How to paint british police 1930/1940?

[dice shaker]

Good evening,

 there are some 1930/40 policemen to paint on my table. But I`m not sure about their colours. Dark grey & silver for regular police? Mid blue for auxilary police troops?
I found pictures of blue and grey uniforms, so I´m not sure about that.

Thanks,   Sebastian

[joroas]

Dark blue, silver buttons and badges, black and white armband to show they're on duty.

[Orctrader]

Dark blue, silver buttons and badges, black and white armband to show they're on duty.

That.   

[Trooper]

To avoid confusion, the "armband" is actually worn near the cuff, left sleeve.

[Luddite]

Yep.  Each constabulary had its own slightly different uniform but the following was basically universal.

A deep navy blue serge.

Silver buttons and helmet badge (although some badges were blacked.  Some helmets also had a spike or ball on top.  During a crisis like the war, many police replaced their piklehaub with a Brodie helmet painted navy blue or black with the word 'police' stenciled on the front).

Black leather belt etc.

Some wore white gloves.

They also wore a black and white striped armband around the left forearm when on duty (full white for those on traffic duty).


Its a nice, simple uniform to paint!  

[joroas]

[Arlequín]

I must point out that the blue is so deep and dark as to be almost (but not quite) black. A picture search for 'Ripper Street' should produce an example or two amongst the pictures of its main characters. The colour did not change until the '90s when forces mostly went for actual black uniforms.

 

[dice shaker]

Hello,

 yesterday I see at police museum.uk "many" (some) uniforms and helmets of this time. This items are navy blue, dark blue, dark grey and black. Any local police create their own style. There was a white summer helmet.
 So leather black, metall silver and uniform coulors free to choose.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Ta ta Sebastian

[Trooper]

A minor point, somebody referred to black Helmet badges, these were generally worn on night duty only, so the baddies would not see them coming.

[Arlequín]

A minor point, somebody referred to black Helmet badges, these were generally worn on night duty only, so the baddies would not see them coming.

There were sets of night buttons too (tunic buttons were removable for cleaning/laundering). The white helmet wasn't a 'Summer' one in the UK, but was issued for personnel on traffic regulation duty, along with whitened canvas half-arm covers.