Advice on Ex-Soldier uniforms

[Dr Mathias]

Hello,
I'm preparing to paint the Foundry 'Ex Soldiers' pack.



I am wondering if these paintjobs are accurate (I know, I know...) at all. Were mid-late Victorian ex-soldiers allowed to keep their jackets? If so, would they be dress jackets? Would cuffs be white, or regimental colors, or other? I can't find anything that shows a white piping on the bottom of the jacket.

Any advice on how to paint these fellows? Be my guides

[Cubs]

If we're talking about non-officers around 1880-ish, the white piping is found on the 'tunic', which was worn on Home Service (ie. in Britain). The 'frock coat' was very similar (but without some of the white piping) and was worn abroad. The collars and cuffs were usually in the facing colour of the regiment, whatever that might be.

Uniforms did change a fair bit though, so it's worth having a poke around to check the details of the specific period you're painting for. There were also a variety of different colours of cloth used, from red to khaki to black to green, depending on the regiment and campaign they served in.

1879 Anglo-Zulu War



An old soldier would have no difficulty keeping their old tunic when they were discharged, especially if it was worn and no good to the quartermaster. It's my experience that most soldiers are more than passable thieves anyway and tend to 'acquire' anything they want badly enough!

[Conquistador]

"Scrounger" is the technical term IIRC.   

Gracias,

Glenn

[has.been]

I heard that the Australian Army moto is
'If it ain't nailed down it's ours & if it can be prized loose then it ain't nailed down'
I also read that in the 1st Gulf War our chaps (Brits) were nicknamed 'The Borrowers' by the Yanks.

[Cubs]

I also read that in the 1st Gulf War our chaps (Brits) were nicknamed 'The Borrowers' by the Yanks.

My brother was CO of a British unit attached to a US Armoured Marine Division in the 2nd Gulf War. The MOD were so shockingly bad at equipping the guys that their wives back home were actually ordering camping equipment from Argos and sending it out!

Anyhoo, a visiting US officer walked into their command tent and quipped that they looked better equipped than his own. Then he started to notice how similar the items were ...

[Plynkes]

Would cuffs be white, or regimental colors, or other?

White cuffs are correct for all English and Welsh infantry regiments (except Royal regiments) after 1881.

Regimental facings were done away with in favour of "national" ones. White for English and Welsh, yellow for Scottish, green for Irish. Royal regiments had blue.



Edited for bad grammar.

[Plynkes]

I can't find anything that shows a white piping on the bottom of the jacket.

Seems some versions of the officer's frock had such piping. There are a few examples in the Ospreys, both photos and a couple of colour plates.


Edit: They aren't of quite the same cut as the ones on the models though, so I'm not sure you'd want to paint these ones like that.

[Dr. Zombie]

It is a proud army tradition (in every army) to have "sticky fingers". I myself have several - lets call it memorabilia from my time spent in the army.

This is a story about the Prussian guards Rifles Battalion from the start 1800. That I really like.

"The composition of the battalion and the behaviour of many a rifleman earned it an ambiguous reputation.[3] While women of Berlin considered the French-speaking riflemen as charming celibates and good dancers with an attracting Franco-German jargon, their less reputated comrades were also suspected of theft and worse crimes.[3] So the saying goes, that once at the royal table a guest reported that a corpse, dressed with nothing but a shirt, had been discovered in the Schlesischer Busch, a bush south of Köpenicker Straße in Berlin. The king then carefully asked the also present commander of the guards rifles: "It was not one of your men, commander, was it?" And the commander, possibly Major von Tilly, replied that this was not likely, since a guards rifleman would have taken the shirt too"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guards_Rifles_Battalion

[Sterling Moose]

There's nothing wrong with liberating items.  Our excuse was always 'it's a big firm'.

[Patrice]

I suppose than, as in other countries, it was illegal to wear your uniform if you were back into civilian life? ...but that many old soldiers still had it and would put it for unformal use at home etc. Cloth was still expensive then.

In France just after WWI you could certainly see peasants working in their field or garden, wearing French army light blue old vest or old pants, but they probably did not go to the town market wearing it.

[answer_is_42]

I have no idea whether or not they would have been allowed to keep their jackets, but it is unlikely they would have worn them in public. Soldiers were not popular in nineteenth-century Britain, and a vagrant in a military jacket would certainly have found life difficult.

[SBRPearce]

They look like those figures would make an excellent Victorian-era criminal gang - one that has more than mere greed at stake, but also seeks to strike a blow for "the Widow's Sons".

[Doomsdave]

"Scrounger" is the technical term IIRC.   

Gracias,

Glenn

We used to say "There's only one thief in the Army, everyone else is trying to get their sh!t back".