"Vallejo paint for EARLY WW1 Brtish" Topic

Can anyone help me? For WW2 British Vallejo recommend English Uniform paint. But what about Early WW1 British? From books, and reinactor photos I can see, that Early Great War British uniforms were much lighter, and WW2 uniforms were more brownish. And also does Late WW1 British uniforms were same colour as Early WW1?

WW2 British. Very browny uniform.

WW1 British (Early and Late). Different pictures have different browny colour.

So in REAL LIFE does they used same colour or not?

What was the picture of the three mounted officers from?

A movie?

James

I asked this same question some time ago and was told Vallejo Green-Brown, IIRC.

@jgibbons looks like the movie War Horse

IIRC, WWI British uniforms should be a dark brown, as in the first and third picture, while Australian and Canadian uniforms would show a greener tone, a bit like in the second picture (I would not take a Hollywood movie as accurate source for uniform colors, in any case.)

2 jgibbons
War Horse

2 DestoFante
So real WW1 British should be brownish khaki and I can use same paint for WW1, Interwar and WW2? And if there are difference in movies this is not accurate.

The same situation with WW1 Russian uniforms. They are green khaki colour, but in some movies they are more greener and in other they are brownish just like British ones. Also reinactors always use different shades of green khaki.

If my recollection of what my grandmother said about my grandfather's uniform while he was in the local TA between the wars is correct then the dye used to come out in the wash. This might mean that the variations you see in sources could be new and old uniforms.

Another possibility is that units serving in India may have had uniforms sourced locally and possibly a difference in colour – usually lighter I think.

I'm just about to do some 10mm 1914 Brits myself and haven't decided what colour will work best. I want it to contrast well with the webbing (probably do that as Buff) so I'll probably experiment with English Uniform and Kakhi or some mix of the two.

the dyes used were very variable and during the war a variety of shades could be used even in the same unit. wear and tear and washing (and delousing) would also have an impact on the colour plus overseas contracts for uniforms also had an impact on the colour- subtle but noticable. so I think im saying all are right…………

As long as it looks like khaki the exact shade doesn't matter too much. That goes for First and Second World Wars!

Khaki is a slippery colour and can indeed look quite green in certain light conditions.

I have been led to believe that WW1 khaki was a somewhat greener tinge overall than its WW2 cousin, however there was also a degree of colour variation batches of clothing in both world wars.

These days I just paint the lot (WW1, WW2) Vallejo 'English Uniform'. By the time it has had an inkwash and a drybrush it all looks the same anyway. If you let thej paint separate in the pot you can see it is already brown & green mixed together.

I'd echo Martin. In the past, I put a great deal of attention in getting the "right" tint of grey on painting some WWI Germans… just to realize that, once I applied the "magic dip", all the subtle differences were basically gone. For the British, I'd go for Vallejo English Uniform, and maybe add some lighter drybrush for effect.

As for Hollywood: I doubt Steven Spielberg would lose his sleep about any accurate replica of the historical uniform color… If they have something that look good, they would go for it, with little regard on whether that would be the British or Canadian color. IMHO.

Officers uniforms were different. Each regiment had a 'regimental shade' of khaki for officers. Being gentlemen, they were expected to purchase their own uniforms from whichever tailor's the regiment used.

Thanx again for even more detailed answers!

Thanks!

As has been said, officers' uniforms in WW1 (such as the ones pictured) were very different from the ORs, being made of finer cloth and usually being quite greenish compared to the ORs.

I have been using Vallejo Brown Drab for my British uniforms.

Terry