stains of a different character: smaller, sharper, concentrated on the knees, on the forearms and in the places the figure squeezes through a hatch. On a figure this difference shows at once.

Where you will use the shade

• the jacket and trousers of armored vehicle crews
• half figures leaning out of a turret hatch
• figures completing dioramas with vehicles and repair scenes
• uniforms meant to be set apart from infantry figures in a scene

Working with a uniform surface

The tank jacket is a fairly large continuous surface without articulation, so a uniform coat flattens it optically. Add volume with a darker position into the folds around the waist and in the armpits and a lighter one on the shoulders and the edges of the lapels. With half figures in a hatch, remember that the lower part of the body is not visible; concentrate the work on what really rises above the armor in the scene.

Who the paint is for

For modelers who build crews for their vehicles, and for diorama builders needing to tell tank crewmen from infantry in one scene.

Stir before work, work in a well-ventilated room and keep the paint out of the reach of children.