How-To: Hinterhalt Camo with an Airbrush

By Parker Ince | February 18th, 2013 | Categories: Airbrushing, Flames of War, How To Tutorial

Today I want to show you guys a fool-proof method for getting great looking camo results with minimal effort (provided you have an airbrush).

You will also need blu-tac for this project.

In late 1944 Ike had Jerry on the run, and the German tank crews were being strafed mercilessly from the air. To help combat this menace they devised “Hinterhalt” camo schemes, which were designed to make the tanks blend into foliage from an aerial perspective.

Initially, I was not too enthused with Devil’s Charge. I had already settled on my new American force from BGG, and the German lists seemed to give me little to work with, at least without having to expand my model collection. However, when I thumbed through the book I was intrigued at the possibility of using FT King Tigers.

Ouch!

I eventually realized that I still wasn’t enthused with the German lists, but the pictures of the big cats thundering down the battlefield sparked my imagination. I love Battlefront’s King Tiger and Panther models, and mine don’t see the table as often as I wish they would. So I decided that they would be next on my re-painting queue.

I hadn’t laid eyes on these King Tigers in over a year, and I had assembled them about 3 years ago! My Panthers were not much better.

What the old scheme looked like.

My painting/modelling skills have come a long way since then (though I still consider myself a beginner, especially with an airbrush). I started by airbrushing the basecoat (Vallejo Air Dark Yellow) over the existing paint scheme.

Once the basecoat was completely dry I applied the blue-tac in the general camo patterns that I felt would be interesting. I also use the blue-tac to hold the turrets to the pieces of wood while I’m painting them. Just don’t press the blu-tac down too hard, especially in areas with recesses.

Threw in some StuGs as well for practice.

Make sure that when you apply the blu-tac that the camo schemes will be varied on each tank. Next I airbrushed the models with Vallejo Air Medium Brown, covering the model (I try to avoid the tracks as much as I can, but I err on the side of getting complete hull coverage).

The paint is only shiny because it is still wet.

Next, I used Vallejo Air Tank Green for the final camo color. The green was applied sparingly to certain parts of each model. Although it won’t seem like there is a lot of green on the model, the green will become more prominent after the “dots” are applied.

Now the fun part: peel away the blu-tac! Gently…

Next I added the “dots”. I used the same yellow and green airbrush paints for the dots as I did for the camo. I applied the dots using a sewing pin, using yellow for the brown and green areas, and green for the yellow areas.

iphone flash, why are you so spooky?

True, the dots look a little large for historical accuracy, but I like how they look for the tabletop. It is up to you how many dots you want to apply for your tanks. I feel that less is more, but that’s just my preference.

With the camo completed for these bad boys I just need to finish the tracks, details, etc. Hope you enjoyed!

Just FYI I’ve started a fledgling twitter account @piflamesofwar, it won’t hurt too much to follow, would it?

Be sure to checkout Parker’s great FoW Hobby blog over at D Minus One -MBG