How to paint Fallschirmjäger 1943-45

Time for another how to paint!  After a few request from friends on how to paint World War 2 Germans for 28mm wargaming (mainly Bolt Action) I'd thought I would start with my favorite German force from the conflict, the Fallschirmjäger.  

The period that this paint guide is most useful for is the late war period, I have used models from the fantastic Warlord Games plastic box set for this tutorial.

All of the paints used for this guide are from the latest (at the time of writing) Citadel paint range.

Stage 1. 

So the model has been built, mold lines removed and based with the normal sand/gravel mix glued with PVA.  Then the model is sprayed with Chaos Black spray. The base is then painted with Steel Legion Drab.

Stage 2. 

The jump smock is painted with Karak Stone, if the model has a helmet cover paint this as per the jump smock. The trousers are painted Castellan Green, alternatively you could paint the trouser Eshin Grey to add variation to the way you paint your squads.
The face and hands have been painted with Bugmans Glow.  Finally all wood areas (rifle, spade handle, grenade handle) have been painted Doombull Brown. 

The helmet, stick grenade head, lid of the water bottle, mess tin and gas mask canister were all painted with Stormvermin Fur with a little Abbadon Black (3 parts Fur to 1 Black).  Ammo pouches have been painted Eshin Grey.

The bread bag is painted Zandri Dust.  The main body of the water bottle, helmet straps and goggles are Mornfang brown,  the rifle strap is painted XV-88.  All metal, rifle, shovel, buckles are coated with Leadbelcher and finally and belts and webbing are painted Abbadon Black.

Stage 3.

The model is then given a liberal coating of Agrax Earthshade and left to fully dry, ensure that there is no excessive pooling on the model as the shade dries.

As with the last guide, at this point you could stop at this stage as this is perfectly adequate for tabletop standard.

Stage 4.

So now we start the highlight stage, this is basically re applying the colours back to the raised areas of the model prior to Stage 3 but ensuring we leave the creases and recesses with the wash still showing.  So to recap paint all of the raised area with the following,  jump smock Karak Stone. Trousers Castellan Green. Wood areas (rifle, spade handle, grenade handle) Doombull Brown.  Helmet, stick grenade head, lid of the water bottle, mess tin and gas mask canister Stormvermin Fur/Abbadon Black mix. Ammo pouches Eshin Grey. Bread bag Zandri Dust. The main body of the water bottle, helmet straps and goggles Mornfang Brown. Rifle strap XV-88. All metal, rifle, shovel, buckles Leadbelcher.

For the face Bugmans Glow is applied to the raised areas of the face leaving the creases with the wash showing.  Then an 50/50 mix of Bugmans Glow and Cadian Fleshtone is added to the raised areas. what you are trying to a achieve is a gradual change from dark to light by using less paint each stage.  You can go lighter by doing a pure Cadian Fleshtone stage and even a mix of this colour and white. Finally a pure Bugmans Glow is reapplied to the bottom lip and a thin black line is added on the mouth.

Stage 5.

This is were the fun begins....to add the iconic zeltbahn pattern to the jump smock.  

First using Mornfang Brown paint geometric shapes haphazardly over the jump smock, ensuring that you leave plenty of the base Karak stone showing underneath.

Next, using Loren Forest paint more smaller geometric shapes on top of the Karak Stone and Mornfang Brown, again ensuring that you leave some of the original colours showing underneath.  

Stage 6. 

Now the detail and finish.  With the smock you can leave it at Stage 5 or for extra detail you can add the 'splinters' that is found on the zeltbahn pattern.  This would be far to small to be in scale but it looks cool and simulates the actual pattern.  Using Caliban Green paint groups of rows of 4 dashes all over the smock, adding as many as these as you see fit, but remember not to over do these as you don't want to lose the pattern underneath. Finally a very light wash of Adrax Earthshade mixed with an acrylic thinner, Tamiya Colour X-20A thinner to be precise (50/50 mix) is applied to the smock and any cloth parts (bread bag, poncho, ammo pouches, etc) to blend the highlight. A further highlight of pure Stormvermin Fur is added to the edges of the helmet, gas canister, mess tin and water bottle lid.  Last of all all metal parts, rifle, buckles, shovel are picked out with Runefang Steel on the edges to just help them stand out.

As an added bonus I made this visual guide for anyone wanting use my method of painting

  

So there you have it  a completed Fallschirmjäger to battle the Allies on the tabletop.  Till next time.......