Vallejo colour

[Ochoin]

I've gotten my hands on a box of Revell SYW Austrian artillery.

As I prefer using Vallejo paints, can anyone suggest the optimal colour for their brown coats?

donald

[Peter]

What revell brown do they suggest on the back of the box?

[Ochoin]

Peter, an EBay buy that came without the box.

donald

[Kekso]

According to the box suggested Revell color is 83 Brown. Vellejo's equivalent is 70.846 Mahogany Brown. Conversion chart can be found HERE

When looking at Revell's boxart it seems more orange brown than mahogany brown
And yes, Revell's 83 brown is more orange.





Although we should never make certain conclusions about paints just by looking pictures

[Peter]

It isn't Revell 83 (= rust!) but 85 brown marked on the back from the box.

Revell 85 = Vallejo 70.829

[Bluefalchion]

Keep in mind the brown coats would be weathered from campaigning. And there is always more variety in real life than existed in the regulation book.

[Kekso]

It isn't Revell 83 (= rust!) but 85 brown marked on the back from the box.

Thanks for correcting me Peter. I found only poor photo of Revell box' backside.

[Peter]

I found a good one, but I couldn't download or copy it. And we're here to help eachother!

[Peter]

[Bessiere]

For Napoleonic Austrians I use a mix of 70.913 Vallejo yellow ochre + 70.872 Chocolate brown with a dash of Game color 72.012 Scarlet Red; sorry I don't if that is of any use for SYW. Sources are notoriously variable as to what the actual colors looked like so in the end you pick something that suits your taste while remaining within the bounds of source materials.

[Ochoin]

I *think* the colour didn't change; the Austrians being notoriously hidebound in such matters.

donald

[Minuteman]

I am slightly perplexed, donald, since we have seen some pictures of your nicely-painted SYW Austrians elsewhere (and maybe here as well) this year - and these have included some artillerymen. The photos seem to show a coat in what I would describe as a 'light burnt umber'....so what colour did you paint these? And why not use this for your newly acquired Revell Austrian gunners?

Many, many years ago I used always to paint armies in a common colour eg: French were in 'Humbrol French Blue', but then I re-assessed things and came to realise how inaccurate this would be. In days before the industrial age quality control of colours would be more difficult, and colours would fade or change hues when exposed to sunlight, rain etc in the field. Even the best -equipped army would have some men in coats which were almost brand new, and some in coats a year or so old, maybe considerably older - with a marked difference in colour between the new and the old. I therefore now paint a variety of shades, although tend to keep one unit in the same 'shade'. But it would, for instance - and if you were going for a 'realistic rather than toy soldier' look - be nonsense to paint all your Prussian Landwehr for an 1813 army in exactly the same shade of dark blue, would it not?.

Regardless of being formal and sticklers for detail, I somewhat doubt that even the Austrians would have all their artillerymen in the same shade of brown. So bit of artistic licence is therefore possible, and most probably realistic as well.

[Ochoin]

Some excellent points raised here.

My existing few Austrian gunners were painted with a mixture of colours, that approximated the genuine colour. Apart from not having the "recipe" (I stupidly didn't write it down) I thought I'd go for something more authentic......though your well-made argument that any foolish consistency in hue would be far from authentic has me re-considering my plans.

Please, good sir, don't start discussing Life or I may have to re-consider my entire existence!


donald

[Minuteman]

Ah, an honest answer from an honest man! Thank you donald. I have exactly the same problem ie: having previously mixed colours which I don't have the recipe for! I am sure that it was an issue that plagued many an artist in days of old as well, when paints had to be mixed by hand from pigments.....

You can take solace anyway in already having a very well-painted collection of SYW armies, and the added bonus now of an extra set of the excellent Revell Austrian artillery.

For my part - since my SYW Austrians are still in the painting queue, so their artillery brown is not yet established in my palette - I'd be inclined to go for the Vallejo Mahogany brown as mentioned above by Kekso, but would test this first to see if it is too dark. If too dark, then lighten a bit with a touch of light tan or a lighter brown - perhaps Vallejo Cork Brown - and see how that looks?

Enough said from me. I will certainly not be going into anything deeper than this, including anything about Life or Existence...much too much trouble and beyond my meagre brain to cope with..

[Bluefalchion]

We have had such discussions many times on these boards, and I suspect we will do so again in years to come. When I research a figure, I like to find images of the actual item to be painted, if one can be found. But naturally we have to keep in mind that garments or equipment decades or centuries old may have gradually changed in appearance as well.

[Ochoin]

We have had such discussions many times on these boards, and I suspect we will do so again in years to come. When I research a figure, I like to find images of the actual item to be painted, if one can be found. But naturally we have to keep in mind that garments or equipment decades or centuries old may have gradually changed in appearance as well.

Indeed. I remember an event that permanently altered my somewhat hidebound, if not fascist, beliefs on exact & authentic uniform colours.

It was an actual photograph of a dozen German WW2 infantry tunics: no two of anything like the same hue.

If the Germans, with their legendary attention to detail couldn't maintain a system of homogeneous colours, who could?

The end result of this 'eureka moment' was my Confederate ACW army, in which no two figures wear the same uniform/colour. .........& what a pain to paint!

donald

[Jaques]

Hi , friends.

This discussion about the "real color" of the uniforms is very interesting.
I consider myself a painter of medium quality figures. Over the years, I went through several dramas looking for the true color of the uniforms, which almost made me need therapy.
For all the reasons already mentioned above and a few more, today I use approximate variations of tone, choosing the one that gives me the best visual effect, because I learned that an "authentic color" for a 1/1 piece will hardly have, in my opinion, a satisfactory effect when applied to a 1/72 piece. Especially in dark colors, I always paint in a lighter shade than the “real color”.