Painting miniature models...
I am not a fan of bright, vibrant colours on models.
It should be remembered that we are looking at the figures normally from a scale 200 / 300 yards distance. Colours tend to become more muted, details disappear.
I'll be using a darker, more crimson, colour for my Scots and English rank and file, with only the ensigns and other officers getting scarlet.
Remember in those days they were using vegetable dyes which are much more subdued than the chemical dyes we are used to now. In addition, weather and wear and tear would result in a very fast fading of all dye colours.
Vegetable fibres, such as linen or cotton, are more difficult to dye than wool or silk.
Roads were only packed earth, so any army on the move would generate huge clouds of dust which would coat all uniforms, including senior ranks, or if bad weather, boots, legs, coat hems, etc, all heavily coated with mud.
Generally muted tones are the order of the day, very irregular as each batch would be a different shade. Colours (flags) can be brighter as silk is much better than wool or linen at holding dyes.
For further thoughts please see document below...
It should be remembered that we are looking at the figures normally from a scale 200 / 300 yards distance. Colours tend to become more muted, details disappear.
I'll be using a darker, more crimson, colour for my Scots and English rank and file, with only the ensigns and other officers getting scarlet.
Remember in those days they were using vegetable dyes which are much more subdued than the chemical dyes we are used to now. In addition, weather and wear and tear would result in a very fast fading of all dye colours.
Vegetable fibres, such as linen or cotton, are more difficult to dye than wool or silk.
Roads were only packed earth, so any army on the move would generate huge clouds of dust which would coat all uniforms, including senior ranks, or if bad weather, boots, legs, coat hems, etc, all heavily coated with mud.
Generally muted tones are the order of the day, very irregular as each batch would be a different shade. Colours (flags) can be brighter as silk is much better than wool or linen at holding dyes.
For further thoughts please see document below...
scale_dyes_and_colour.pdf | |
File Size: | 1441 kb |
File Type: |