M J Miniatures Gebirgsjaeger - Painting aged leather and the jacket details

So here we are, after many months, with a completed figure. Isn't this a magnificent kit? I think it has been worth the wait and certainly the sense of sheer elation at finalising this build has been a real reward.

We last left this kit with a painted jacket, hat and backpack and that was about it. The torso was awaiting a layer of matt varnish and when this was done I then entered a period of intense marking, followed by the busiest term of teaching I've ever known, and then a period of marking during which I marked about a million words in two months. It's fair to say that the past few months have not left much room for modelling, plus I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of this kit.

As a result I decided to break the painting of the kit down into the various component parts. This allowed me to complete individual pieces and get a sense of achievement, while at the same time being able to focus my attention. The first stage was an oil wash of Burnt Umber on the jacket and Paynes Grey on the hat, although I was happier with the latter and decided to revisit the process with an acrylic pin wash on the jacket and other parts toward the end of the build.

Here are the different elements:

Jacket Buttons:

My research suggested a greyish green colour so for these so I used the obvious colour, 866 Grey Green, with a dot of 865 Oily Steel, then highlights in 989 Sky Grey. The stitching at the centre of the buttons was done in the original jacket colour of Green Ochre.

Jumper:

This is actually attached to the head rather than the jacket, in a very clever piece of sculpting. I really, really wanted to use a dark blue colour for this, assuming that the jumper was likely to be non-issue, but the more research I did the more it became clear that it would have been a grey or dark grey colour. As a contrast with the scarf, then, I went for 995 German Grey. The upper areas were highlighted with the base colour plus 845 Sunny Skin Tone, then this mix plus 906 Blue Grey Pale, then this latter colour was used on its own. I tried to go for subtlety as much as possible.

Ammunition pouches, belt and straps:

This leather harness includes the backpack straps around the shoulders which clip onto the belt, which itself features ammunition pouches, all in a shiny black-brown leather. I wanted to give this a weathered look so I used my previous experience with armour modelling and applied the sponge method.

So, a layer of 822 German Camo Black Brown mixed with Gloss varnish was applied and allowed to dry overnight. This gave a shiny and hardened surface. I then used a small piece of sponge to apply heavily thinned 981 Orange Brown in a matt finish on the upper surfaces of the pouches and on various parts of the straps. This was followed by 874 Tan Earth, also matt, sponged onto lower parts of the pouches and the straps. The result is a convincing worn finish, with the contrast between the gloss and matt finishes giving a particularly pleasing effect.

The belt buckle, which on the finished figure is obscured by the rifle and gloves, was given a base of 992 Neutral Grey with a dot of 864 Natural Steel, highlights with Natural Steel on its own, then 997 Silver. It was then given a wash around the central embossed image with 822 German Camo Black Brown. It's a shame the final effect isn't really visible because it was actually very pleasing.

The white stitching on the pouches and the belt was reproduced using 976 Buff. This kit has pushed me to trust much more in my ability to paint freehand and this was exactly one of those moments. The various buckles and the small pips at the bottom of the pouches were done with 864 Neutral Grey and Natural Steel, followed by highlights in Natural Steel.

The Camera Strap:

This was done with 312 Leather Belt followed by this plus 876 Brown Sand along the raised edges. It was then finished with Satin varnish.

Feldjacke Collar:

As with so many elements of German uniforms this is an area where there are many colour possibilities, ranging from black green through to quite light shades of green. I wanted to use a fairly light mid-tone so went with a mix of 989 Black Green and 979 German Camo Dark Green. Lowlights were done with 979 and Black, while highlights were done with 989 plus 978 Dark Yellow.

Finally, I went over the various elements of the jacket and the backpack with a pin wash of German Camo Black Brown mixed with a dot of Black. This was done with a very fine brush and was used to bring out seams, as you can see particularly well in the above image at the rear of the collar. I think this added more depth to the model and was certainly better than the original oil wash.