WW1 Canadian Corps test colour scheme

[Muskie]

So I've started the second and third test model to find the best color combinations to get an authentic but still relatively easy to paint WW1 Canadian Corps colour scheme.  I will be doing Royal 22e or the Van Doos so look for red circles and blue squares on the shoulders just like on the cover of the Osprey book.  I don't think anyone makes winter garb WW1 British figs, I plan to try a variety of manufactures eventually, but right now I'm using random GW figs to test paint combinations and also some Foundry BEF Riflemen.

Here is the first blog post, you can leave comments here or on the blog.  And yes you can click on the picture to get a bigger version.  I think the English Uniform Brown works pretty well, this is Foundry Triad number 100 with a Devlan Mud wash then some edge highlights of 100C again.  Pretty simple but pretty close to various pictures in the Osprey book and elsewhere.

Cheers,

[Muskie]

So I painted more before going to bed and I even updated my Miniature Painting blog for the third time today.  Even at Midnight it is still too hot for my liking in Vancouver, too hot to be trying to do some serious painting.  Anyway the next step was to paint the 08 Pattern Webbing and I did so with a mix of GW and Vallejo colours and you can read the details and see the end results here.

[Will Bailie]

Hiya, Muskie

Scheme looks good to me.
I couldn't find anything I liked for my WWI Canucks, so i used a 50-50 mix of Catachan Green and Commando Khaki, followed by a wash of Devlin Brown - i like it, but it's probably a bit too green for WWI (maybe better for WWII).  Based on what I've seen of surviving WWI uniforms, I think you have it about right.

Great War Miniatures has some figures in winter garb - http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=568

Plus Renegade Miniatures has a few individual figures in great coats or wooly hats mixed in various packs (for example in the early war grenadiers pack - curious that they have no late war grenadiers!).

Cheers,
W

[Muskie]

Thanks for the encouragement, I think I've seen those figs.  The problem with doing the whole army in winter garb like on the cover is lack of poses.  I'm going to start with a few test rifleman until I'm confident I have an efficient and accurate scheme then I'm going to do a platoon which seems to be right about 34 perhaps 36 models.

Cheers,

[Calimero]

The Van Doos... what a judicious choice of unit...

Your test figures look good to me but I don't have any of my sources here with me to give a better insight…

Tim in saskatoon here on LAF may have some suggestions for you though

[carlos marighela]

  I don't think anyone makes winter garb WW1 British figs, I plan to try a variety of manufactures eventually, but right now I'm using random GW figs to test paint combinations and also some Foundry BEF Riflemen.

Do you mean in greatcoats? The old Cannon Fodder  Anglo-Irish war range has Brits in greatcoats. Only one pose but well sculpted, fits size wise with the other manufacturers, I have a ton of them. I think they are still available through some crowd in Qld or the Nortehrn Territory, can't recall the name but Helen Bachaus would be sure to know.

[Muskie]

No Great War Miniatures has a few sculpts in Great Coats, which some Canadian Corps got through British requisition, basically when the Canadians got to England the British often gave them different gear and by 1916 all Canadians had switched to 08 Webbing and the Lee Enfield rifle.  I decided my army would be post this switch so mid 1916 to circa late 1916.  The reason the winter garb, which consisted of the Great Coats and/or goat/sheep fur vests matters as that is the plate of the Van Doo on the cover of the Osprey book.  I really am not following it that closely, the only key is to get the insignia correct on the shoulders.

I think I made a mistake on this fig.  I painted his shoulder straps canvas when I think they should be uniform brown.  Some units in the CEF especially later on towards the end of the war had coloured shoulder straps.  This was due to reserve regiments having more colourful uniforms back home and of course they also tried to distinguish different roles by different coloured shoulder straps, at least that is what the Osprey Canadian Corps books says.

I'm going Van Doos because they were the only French Speaking unit in the CEF and the entire British Army, further they were made the Royal 22e by King George after the war so they are the only British Royal Regiment which is French speaking and their official name should only be written in French, Van Doos is their unofficial name given to them by Anglophones fighting alongside of them in Europe.

I'm tempted to do platoons of other Canadian forces, Artillery can be Canadian we made the shells and ammo for most of the British Empire, but tanks which I have little interest in should all have British crew.  If I did another Platoon or two I'd do the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry: P.P.C.L.I. which was the only unit in the British Army to fight under a royal banner, handmade by Princess Patricia herself.  I'd probably do a unit of Canadian Scots, some had kilts, some didn't, depended on the unit.  The unit I want to do has the flat caps on sideways with red and white checks...  I can see the heraldry but I can't think of the name.

I worked on the model some this morning, I'll probably have it finished this evening, so look for pictures in a couple hours maybe...

Here are some links:
VanDoos.com
Canadian Corps Wikipedia entry

[Muskie]

I just did a bunch more research and I think the Scottish Canadian platoon is the Canadian Scottish Regiment out of Victoria, I looked at the Seaforth Highlanders also out of Victoria, but the Canadian Scottish is probably more famous producing several VC winners and it was Sir Author Currie's regiment.  I think they had red and white checkered Glengarries (the hat) either the regular troops or perhaps just the band.  You can see lots of pictures of Canadian Scottish in this thread:

Canada's Highland Regiments

[Will Bailie]

Hi, Muskie

I think you're a bit off on the uniform details.  The Canadians initially showed up with their Canadian made uniforms (different number of buttons and a stand up collar).  One of the most visible features was the coloured shoulder strap - I don't remember all of them, but the most important are blue for infantry, green for rifles and red for artillery.  This distinction was later abandoned, except for the survivors of the first contingent.  Otherwise the shoulder straps by 1916 should pretty much be the same colour and material as the rest of the tunic.

The main distinction in the later period of the war was the unit patches on the sleeves (and it looks like you have that right already).  The Canadian Corps in WWI Osprey is good - just follow what they say there.  IIRC, the Osprey also includes a list of which battalions were highlanders and which tartan they wore, and even the pattern of dicing on the glengarry (although I might be wrong on that last point).

More info on Canadian uniforms available here:
http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/uniforms/uniform.htm
and here:
http://www.kaisersbunker.com/

[Muskie]

I think I, Osprey and Google basically have it correct.  For the Van Doos in late 1916, 08 Webbing, Lee Ensfield rifles, markings on the shoulders, and they should have brown shoulder straps.  They were not in Europe at the very, very, beginning.  They also should mostly be in helmets.

Boots can be brown or black, rubber or leather.  Putties were not mandatory, but the Foundry figure has them.

Now if, big if, I get the Platoon of Van Doos done and I'm thirsting for more, the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry are my second regiment, they were already formed and served in the British Expeditionary Force early in the war.  They were eventually transfered to the third Canadian Division after serving under French Command for a bit.  They would be entitled to wear coloured shoulder straps, based on what task they perform on the battlefield even into 1916.

Most rank, pins, and what not wouldn't show up at 28mm scale but the Van Doos get a 22e and the Pats get a little PPCLI.  I also painted my uniform buttons brass as that was another Canadian custom, they supposedly cut them off the old uniforms and sewed them onto the British ones...

Now my third regiment, which served in WW1 and WW2 and is still around as reserves in Victoria is the Royal Scottish.  They are the ones with the red and white checkered Glengarries.  Once in Europe they were issued McKenzie Tartans though Khaki would have been issued after the fact.  They are featured in a photograph on page 37 of the Osprey title and a painting on page 38.  They have a museum in Victoria I've never been too, but I think I've seen them on parade while growing up.

The Royal Scottish (Princess Mary's) Regimental Museum Webpage

I'd have to do more research the Royal Scottish actually contributed men to a number of platoons, 16th in the 1st Division being the one I'd probably paint up so I'd have soldiers from all three Canadian Divisions...  Some of them may have worn coloured shoulder straps in 1916...

Cheers,

[Muskie]

The flesh and the rifle are basically done.  I'll push on and try to finish him tonight so people can critique him in the morning.

[Muskie]

The flesh and the rifle are basically done.  I'll push on and try to finish him tonight so people can critique him in the morning.

As promised I stayed up until almost midnight despite fairly warm weather and finished my WW1 Canadian Corps test figure, I still think I can possible improve it and streamline it some, but it is looking pretty good if I do say so myself.  None of the photos show the eyes because the helmet has such a big brim.

Here it is beside the previous test model which was the first to use the Foundry Triads I specially ordered to try and paint accurate WW1 rifleman.

[Calimero]

It’s not clear on the picture but did you paint the upper part of the Enfield in gun metal? If so, it should be painted as wood instead….



As a side note, I’ve lived in Sherbrooke in the Eastern Township for quite some time and there's a lot of streets there that were named after Van Doos battles; Courcelette, Arras, Vimy, Ypres, Amiens, Cambrai…

[Muskie]

Nope I got that wrong, I was going off of rifles I'm more familiar with though I must have seen a Lee Enfield some time, I have the entire upper barrel a gunmetal colour and the entire lower barrel brown. 

This is a kinda annoying discovery as I think the model looks better with more metallics, but for test model number 2, I'll fix that and the shoulder straps.  I also plan to try and cut a few corners, but I'm thinking I may have to highlight the rifle stock if it is getting bigger...

Cheers,

[tim in saskatoon]

Yay Canadiens!!

I, personally, don't get too anxious about exact colours. I mean unifroms were manufactured by different companies. When you put hundreds of thousands of men into uniform in a short time, they're not all going to be the same. Even today in the era of pantone colour matching systems you can't get dye-lots that are identical. Some dyes fade faster than others. Uniforms get dirty.

A couple years back for the 90th Anniversary of the attack on Vimy Ridge I did a convention game of 4th Division's attack. You can find some pictures and reports on my blog:

http://saskminigamer.blogspot.com/search/label/Vimy

I modelled and cast a lot of my own figures, here's a few examples:

Regular Infantry


Highlanders


Lewis Gunner.


for comparisson - from left to right: Coppelstone, my own, Renegade, Old Glory

There's a book I have that I found invaluable for explaining how the Canadian Corps was organized. Not so many pictures but lots of good information. I can't seem to find it right now and darned if I can even remember the title... when I find it I'll post it here!

AS for winter clothes - I don't worry about that so much either - unless they're fighting in Archangel or Vladivostok - as I seem to recall great coats were left behind when they attacked. I think Berton made a mention of it in Vimy that in the attack on the Ridge great coats were to be left behind.