Brush Painted WW2 Camo

I wrote this guide for painting WW2 German vehicle soft edge camouflage a few years ago when I didn't have an airbrush. I now own an airbrush but I think it will still be of some help to modellers who don't have 1 yet.

I would guess a good many modellers still haven't got an airbrush to their name and this can cause a bit of a problem when trying to create a realistic 3 tone late war German panzer camouflage that was applied in the field by the troops with an airbrush. So here is my simple solution that I stumbled upon a few years back. (it's best to use enamels for this)


STEP 1 Always keep your old brushes, I trim mine down to varying shapes and sizes, have your brush cleaning fluid (turps, white spirit etc) in a small easy to handle glass container sitting close by (work in a well ventilated room).

STEP 2 Base coat your vehicle in your chosen colour (I use Humbrol dark yellow 94). This should be left to dry for 1-2 nights. Also you should have a good idea of what camo scheme your looking for.

STEP 3 : Your now ready to apply your second colour, it is up to you what colour you start to apply next either red, brown or green.

After mixing the paint well I paint on a couple of sections of the second colour with a normal brush and then I switch to 1 of my old trimmed brushes first dipping it in the cleaning fluid to get it damp then I dry off the excess liquid on an old rag. Then I gently begin to smudge the edges of the newly painted colour and this begins to give a nice feathered texture to the paint finish (smudging with different brushes produces harder and softer effects). It will take a few nights to do the 2nd and 3rd colours and it's best to limit the amount of sections you do in each painting session.

CONCLUSION Hopefully with a bit of time spent you should end up with a more natural looking 3 tone camo with an airbrush finish. Unfortunately this will not replicate totally the excellent effects achieved by using a high quality airbrush but it's worth a try.