Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: JollyBob on April 02, 2020, 04:02:31 PM
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Hi all
WW2 is a new area for me, so I apologise if this is something of a Noob question, but please help!
Butterfly-Brain Bob has been thinking of painting his Foundry Home Guard figures, and has been looking online for reference pictures.
This is driving Bob the mental as there does not seem to be any consistency, with colours ranging from a fairly dark brown, through khaki, a sort of washed out green to almost Olive Drab... and don't get me started on the webbing! Is it green? Is it off-white?
I can understand that HG units would not necessarily have the newest or best equipment, so some variation is likely and obviously material fades over time and use, but come on! Just make a decision - brown or green!
And if a consensus can be reached, can anyone recommend appropriate paint? I've looked at Foundry an CdA and am not sure either of them are quite right.
Thanks for any advice.
JB
:)
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there does not seem to be any consistency,
*Think* that's because there wasn't. TBH you're probably best off using Dad's Army for reference rather than looking at original - and often retrospectively hand coloured - images.
Or just wing it, as I did, and go with colours that 'look right' to you.
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https://talesfromghq.blogspot.com/
Has a large collection of Foundry Dad's Army on there.
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Home guard I thought received either old format kit from store or new kit.
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bOw9jb6411E/XF8ggjZCxII/AAAAAAAAExk/VjfhjCnIf9UF_KhWGfWIqUS-o9CDXX44QCLcBGAs/s1600/bef-1-1.png)
My recipe is as follows: undercoat with Citadel Chaos Black.
The uniform and helmet is Vallejo English Uniform. It was highlighted with a mix of Vallejo English Uniform and Army Painter Skeleton Bone.
The webbing, pack and pouches are painted with Citadel Snot Womble Green, highlighted with Citadel Nurgling Green.
The Gas Cape is painted with Citadel Death World Green.
The rifle is Citadel Mournfang Brown, as are his boots, handle of the entrenching tool and the grip of the bayonet.
The puttees are Citadel Steel Legion Drab.
The tin mug is Army Painter Stone Golem highlighted with Citadel White Scar.
Citadel Agrax Earthshade was used to shade the figure.
And yes, that is one of Empress's VBCW figures with the incorrect pattern entrenching tool handle carrier.
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Here's the ones I did...
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=115468.0
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They received a variety of kit - initially pre-war, WW1-style uniforms, then Battledress as it became available from a variety of sources, including Canadian, which tended to be a touch greener than the British variety, but it was still the colour of cow-pats. They also got a lot of denim Battledress, which is the type seen worn by the ORs in 'Dad's Army'. This was very much a greyish-green and faded rapidly, as denim clothing is wont to do.
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It's pretty much been covered . With the exception of the black and navy blue uniforms of privately funded factory platoons.
The reality is there's such a. wide variety of colours be it brand new kit or field worn seconds,or privately commissioned ,etc. As Dag's has mentioned pick a colour scheme that fits with your style and paints. No one can hand on heart say your wrong where ever your palate falls on a khaki theme be it the green end or the brown end of khaki.
Personally I just go with the flow . What ever combo is mixed on the day.
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Thank you fellas, that makes me feel a bit better - I may not get it right, but I can't get it wrong either!
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Oh yeah, as for the webbing: In its raw state it's a yellowish-ochre (sometimes slightly greenish) colour. Use whatever colour you would use for German 'Dark Yellow' (I use Humbrol 83). It would fade quite rapidly after a few months exposed to weather and in hot conditions it could fade almost white.
Webbing was then to be covered with a substance called 'Blanco' that was rather like boot-polish and came in a variety of colours, from white for parade to black for 'Rifles' and various shades of green in between for camouflage (and waterproofing) in the field. In reality, front-line troops simply scrubbed their webbing clean of Blanco after a few days at the front line. I've never met a single soldier who says they used Blanco at the front line, though I have met a few who painted their webbing with green or black vehicle paint! The early war Blanco colour was 'Pea Green', moving to 'No.3 Green' later, which was akin to the green paint of mid-war vehicles. I've also seen a very dark shade of green used.
The Home Guard spent an awful lot of their time on drill and inspections, so I'd expect them to be fully Blanco'd (green of one shade or another).
Later in the war webbing began to be dyed green (especially in India for use with Jungle Green uniforms), but I think it unlikely that the Home Guard would receive that.
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Brilliant, thank you!
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I do my British uniform a two colour process, GW Rhinox Hide as the dark shade with Humbrol 26 Khaki over the top as the basic colour.
For the webbing, here is the best examples of actual webbing sets with a lot of factual info:
http://www.karkeeweb.com/
The website hasn't been updated for some time, so I would grab any photos you want just in case it goes down.
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All you ever need to know about Blanco can be found here
https://www.blancoandbull.com/the-blanco-story/
Paint chart devised by Tony Barton
(https://i.postimg.cc/tTbY8mrp/Revised-Blanco-colour-chart_zpslr10iybc.jpg)
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And again! This is great stuff, thank you. :)
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Thanks for the Blanco colours most useful :)