Verlinden 120mm German Dispatcher WWII

[Dolf]

Hi,


Has anyone here painted this figure at some point?







I'm starting assembling it now, spent most of the afternoon sanding all the pieces, that are now on a bath for the cleaning.

One thing I've noticed already is that the torso and the legs don't seem to fit very well, meaning that I'll need to fill gaps with Milliput...

Anyway, as I've been doing lately I intend to entirely prime it using Mr. Hobby Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000, and then a base coat.
I like using Humbrol enamels for the base coats. And I've used Matt Sand #63 before. But in this case (and after reading Verlinden advice in one of his books concerning the steps for getting a German WWII Field Grey), I guess I'll use other Humbrol enamel colors.
Now, the question is which ones. In his book "The System Vol. 1", Verlinden suggests using Humbrol Matt Slate Grey #31 + Humbrol Matt Black #33 for the base coat. Right now I don't have none of these two colors. I could get the Slate Grey, which is available on the local market, but the Matt Black has been sold out and impossible to find locally for quite some time.
Now, I do have some of those old (apparently now decommissioned) Humbrol real colors, HB x, etc.
Among these I found a HB 8 Dark Slate Grey and a HB 10 Night Black (both matt colors) .
I guess I'll try with either the Dark Slate Grey alone, or maybe adding a bit of the Night Black to it.

Any suggestions?

After this, I'll go for the oils painting.
Any ideas, or suggestions on which oil colors would be recommended for this German WWII Field Grey?

As we know Verlinden used sometimes some oils, but his method was about drybrushing, and for the German WWII Field Grey he recommends mostly Humbrol enamel colors, with the exception of some Raw Umber for the dark shadows.

I'd prefer to use oils alone for the painting.

Any advice would be pretty much welcome.

Thanks a lot!

Cheers!

Dolf

 

[arj]

Humbrol have re-issued two old paints:
111 Matt Field Grey Enamel Paint 14ml.
112 Matt Field Blue Enamel Paint 14ml.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Dolf]

Thanks Andrew! It's good to know that.

Funny because I do have that #111 (a very old 14ml tin, maybe over 30 years old, so I'm not even sure the paint is still ok... It might be, as is the case for most of the same old Humbrol enamel paints I have from that same time period, only a few, those that were used before and not properly closed are dead, this one I haven't tried to open it since I restarted the hobby...) but after checking the Humbrol paints charts couldn't find it (no #111 on their colors chart!) and simply didn't know what color it was. Now I know

Have to have a look on their website, and then on some local dealers websites, see if I find these two you mention.

I still have a couple of Matt Field Blue Enamel 14ml tins, but again on that range they used to have, their real colors, in this case Field Blue is HM 5. As for #111, #112 doesn't show up on their colors chart (unless they have very recently updated it) . Notice that on a conversion chart I also have (for finding the same/equivalent colors from other manufacturers) they list this #112, but as Matt Tarmac Grey, so not the same as the old HM 5.


Again thank you


Cheers!


Dolf


Edit: Andrew, just found a apparently new/recent color chart, where indeed #111 and #112 are listed exactly as you say, Matt Field Grey and Matt Field Blue, here:

https://www.curtisward.com/humbrol-enamel-paint-colour-chart

Can't download this one, will keep looking for one that I can download to my computer.

 

[arj]

Pleased you found them Dolf.
It's surprising that the colour chart has not been updated, since they announced their new colours in 2013:-
https://www.humbrol.com/us-en/news/new-humbrol-enamel-colours-released
There's "efficiency" for you.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Dolf]

Again thank you very much Andrew. Can't download that list, but I've saved the link on my favorites

For an update dating from 6 years ago... it's indeed weird that no one has updated these .pdf charts available online As for Humbrol themselves, as far as I know they don't even have a downloadable colors chart on their website(s), the one in the UK, as well as the one in the USA. "Efficiency" at its best, as you say



Cheers!

Dolf

 

[Dolf]

Have opened today my thinlet of Humbrol enamel #111. Amazing! After at least 3+ decades the paint is as new!

And it's indeed that German Field Gray!

Just tested one coat on the helmet of my figure, and even thought we can see it needs at least a second coat (that is if I intended to paint it just with Humbrol enamels) for my eyes at least that looks exactly the German Field Gray I remember from the old days and what I can see on many color photos of that time period! Of course I know there were a number of tonalities of this very same German Field Gray, depending on the manufacturer and a number of other resaons. This one is one of them anyway. I think that particularly for the helmet (it would need some satin or slight gloss on it) it fits perfectly!

See the pics:






Now I wonder what Humbrol enamel color(s) should I use for the base coat on the uniform

If I use this Humbrol #111, the base coat will be a dark gray, in fact the same color as the figure should end up with.

If I use the Dark Slate Grey (which I tested on a spare part of resin) that will be a kind of dark green (not really grey). If I add the Night Black I have (also tested alone and mixed with the Dark Slate Grey), it obviously will depend of the amount of black into the mix. One thing I notice, this Night Black may not be as Matt as I previously thought. Guess I'll have to run more tests. Anyway, mixing these two together I don't get a German Field Grey, but a kind of a German Dark Green instead...

Almost everything has been primed already with two coats of that Mr Primer Surfacer 1000.

After the 1st coat:



And now after the 2nd coat:




Cheers!

Dolf

 

[Dolf]

No hints or advice about the right Humbrol enamel base coat for this guy?...

In the meantime I applied a coat of Humbrol HB 10 Nightr Black on the boots (after all they are supposed to be black leather) . I may play a little with some oils later, following this magnificient SBS here: https://www.planetfigure.com/pages/Painting-Leather-Boots/ and/or here: https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/leather-boots-sbs-any-leather.58613/ .

As for the helmet, and according to my sources (especially a French Magazine called "Uniformes - La Wehrmacht", Hors Série nº 2, from a series called "Les Armées de l'Histoire", printed in 1979), this type of helmet is apparently from the 1940-1942 manufacturing period (no rim, as opposed to the later version from 1942-1945, nor the earlier version from 1935-1940, usually more green in color and also usually with a badge depicting the colors of the German flag), darker than most other types, also somehow rough, and judging from the pics I have, quite matte compared to others.
So I guess I'll apply a 2nd coat of this Humbrol enamel #111 German Field Grey, and probably no need for a coat of satin nor gloss varnish (maybe a matt one), and apparently no oils needed here.

What about the final oil colors depicting a German Field Grey for the uniform (a full raincoat I believe) ?... Or should I paint him with just a couple of coats of Humbrol enamel #111 German Field Grey, and use oils only for the skin (face and hands) ?...


Thanks!

Cheers!

Dolf