Hi Everyone,

Could anyone list or possibly point me to a website that would describe possible paint mixes for various military colors for AWI, ACW, WW1 and WW2? This would be tremendously helpful. The ones in particluar I am looking for are:

British Redcoat red
Buff
WW1 German grey (early and late war)
WW1 American uniform colors
WW2 American Uniform colors
ACW Union Sky blue and Confederate grey or butternut.

I realize that many colors were not very standardized and different cloth lots would show variation, but I'd like to have somewhere to start my experimantation.

Hi Paul

All I can say is, there is no better website than this for colour mixes and advice on colours, best place to start is in the painting forum, nearly everybody gives thier own mixes for various colours, these will give you a good start.....

Happy Hunting

Dave

Here is a link to Pete H's color mix site. Extremely useful. Pete mentioned that he is going to take this info down soon so, you might want to save it, too.

Keith

http://members.cox.net/captnpete/PaletteMain.html

Bob Knee gave me the titles of 3 books that have just arrived. I will take some photos and do some reviews. One is a color swatch book and one is a color receipe book. Most helpful for oils.

Speaking of Bob Knee... Here are his comments on Blue and ACW Grey and Butternut.

http://members.aol.com/mmsi2k/newmmsipages/blugrey.htm



Guy-Pls let me know the titles of those books...

Thanks!

Keith

Guy

Please could you inform me of those books as well

Thank you

Dave

I just sent you an email Keith

Hi Guy,

I'd also like the names of those books. Thanks

Hi Paul, there certainly would be a lot of variation for any given uniform colour (makes the word 'uniform' a bit of a laugh but there you go!) plus the paints you have dictate what you can use to mix with, not to mention whether you want a realistic, dull or colourful version of the colour.

I realise how difficult colour mixing can seem but it's a lot simpler in principle than most of us realise when we're starting out so I would suggest working by this basic rule: any colour is possible using only three paints, plus white to lighten if necessary. It's just a matter of picking which three you should start with that are appropriate for your needs. At its most basic anything we might want is mixable from just three primaries plus white - forgetting metallics you could paint any figure with just four tubes of paint. Most of us prefer to have some earths and one or two other 'convenience' starting points to help mix duller colours like browns but the same rule still applies: try to work with only three colours, excluding white. This makes mixes easier to balance and replicate and the fourth paint is usually redundant.

Back to your question, to give you an idea of how variable this is here are four possible recipes for just the first colour on your list. Number 1 is a low-key version, nos. 2-4 are all capable of producing an accurate match to the real thing, reducing the amount of green in any case will give you a brighter result.

British Uniform Scarlet #1
Red Oxide + a little Yellow Ochre

British Uniform Scarlet #2
Cadmium Red Light + a little Yellow Ochre + a touch of black

British Uniform Scarlet #2
Cadmium Red Light + a little Cadmium Yellow Light + a little more black than #2

British Uniform Scarlet #3
Cadmium Red Light + a little Chromium Oxide Green

If you only have Cadmium Red Medium nos. 2 & 3 are still workable, just add a little more of the yellow in each case. If you have it I would recommend Mars Black as it's lower in oil than carbon blacks so it dries faster and will help the mix to dry matt. You could also substitute French Ultramarine for the black in nos. 1-3 and get very similar results, and this will also aid in achieving a matt finish.

If you give me your palette I can suggest mixes for most of the other colours.

Einion

There is something very satisfying for me when I mix paints. It's one of my favorite tasks in figure painting. Love that "oil'-y texture.

Keith

Einion great advice as usual. How does the undercoat affect these mixes?

I agree, colour mixing is one of the great joys of painting for me and learning about it has been a fascinating experience (which isn't over yet).

<!--QuoteBegin-sharpie95@Apr 30 2005, 07:01 AM
Einion great advice as usual. How does the undercoat affect these mixes?[/quote]
Thanks Jim. Well undercoats are a subject in their own right but if we're talking just how the colour affects the oils: straight grey primer will tend to dull the first coat a little; white will tend to brighten it, but will also exaggerate thin spots and brushmarks; yellow is similar to white although it will shift the colour slightly toward itself, obviously, but all of these effects are minimised with an good opaque mix. In general the most forigiving colour IMO to undercoat with is what most oil painters already use - something similar to the finished colour - with acrylics arguably being the best for this since they dry almost instantly and there's no chance of them lifting as there is with enamels. The undercoat doesn't have to be that close to the finished colour, just in the right ballpark is fine as most people have found out from practical experience, so a handful of acrylics is all anyone really needs if they're just for undercoating purposes.

The major exception to the like-coloured undercoat I can think of is for a worn effect where you might deliberately undercoat with something like a parchment, buff or peach colour, so brushing oil off the edges or high spots with a clean brush will begin creating the appearance of wear in quite a naturalistic way, much like some people already use to create the illustion of wear on the toes and heels of boots.

Einion

I have found that having the acrylic base as close to the dried oil results to be best. IMO. slightly lighter acrylic base is okay. Too dark on the acrylic base results in brush marks. It is also more difficult to bring out the shades and highs. it's not as crisp.

For new combos, I will try on a primed plastic card. I'll try a couple different acrylic base and oil combinations along with a bit of shade and highlight. I let it dry in the box over night. It may seem like a lot of work, but I find it easier to fight this battle OFF the figure rather than in my limited painting sessions

Keith

Try this thread for the British Red. I tired the mix and I was happy with it...

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.p...hl=british&st=0

Mike.