Stug Diorama - Italian Campaign

[Brasso27]

Finally finished the figures for the diorama I'm working on depicting a knocked-out Stug during the Italian campaign. Hope to have the whole lot completed by the end of next week. 

[clive_t]

Wow, amazing details especially the faces. Is it 1:35?

[Ted]

Great work on the figures, what company makes them?

[Brasso27]

43 minutes ago, clive_t said:

Wow, amazing details especially the faces. Is it 1:35?

Thanks. Yes, 1/35 scale. It's the Commonwealth Infantry set from Dragon, though two of the figures have after-market heads. 

11 minutes ago, Ted said:

Great work on the figures, what company makes them?

It's by Dragon, though two of the figures have after-market heads.

[Ted]

Thanks, I have that set and should have recognized them but you did such a good job I thought you used resin figures.

[Kingsman]

Green-blancoed webbing?  Wouldn't the factory khaki colour be more usual in Italy?  Same as your pistol holster and weapon slings.  Buckles were brass, not black, BTW.

[Jasper dog]

Wow, real work of art in those figures, looking forward to seeing the finished article.

[Sairou]

22 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Green-blancoed webbing?  Wouldn't the factory khaki colour be more usual in Italy?  Same as your pistol holster and weapon slings.  Buckles were brass, not black, BTW.

I'm not sure, I had this set and I remember researching into it a bit, and I think the conclusion was that the webbing should be green.

[Kingsman]

Sorry to appear so negative about what is really good painting work.  I wish I could paint figures a fraction as well as this, which I can't - which is why all my vehicles are crew-less!  But I do think you've probably got the colours wrong.

 

Webbing could be blancoed green, khaki or white although boot black was also used to a limited extent.  Buckles were brass and certainly not painted, and when in barracks had to be laboriously polished with strips of paper inserted to keep the polish off the webbing.  Belt hooks and slides were removed completely for polishing.  A lot of modern repro "37 pattern webbing", especially from India, had black cheap metal fittings and was a much more yellow colour.

 

The natural colour of the dyed canvas was a light khaki: it was never green.  It is my understanding that this basic colour, tidied up with khaki blanco when required to look smart, was used throughout the Mediterranean theatre and especially where the light khaki uniform was worn.  The official care instructions stated that dirty webbing should be washed in warm soapy water and brasswork allowed to go dull so as not to shine.  The 1944 Pattern "jungle" version of the 37 Pattern was green with green alloy fittings but was never issued during WW2.

 

Blancoing webbing in green or white was a never-ending job as it wore off very quickly revealing the base colour.  It dried to a powdery surface coating that the fibres did not absorb.  So in action there would be lots of worn khaki edges and contact points like pouch flaps.  Blancoing was basically an in-barracks (daily!), HQ or pre-parade activity that would not be bothered-with in action.

 

Colour photos of WW2 are rare and the colour values of different film brands of that age are not always trustworthy: greenish and blueish overtones are not uncommon.  But in B&W photos khaki webbing will almost certainly appear a lighter colour than battledress: green webbing would almost certainly appear a darker colour.  Against the light khaki drill desert uniform, still issued in Italy, green webbing would really stand out and khaki webbing would appear similar.  In some B&W photos the webbing colour is very close to the battledress colour in tone, probably implying newly-issued kit before fading.

 

I don't believe that uniform shorts were issued in the usual serge battledress khaki brown (thick wool shorts??), only in the lighter tropical fabric in khaki drill.  It is entirely possible that soldiers in the same unit in Italy in action might display a mix of desert and battledress uniforms, but with the possible exception of the long trousers Dragon haven't moulded battledress .  Short puttees worn with shorts would have been light khaki too, not green.  Green short puttees only came in with the 1960 Pattern uniform.  Webbing gaiters until then, except with shorts in the desert, treated in the same way as webbing equipment.

 

Looking at WWW images, the Dragon boxart is very misleading as to colours, although the painting guide on the back does show a paler uniform colour which is more correct.  The guys in long trousers could be in battledress trousers or in the paler desert version.  But the shorts will be the lighter colour.  Shirts could again be the darker (thicker and scratchier!) temperate battledress shirt or the lighter drill desert version.  None seem to be wearing the battledress blouse.  The box says "commonwealth": it is possible they have been confused by Canadian battledress, which was a distinctly greener colour than British - although the uniforms moulded don't seem to be temperate battledress.  It is plausible that Canadian webbing might also have been a greener colour if Canada struggled for brown/khaki dyes, but I do not know this to be the case for a fact.

 

So green webbing in Italy is not impossible, but it seems very unlikely.  Likewise khaki brown temperate battledress while tropical shorts are also still being worn.  These Dragon figures would actually work equally well for Tunisia and even late Western Desert as for Sicily and southern Italy, which were essentially summer campaigns.  As the Italy campaign moved further north and winter came on, battledress of course became the norm.

[combat]

Looks like you've got your technique down - what paint did you use for the dry brushing ? Tamiya acrylic ?

[Brasso27]

23 hours ago, combat said:

Looks like you've got your technique down - what paint did you use for the dry brushing ? Tamiya acrylic ?

Thanks. I didn't use drybrushing. The base colours on the figures was done with Vallejo acrylics. The highlighting and shading was done with oils. 

[Hewy]

Superb figures, really well done

Glynn