Paint colours for early French

[Colonel Kilgore]

Thinking forward to what will probably be my project after next, I know that several of you have done early French forces. I am looking for advice on appropriate paint colours for both the sky blue coat and red trousers for 1914 - ideally Vallejo and/or Coat d'Arms, please.

[Leman (Andy)]

I use a black undercoat. First off, the blue greatcoat. It is not actually sky blue, but is a darkish blue grey, but you could also get away with a more washed out campaign look. Still definitely not sky blue though. Here's how I do it with Vallejo colours:
Greatcoat: base  coat of Prussian blue 051, dry brush of Grey blue 943
Trousers: I prefer Scarlet 026 over a black undercoat as Red 029 can come out a bit dark. I also use the scarlet for the odd uncovered kepi.
Kepi: Grey blue 943
Pack: although it was black it actually had a light grey cover Sky grey 154
Officers: some wore the official dark  blue jacket, for which Prussian blue on its own can be used. Others wore the fashionable black jacket. The kepi can be scarlet with gold rank markings or covered with the blue grey cloth cover.

[Leslie BT]

Colours.
Prussian blue 965/051
Grey blue 943/061
Scarlet 817/026
Red 947/029
Sky grey 989/154

The first number is the old Vallejo colour number and the second is their new colour number.

[Leman (Andy)]

Oh dear, just goes to show how old some of my paints are.

[Leslie BT]

Not necessarily, it depends on where you buy them and how you look at the pot.

[Leman (Andy)]

I tend to use the number to the right of the colour. I remember someone pointing out a while back that the numbers had been changed, and the number to the right is now its position in the paint rack. This is certainly the easiest number to deal with, being only three digits. The other, longer, code seems a bit like a Star Trek star date - something else I was never able to get my head round.

[Sean Clark]

For a different take Simon, I sprayed mine with Army Painter Ultramarine Blue which is really a mid blue. Red trousers, red or grey/blue kepi and grey/black packs. I then brushed on dark tone Army Painter dip which darkens the blue nicely. Some people might then highlight back up but I never bother. I think they look nice!

[Colonel Kilgore]

Wow, many thanks chaps for all these responses in less than a day - what a great forum this is!
Lots of ideas and food for thought here. I will let you all know what I go for in due course.

[SimonC]

just for my 2p.  15mm needs a bit of lightening in the Tabletop. Those armies with dark uniform need to pop 'unrealistically' IMHO.

I'd go for a method similar to Sean in that white primer , then a ultramarine blue , then a blue wash ..  might not be quite right , but is easy on the eye

[DorchesterBede]

For my late war French I used Army Painter  Warpaints  Wolf Grey as the base colour and highlighted in their electric blue, for the helmets I used a Coat d'arms Iron Grey, equipment the usual base colours (dark leather and khaki highlighted in lighter colours). They can be seen in one of the photographs from the 2017 SB day.

Chris

[Colonel Kilgore]

Simon and Chris - thanks for your additional tuppence each. Keep going at this rate and I'll be getting rich

[Leslie BT]

Simon you should be assembling this into an early war French painting guide and put it in the section above the normal posts with the rule amendments etc.

[Leman (Andy)]

Here's an alternative and quicker way - grey blue as the base coat then a wash of Army Painter blue shade ink. An optional dry brush with the blue grey again, or the sky grey for an even bigger contrast, but make the dry brush very light so you don't lose the blue of the coat.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Simon you should be assembling this into an early war French painting guide and put it in the section above the normal posts with the rule amendments etc.

Good point Les, thanks. I didn't realise that I had the powers to do so, but it seems that Mr Lurkio has trusted us Administrators with the ability to do so!

[Colonel Kilgore]

Here's an alternative and quicker way - grey blue as the base coat then a wash of Army Painter blue shade ink. An optional dry brush with the blue grey again, or the sky grey for an even bigger contrast, but make the dry brush very light so you don't lose the blue of the coat.

Thanks, Leman. So many options, and I haven't even collected the troops yet!

Maybe folk can post some of their work here so we can see the effects of these different approaches?