Painting danish infantry

WWII figures are easy and fun to paint because they are mainly just green and brown, the best
two colours to paint. With the Danes, it’s good to know the different leather colours for pouches,
straps and belts, etc. This article is not a tutorial, just a study into what colours to use. These are
the colours we recommend for painting Danish infantry. We like these paints, that’s why we sell
‘em.

• AK3081 British Uniform Base: Uniform

• AK3083 British Uniform Shade: Uniform
• AK3007 Black Uniform Shade: Belts, boots, pouches
• AK3021 M-44 Base: Water bottle
• AK3141 Field Grey Base: Gasmask cannister
• AK3082 British Uniform Light: Gasmask cannister strap
• AK3031 Brown Leather Rifle sling
• AK3116 Green Uniform Shade Helmet

I’m sure you can find alternative colours in the AK range or other ranges that will approximate
these. We highly recommend watching the movie April 9th. Not only is it a great little war film, it
has loads of Danish soldiers and uniforms in it. You’ll hit the pause button a lot!

There are a number of other uniforms, such as the 1915 pattern grey and the 1910 pattern black
greatcoats, plus the “boiler suit” of the motorcycle troops. We’ll paint some of ours in those
alternatives, and we’ll have examples of the motorcycle infantry before the KS campaign ends and
add an addendum to this document.

We also highly recommend having a look at this pdf by Per Finsted which gives a good overview
of the Danish military, uniforms and engagements during the invasion.

Most are armed with the Krag–Jørgensen rifle. Two have grenade launchers on the end, these are
green ochre like the magazine shown in the Madsen LMG image below. These figures are dead
easy to paint because they’re brown. The one thing with them is that they have 3 shades of leather.
This is all detailed in the text below, but to summarise:

All models’ gasmask cannister straps – light brown leather AK3082

Officer belts/boots; rifle slings; helmet straps – normal brown leather AK3031
Other ranks belts/boots/pouches – black leather AK3007
The Uniform

First off, note the crazy looking trousers turned up over the boots. The greatcoat and trousers are
a khaki-brown, similar to British Uniform colour. You can use a mix of AK3081 and AK3083 for
the base, shading and highlighting. The helmet is a dark green such as AK3116.

Leather is black except for the gas mask strap which is a light brown leather – see pics below.
Ammo pouches are black leather. You should be able to see this on the painted pics below.
Gas mask cannister is the same green ochre as the grenade launchers and Madsen LMG mag.
Water bottle is khaki brown, the pack is a cloth material and is a very dark grey. The gasmask strap
is a light brown leather AK3082.
Officers

There are two officers in the Infantry Command Squad. They are the pistol armed and kneeling
models in the middle of the picture below. The Løjtnant is firing his pistol. His cap and tie are the
same colour as the uniform, but that little bit of shirt collar on pistol guy is a light khaki.

Note the white epaulettes. Boots and belts are normal brown leather. Map case on kneeling guy’s
left knee is normal brown leather. Both officers have the gas mask with the same light brown
leather as the enlisted men.
Alternate Uniforms

The film, “April 9” featured mainly the kahaki brown infantry uniform shown in all the miniatures
so far, but the 1915 pattern grey uniform and the 1910 pattern black greatcoat were widely
distributed and also feature in the movie. We used the following AK Interactive Colours:

• AK3007 Black Uniform Shade: M1910 black greatcoat

• AK3002 Black Uniform Base: M1910 black greatcoat highlights
• AK3146 German Grey Uniform Light: M1915 uniform
• AK3144 Dark Grey: M1915 uniform shade

We painted the grey M1915 with either the grey greatcoat or the black one; these are super fast to
paint! All the other kit we did in the same colours as for those in the brown uniform.