WW2 Painting Guide: Kiwi and British in the Mediterranean

This WW2 Painting Guide shows how to paint the 2 New Zealand Division, and other Commonwealth/British, who fought in the Mediterranean. It solely uses Vallejo Model Colour range of paints.

I have used four sources: Battle Front, SHQ, Artizan Designs, and Crac des Chevaliers.

In the six years since I first published the first version of this article several of the sources have disappeared and two new sources appeared, so I thought I would publish an update. I have dropped out the Coat D’arms and the Colour party options and concentrated solely on Vallejo. It is sufficiently different from the original post that I have counted it as a new publication.

Personally I use black undercoat, with edges showing, a base colour and, only for those special occasions, a highlight. The Battle Front and SHQ guides are fairly simple, listing only the base colour. Crac des Chevaliers explicitly lists shadow, base and highlight. The Chevalier de la Terre mentions he uses a slightly darker colour for the shadow as he doesn’t leave black visible in 15mm. Artizan Designs often lists two or three colours and I assume this is shadow, base colour and/or highlight; it isn’t clear in the two colour schemes whether the missing shade is shadow or highlight.

Item	Battle Front	SHQ	Artizan Designs	Crac des Chevaliers
MKII Helmet and Helmet cover	847 Dark Sand	819 Iraqi Sand	819 Iraqi Sand 847 Dark Sand	Shadow: 888 Olive Grey and a bit of black Base: 50/50 mix 888 Olive Grey and 924 Russian Uniform) Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1
Khaki Drill Shirt, Shorts, Trousers	819 Iraqi Sand	847 Dark Sand	819 Iraqi Sand 847 Dark Sand	Khaki Drill (Greener) Shadow: 887 Brown Violet Base: 50/50 887 Brown Violet and 899 Khaki Highlight: 988 Khaki or Tan variant Shadow: VPA 314 Canvas Base: 988 Khaki Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1
Khaki Battle dress, trousers, socks, berets	921 English Uniform	921 English Uniform	889 US Olive Drab2 921 English Uniform 983 Flat Earth	Shadow: 889 US Olive Drab Base: 921 English Uniform Highlight: 880 Khaki Grey
Webbing and Anklets	884 Stone grey	819 Iraqi Sand	819 Iraqi Sand 847 Dark Sand or (variant) 821 Ger. cam. beige WWII	Shadow: 887 Brown Violet Base: 988 Khaki Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1 or (alternate, lighter variant) Shadow: 988 Khaki Base: 884 Stone Grey Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1
Water bottle / Canteen		879 Green Brown		Shadow: 889 US Olive Drab Base: 983 Flat Earth Highlight: 50/50 983 Flat Earth and 884 Stone Grey/Ivory, etc
Rank chevrons		951 White
Boots	950 Black	950 Black 994 Dark Grey	Soldiers: 950 Black Officers: 874 US Tan Earth	Shadow: 950 Black Base: 995 German Grey Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1
Wooden parts	981 Orange Brown	879 Green Brown		Shadow: 889 US Olive Drab Base: 983 Flat Earth Highlight: 50/50 mix base colour and white1
Buckles		801 Brass
Cup		951 White
Anti gas cape		896 Dark Green
Leather Jerkin			846 Mahogany Brown 984 Flat Brown
Anklets / Gaiters			821 Ger. cam. beige WWII

Notes
(1) Crac des Chevaliers sometimes uses paints from other ranges, so I have substituted the equivalent Vallejo Model Colour instead.
(2) Artizan Designs had the base Khaki colour as “973 US Olive Drab” but this appears to be mixing “973 Light Sea Grey” and “889 US Olive Drab”. I have assumed the text is correct and the code incorrect.

References

BattleFront: British Mediterranean Infantry

Broken link

Chevalier de la Terre. (2010). Painting British Infantry: Part 2. Crac des Chevaliers.

Farnworth, M. (2008). Colour Guide – British 8th Army. Artizan Designs.

Colour Guide to Painting the British Army in the Middle East and the Mediterranean

Pearson, S., and Rowell, R. (n.d.). SHQ Miniatures: Introduction to our painting guide No 11. SHQ