Xpress Landser Grey Acrylic

The gray of a German infantryman

The nickname Landser was given in the German army to an ordinary infantryman, and this shade aims at exactly his equipment. It is not a pure gray but a murky tone with a cast toward green, close to the field gray of the Second World War. The paint is applied in one coat and as it dries it moves to the lowest places of the relief by itself, so the folds on a blouse and the knees of trousers come out darker with no extra intervention.

Where it most often starts

The trouble starts with a brush loaded straight from the bottle. Anyone who does not set the surplus down on the palette will carry so much fluid onto the model that it floods across the whole part, stands on a flat area and dries as a puddle with a dark rim. The shade then looks dirty and above all uneven. The answer is simple: wipe the brush against the edge of the palette before it touches the model, and govern the course of the fluid by the stroke, not by the amount.

Where the shade works

• The blouses, trousers and caps of infantry in large scales
• Tarpaulins, covers and the cloth covers of equipment
• A ground under later dust shades on vehicles
• A gray filling between brown leather equipment and metal parts

On a figure it pays to start from the deepest parts and work toward the edges, because that is where most of the fluid gathers. Leave the highest edges almost dry and let the light ground show through on them; that creates a transition which would be laborious to make with a brush. The dry surface is matte and will take further work, pigments and varnishing.