Cold War Dutch for Team Yankee

Bit of a longer post this time, as I painted up an entire Cold War Dutch army for Team Yankee! The army consists of five Leopard 1Vs, five Leopard 2s, two PRTLs, two F-16s, two West-German Tornados and a set of Dutch mechanised infantry. 

Leopard 2

Team Yankee is set in the mid 1980’s, at which time the Royal Netherlands Army was in the process of replacing its Leopard 1V’s for Leopard 2’s. Delays meant that this process took quite a long time. In fact, there had also been severe delays in procuring the Leopard 1, which meant that there were even some old 1950’s vintage Centurions left in service!

 Leopard 1V

For a bit of variety I picked up a set of Leopard 1Vs and Leopard 2s, but for gaming purposes I’ll run both as the more powerful Leopard 2’s. I also bought two Cheetah PRTLs (Pantser Rups Tegen Luchtdoelen = Armour Tracked Against Aerial Targets). This vehicle is derived from the German Gepard and is basically an anti-aircraft turret on top of a Leopard 1 chassis.

Cheetah PRTL 

All tanks are painted in pretty much the same way. The Netherlands didn’t adopt the three-tone camouflage scheme until much later, so olive drab it is. This certainly speeds up the painting process and I actually think it looks a lot nicer than the more modern green-black-reddish brown camo.

Colours used:

Base coat: US Olive Drab 70.887

Drybrush: Dead Flesh 72.035

Tracks and tools: Black 70.950, Gunmetal Grey 70.863, Flat Earth 70.983

Wash: Umber Wash 73.203

Chipping: Dead Flesh 72.035 and Gunmetal Grey 70.863

Dirt Drybrush: Flat Earth 70.983 followed by Bonewhite 72.034

Periscopes: Heavy Blue 72.143

There’s not a whole lot to say about the infantry. Like the tanks, the uniforms are Olive Drab. Their lightly coloured helmets are probably their most distinctive feature (Green Brown 70.879). Dutch infantry wore a copy of the American M1 helmet, which was usually covered with burlap and over that some green netting. This netting could be further camouflaged with leaves and twigs and all of this was kept in place with a bit of bicycle inner tire tube. The brown boots (Flat Brown 70.984) are perhaps also a bit unusual.

 

Turning to the pointy-nosed flying things, Team Yankee only lets you field West-German Tornado IDS jets as a support choice. In 1979, however, the Royal Netherlands Air Force had taken delivery of its first F16. I thought it would be cool to add two proper Dutch jets, so I picked up two Revell kits and some after market decals. By the way, while Team Yankee is 15mm (1:100) scale, the plane models are all 1:144 scale.

West German Tornado IDS 

For an authentic Dutch feel I added a drag parachute to the tail of the F-16s (the long sticky-out bit at the back). I’m aware that the models are not 80’s Block 1 jets, but much newer Block 50/MLU models, with larger elevator surfaces and little sensors/antennae in front of the canopy. I also painted the radome grey instead of black, which would be correct for the very early RNLAF F16s. I just think grey looks a lot better.

RNLAF F16s

Colours used for the jets:

West-German Tornado IDS

Camo: Luftwaffe Camo Green 70.823, Russian Uniform WWII 70.924, Black 70.950

Canopy: Dark Sea Blue 70.898, mixed with white

 

Dutch F-16

Top, dark grey: Neutral Grey 70.992

Bottom, nose and tail, light grey: 3 parts Medium Sea Grey 70.870, 2 parts White 70.951

Nose cone: Dark Blue Grey 70.867

Canopy: Dark Sea Blue 70.898, mixed with white

Group Shot!