Painting and Modelling Team Yankee Danish Infantry

By Morten

The Danish army got a new camo pattern for their uniforms, designated M/84 in 1984, to replace the older M/58 uniform. Although it was implemented into the Army in 84’ it didn’t reach the troops until years later. Even in the 90’s some troops had still not received the new uniform and especially reservists would still be issued the older M/58 uniform. 

The webbing used was of British making and had been donated to Denmark by the UK, after the Second World War. Denmark did not replace this webbing, until start to mid 90’s, although some bags and pouches on the webbing would be replaced with newer versions along the way (like new ammo pouches for the M/75(G3) rifle). Most of the webbing would be a tan/khaki color, although color variations did occur, and could range from a light green to dark khaki. 

Here is my take on how to paint a Danish Panserinfantri Deling (PNINF DEL), or Armored Infantry Platoon, for Team Yankee, in the M/84 uniform. 

I start out by giving the models an undercoat with Deathguard Green (Citadel) spray primer, before painting on a basecoat of Loren Forest (Citadel). Next I use an older brush where the tip is almost gone, and start on the camo pattern. I do this by painting on random “blotches” of Nurgling Green (Citadel). Only thing I’m careful about, is to not let the “blotches” overlap between the jacket, pants and pockets. Whenever painting along these parts, I make sure to leave the paint on a hard edge along that part of the uniform.

Next up, its time for the black spots. For this I use an old brush with stiff bristles, that I have cut down in size, so the bristles are only about 1-2mm long. Why? Because I didn’t have a stipple brush, but had a lot of old damaged brushes. Using my homemade stipple brush, I take som Abbadon Black (Citadel) and mix in a tiny bit of German Grey (Vallejo) to lighten it just a little.

After dabbing the brush in the mix, I wipe most of the paint off again and test the brush on a piece of paper or my hand, before painting the model with a mix of dabbing and drybrushing, to create tiny black spots all over the uniform. 

And that’s the M/84 camo done. 

For reference, here is my old M/84 uniform jacket. 

Next up, the webbing. For this I used Karak Stone (Citadel) and painted all the pouches, belt, shoulder straps and gun sling. I also paint the hands and faces with karak stone, so the flesh color will go on more easily. Take care not to hit the uniform when painting the webbing, as the camo pattern will be hard to fix if any mistakes are made.
If accidents do happen, I would suggest covering it up with a little Abbadon black or Loren forest. 

When everything is painted Tan, I go back and paint the M/75(G3) ammo pouches with Castellan Green (Citadel). 

 

 Some of the models have rolls of rain covers or something similar attached to the bag on their webbing. For these I chose to paint them with Warboss green (Citadel) to get some color variation 

Addendum: I did not realize that the large bags on the webbing were in fact CBRN (gas mask) bags, and as such, they should have been a dark rubbery green. I corrected this as soon as it was pointed out to me, with Waaagh flesh (Citadel) followed by a selective wash on the bags, with the same wash, as the entirety of the models was covered in, in a later step. 

 

The M/75 and M/62 (M3 and MG3) are all given a basecoat of German Grey (Vallejo).
The stock, front hand guard and pistol grip on the M/75 are then painted with Knarloc Green (Citadel) and the stock on the M/62’s are painted with Mournfang Brown (Citadel).
PNÆV (M72 LAW) are basecoated with Straken green (Citadel) and details are picked out with German grey (Vallejo).  

The Carl Gustav’s are basecoated with Refractive green (Vallejo) and the details are painted in German grey. The pistol grip and handles, where visible, are painted with Mournfang brown (Citadel). 

•  The boots are painted plain black with Abbadon black (Citadel).
• Hands and faces are painted with Bronzed flesh (Citadel).
• Helmets are painted in Castellan green (Citadel)
• The German grey parts on all weapons are given a wash of Nuln oil (Citadel) to darken the grey and pick out the details.  

When everything is done, the entire model is given a wash all over with a very thinned down Agrax earthshade (Citadel).
When the wash is dry, I drybrush the helmet foliage/camo netting with Warboss green (Citadel) and paint the bases brown, to make them fit in with the colour of the bases they will go on.
Before mounting the mini’s to their bases, I spray them all with Vallejo Matt varnish. 

When the Varnish is completely dry, the mini’s are mounted on to their bases. I like priming my bases with a cheap rust effect spray. This way they get a brown primer and the rust effect help the wood glue I’m using for my basing, stick to it better. 

Notice: I have modified some of the mini’s. Some have had their heads rotated and here and there I have included Iranian infantry models with WG heads, for some variation in poses. I have also removed the Milan from a team and given them a 3D printed Carl Gustav, to have them firing from a prone position.  

 

My basing material is quite simply some dirt from my garden, that I have let dry completely and then sifted a few times to remove bigger stones and the sort. This is then glued on using PVA/Wood glue. 

 

This is left to dry for an hour or two. Once completely dry, I apply some static grass in various patches around the bases. 

Lastly I give each base a tuft of red flowers. This is to mark them as 1st Platoon. Denmark uses colors to mark their units and Red is 1st, White is 2nd and Blue is 3rd, so I thought using tufts was a great way of using this system as a subtle, yet effective way of marking my units. 

And here they are, all done with their M113 Transports. 

Next up will be an article on how to paint your Danish vehicles.

Morten has been a soldier in the Danish Army since 2005, with seven deployments to Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the seas around Africa . In addition to playing Team Yankee, he plays Star Wars Legion and is a member of the 501st Legion Costuming Group. Everyone that he plays with locally are either former or current colleagues, with the exception of Denni who is in the Danish Home Guard. He lives in Kolding.