Painting Guide - 1980's USA Woodland Camo Pattern

The United States Marine Corps of the 80’s was in a state of transition and the model I am using is representative of the marines of around 1980 – ‘84. This figure is wearing the last variant of the old M1 helmet prior to the issue of the new Kevlar ‘Fritz’ helmet, so named because of its resemblance to the style used by Germany in WWII. The figure wears the new Kevlar body armour vest and the uniform is of the M81 ‘Woodland’ pattern, itself an enlargement of the previous ERDL pattern, which in turn was a derivative of the Vietnam period “Leaf Pattern.” The Woodland pattern officially comprises four colours, Green, Brown, Black and Sand.

As always I stick my figures on bottle tops so that I have something to hold on to while painting, to keep greasy finger marks off the figure.

I like to start with the flesh areas first, as this gives the figure some character and sets the tone for painting the remainder of the model. I won’t elaborate on how I paint flesh, because everybody has their own ideas of how this should be done and suffice to say that having tried many different approaches over the years, I have become a convert to and now exclusively use, the Foundry flesh palette. (Photo 1).

Once the flesh is done I apply a coat of Coat d’ Arms 226 Olive over the tunic, trousers, helmet cover and body armour as in photo’s 2 and 3.

The next step is to start adding the other three colour components of the Woodland pattern over the Olive. First I use brown and the particular colour of choice here, from the myriad of browns I seem to have on my workbench, is Miniature Paints No 81, Leather Brown. This is applied in blotches, which are more horizontal than vertical or rounded. By this I mean that I am looking to create blotches of colour, which stretch out to the sides, across the horizontal plane of the figure to almost look like irregular stripes, while not being actual stripes at all. This sounds very confusing, so perhaps a good look at the next two photos (4 and 5) will make it clearer. In a nutshell, the blotches need to be wider than they are tall.

Following on from here, after the brown has dried, I move on to what is described as the ‘Sand’ element and the effect of the application of this is quite dramatic, in that the uniform suddenly starts to look very different from the drab appearance it has at present. Things start to shape up nicely with this addition as can be seen in photos 6 and 7.

For the sand colour, I used Vallejo 847 Dark Sand, again applied in irregular horizontal strips to continue the effect that this particular pattern is in the horizontal plane. Once dry I used Vallejo 847 Glossy Black to add irregular black jagged lines, mostly where two colours meet, but not at every instance of two colours meeting, as this would greatly increase the amount of black on the uniform, to the point of dominating the whole thing. I use this particular black, because while painting, it stands out from the matt colours on the uniform and helps me to see where I am putting it, as using a matt black at this stage can lead to the black blending into the other colours where they meet and this has a tendency to become muddy and less well defined. Maybe readers with younger eyes than mine will not find this a problem, but for sure this ‘Glossy Black’ is a real help to me. After the painting is complete the whole figure will be gloss varnished anyway, so the shiny paint just becomes like any other colour painted on, although I maintain that it helps to emphasize the black lines in their own right. What I am looking for is a suggestion of the black lines being constantly repeated at irregular intervals across the pattern.

Now I move on to paint the rolled up sleeves, which do not have the pattern clearly printed on the inside of the real thing, so a simulation is required to show the reverse side of the fabric. This is done by painting first with Coat d’ Arms 537 Faded Khaki and indeed many people would be satisfied to leave it there, but for the sake of completeness, I will go on to complete a suggestion of the pattern on the faded reverse, by adding small blotches of Foundry Granite 31b and a few small lines with Foundry Granite shade 31a, as in Photos 8 and 9, although this is actually shown better in photo 10.

To complete the tunic the Stars and Stripes are added to the left upper arm and always facing forward, i.e. the blue rectangle with the stars always points to the soldiers’ front. Now on a 28mm figure this is a very small addition and quite fiddly. The flag worn on the arm has decreased in size over the years and is tiny when compared with the version worn in WWII on the Paratroopers sleeve. The new version also has a yellow edging around the whole flag, so this is where I start, rather than try to add it once the flag is painted.

So, using Vallejo 953 Flat Yellow, I paint on a rectangle (slightly more difficult on this figure because of the rolled up sleeves). When dry, I add an inner rectangle of white, leaving a thin yellow line around the outside. (Photo 10.) Don’t worry too much about the flag area having precise square edges, as the area is only 3mm x 2mm in size and although the blown up photograph shows the irregularity, it doesn’t show on the figure at actual size. Using Games Workshop Ultramarine Blue, paint a small rectangle in the forward upper corner, taking care not to obliterate the yellow outline. Then one or two tiny white dots over the top to give a representation of the stars and a couple of red lines to represent the stripes and the job is done. You will never paint an accurate flag this size, so it is better to decide from the off that you are not even going to try and that a representation will suffice (Photo 11).

When complete, the flag is given a thin black outline, which helps to define the yellow border from the sand colour in the uniform, where the two colours meet (photo 11). This also has the effect of tidying up the irregular yellow edges shown in Photo 10

Next it is the turn of the Webbing, pouches and helmet straps. For this I have used Vallejo 889 U.S. Olive Drab as the main colour and this is applied evenly all over (Photo 12). I added a bit of shade and darkened the places where two pouches, water bottles, etc joined, with Miniature Paints 86 Umber. Highlights and a general lightening effect of the webbing etc was done with Coat d’ Arms 537 Faded Khaki (Photo 13).

The M16 Assault Rifle and the boots are both repainted black, to cover any over-painting from surrounding areas. I used to use metallic coloured paints for gun barrels but was never truly happy with it, but now I just give a touch of highlight to raised areas using the Foundry 32b Slate Grey over the black and leave it at that (Photo 14). The boots can be highlighted with Coat d’ Arms 212 Dark Grey or Foundry 32a Slate Grey Shade and then a bit of mud/dust effect can be added with a light drybrush of Foundry 13b Spearshaft (Photo 15).

Once all paint is dry I give the figure a good heavy coat of Polyurethane vanish, followed by a coat of Humbrol Mattcote brush-on matt varnish. When this is dry the figure is glued on to a penny washer (Photo 16).The base is then terrained with cat litter for rocks and some coarse sand (Photo 17).

I painted the base with Vallejo 873 U.S. Field Drab and then drybrushed with Vallejo 976 Buff. When dry, I added a bit of static Grass and some Woodland Scenics Coarse Turf mixed with PVA. This was all left to dry and harden and then given a final spray of Coat d’Arms Matt Varnish, which I have found gives a really flat finish and it also covers any bits I may have missed when matt varnishing by hand (Photos 18 & 19).

Cheers,

Frank Hammond