Tommy's War German Stormtrooper painting guide

T MMY’S WAR 

1914-1918 in miniature 

Painters 

Guide 

www.tommyswar.com 

Trade Order Catalogue 

April 2014 

tommyswar.co.uk 

German Stormtroopers

T MMY’S WAR 

TW32001 

Painters Guide 


Foreword 

For this painting guide I wanted to focus more on 

the German Infantry uniform & equipment and 

weathering, as preparation and flesh painting have 

already been covered in my first guide to painting 

TW32001. 

So with that in mind this guide will begin with the 

figure(s) already assembled, primed in black, with the 

face(s) and hands completed, and the initial rough 

layer of uniform basecoat informing the main areas of 

highlight, as can be seen in fig1 

2 

Fig 1 

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Painting - Uniform colour choices 

As always the wet palette is my preferred way to 

work, fig2 shows the colours for the uniform laid out 

on the palette with the transitions in shade already 

mixed in order of light to dark. I have used Vallejo 

Acrylics for these as their German Field Grey is a very 

good approximation of the original colour and easily 

manipulated with tonal changes to represent 

fading and wear. I have chosen Dark Sea Blue to 

darken the Field Grey, this is because it is on the 

green side of the blue spectrum and will not 

“muddy” the Field Grey, helping maintain the 

correct tone in the shadows. The same principle 

applies to the Sunny Skintone used in the highlights, 

as this flesh colour leans towards yellow and will not 

turn the highlights grey, as pure white would. 

Fig 3 

Now that the transitions are adequately blended 

the next stage is to return to the highlights and 

shadows and gradually increase the contrast again. 

This is achieved by again using very thin layers of all 

the pre-mixed uniform colours, gradually building 

up to the lightest light and down to the darkest dark 

in the areas of highest contrast. Fig4 illustrates this 

process, we can also see in the later of these images 

that the belts and ammo pouches have been basecoated 

in burnt umber. 

Fig 2 

Painting - Uniform and Equipment 

As the figure is already black I have chosen to begin 

with the 2nd highlight in thin layers fig1 to provide 

contrast before moving on to the 3rd highlight fig3 

applied in a more textured fashion. 

The harsh transitions between dark and light are 

now blended out by applying thin filtered layers of 

the mid-tone uniform colour, these should be quite 

thin and built up in layers being mindful to allow 

each previous layer to thoroughly dry before 

progressing to the next fig4. 

Fig 4 


3

TIP 

Filtering colour in thin glazes should be 

done with the side of the brush not the 

tip. The key here is always to keep the 

layers thin. 

As the colour pigment is suspended in 

medium and thinned with water, more 

colour will settle in the area of the final 

sweep of the brush, therefore highlights 

should be glazed towards the lightest 

point and shadows towards the darkest 

point. If you feel the contrast is too high, 

then filter over the entire area with the 

mid-tone. 

Fig 2 

Fig 1 

4 

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Painting - Palette 

I always use a wet palette for painting, simply 

because it keeps the paint workable for longer, 

enabling the painter to come back to his work 

without having to re-mix paint. In the photo right 

we see the palette with a selection of colours used. 

I lay the paints out beforehand and pre-mix all the 

colour transitions ready on the palette. Below I have 

listed all the colours used, all coming from the 

Vallejo range of acrylics: 

Fig 3 

Flesh 

70.951 

70.928 

70.860 

70.804 

70.814 

70.859 

White 

Light Flesh 

Medium 

Flesh 

Beige red 

Burnt Red 

Black Red 

Uniform 

70.830 

70.898 

70.950 

70.845 

The colour transitions for each 

area of the figure are mixed on 

the wet palette from dark to light, 

additional tones are created by 

adding more volume of either 

warm or cold colours. 

German Field 

Grey 

Dark Sea 

Blue 

Black 

Sunny 

Skin tone 

Equipment & Gewehr 98 

70.941 

70.821 

70.950 

70.856 

70.845 

70.823 

Burnt Umber 

Weathering 

German 

Camo Beige 

Black 

Ochre 

Brown 

Sunny 

Skin tone 

Luftwaffe 

Camo Green 

70.983 

70.950 

70.856 

70.928 

Flat Earth 

Black 

Ochre 

Brown 

Light Flesh 

Colours are referenced from the Vallejo acrylics range. The guide indicates the major parts of the figure only: 

The painting reference should be used as a guide only. It is recommended that you test the colours before applying 

to the figure. 


5

Fig 5 

Fig 6 

Fig 8 

Fig 7 

6 

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Fig 11 Fig 12 

Painting - The Uniform and Equipment 

( Continued ) 

The burnt umber is highlighted with Sunny Skintone 

and focus is put on the edges of all the leatherwork, 

this will help give definition to the straps and 

pouches and help them stand out against the 

uniform, it is also the area which is likely to receive 

the most wear. A very dark red (almost black) is then 

washed over the leather areas and allowed to settle 

in the creases to further define the details. Fig5 

shows the development of the leatherwork. 

The canvas bag is painted with German camo beige, 

darkened with black and highlighted with light 

flesh. 

Fig 9 

To achieve a simple woodgrain effect for the Gewehr, 

it has first been painted brown umber and then a 

grain pattern applied using sunny skintone fig 6. 

This looks very harsh to begin with but with a few 

thin glazes of a red brown it is made much more 

subtle fig 7. 

For the tortoise shell camo pattern on the helmet, it 

has first been base coated in Ochre Brown, following 

this a rough pattern has been painted in with black 

fig 8, the resulting segments are then painted in 

with a darkened brown umber and Luftwaffe green 

fig 9. In addition, the water bottle has been painted 

with Ochre Brown, using sunny skintone to highlight 

and a dark burnt umber to shade. Gasmask case 

is painted in field grey, using the same mix as the 

uniform. All metallics have been painted using either 

gunmetal or brass as appropriate and washed over 

with thin black filters. 

Painting - Final details and weathering 

With the figure approaching completion it’s time to 

add some final details and weathering for a more 

authentic look. I began with thin applications of a 

flat earth/black mix using a dabbing/stippling action 

with the brush, progressively lightening this mix by 

adding more flat earth. Small dots and spatters are 

added with the tip of the brush, along with changes 

in tone created by adding ochre brown and using 

a grey/white mix to represent chalky earth marks. 

Metal chip marks are applied to the helmet using 

a finely sharpened pencil. The Gewehr and leather 

straps have also been given a wash with a brown/ 

orange filter diluted with a touch of satin varnish to 

help provide a different texture. See fig 10 

Fig 10 


79

This series is commissioned by 

Tommy’s War Limited 

Figure sculpted by Nino Pizzichemi, box art by Alex Long 

T MMY’S WAR 


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Tommy's War German Stormtrooper painting guide

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