Loading ...A Trip To The Museum
November 23rd, 2009I took a quick out to the Canadian National War Museum. I wanted to see if I could see some Canadian WWII battledress in person. There were three samples, two under glass and one in the open. None were in anything approaching good light. I did manage to get a shot of the one in the open with my flash. If I had been smart I would have brought a colour card to make sure I was perfectly balanced instead of relying on the presets. Still, the flash preset should be the most reliable in terms of colour reproduction. Also, I don’t have a colour card.
The museum’s employees are currently on strike so I won’t linger on the out of commission displays or burnt out bulbs that I came across. I’ve never been a huge fan of this museum, although I think that may be more to do with knowing more about the subject matter than I would at a natural history museum.
Picture taken at the Canadian National War Museum in Ottawa, Canada.
Here is an image I took of the only WWII Canadian Battledress I could find. I notice a lot of things looking at this image. The first is that the BD is much less saturated that I was thinking. It’s almost a brownish-grey-green. I can see why I would have trouble with my sources. Every different light source must change this colour radically, not to mention different monitors or printing processes. Also, the divisional insignia is much smaller than I’ve been painting. I especially noticed this when I tried to paint on the rank insignia. The khaki webbing is much more khaki and less buff than I’d been painting. I’ll have to adjust how I paint it. Also, I’ve been painting the top of my Lee Enfields metal where they are actually supposed to be wood. I remember this from previous paintjobs. That won’t be too hard to fix. Most of this I’m only seeing now as I write this.
It makes me wish I had done this sooner, or at least time just looking at my sources. Pictures and paintings are good but it’s very easy to look at it and say – Ok, that’s what a WWII soldier looks like. That’s true, but when you are rendering something as a painted miniature you have to see and absorb all the details.
These guys are the closest I’ve come, but need more green.
These guys come closest to the proper battledress colour, although they are too khaki. Still, a little green and a little purple and I may end up with something useful. Why purple? Purple is blue and red, which is opposite to green and yellow (khaki). By adding the opposite colour it will desaturate the paint into something that should match the original.
Here I went too far towards the green side and decided to try again.
The current batch is almost done. I just finished weathering and adding insignia. Next they will be varnished and flocked. I’ll take pictures to share before then. I think I’ll be able to start working on my next batch tomorrow, which will feel good. It won’t take long to varnish six miniatures so I will actually be starting on them before I’m technically done the last batch. This week I plan to order the last miniatures I need for this project, at which point I’ll be ready to move on to 1812 with a happy heart. Oh, and maybe play at OMG.
Somehow, my next attempt went wildly off into lime green. In my defense, the initial basecolour looked perfect.
Tyler
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:48 am
When you get it licked let me know. I’m going to do up some WWI Canadians. They basically wore British Uniforms so I’m thinking of buying some Foundry Paints. Alas everything is geared towards WWII. I bought the Osprey Canada Corps WW1 book so if all else fails I’ll use that. I can’t bugger off to the museum being in Vancouver.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
I know that figure well. It is in a public “touchable” area and is almost certainly a modern reproduction uniform thus the accuracy of the colour must be suspect. I’m not sure if there was any period battle dress in the camoflage exhibit, if there is, it may be more “accurate”.
Personally I wouldn’t worry over much about getting the colour exactly right. Cloth for uniforms is usually made by more than one company and dyed in different batches resulting in many different shades of the same nominal colour. Further, when a new piece of kit is issued, it will almost certainly be of a different shade than the older, sun bleached and worn pieces. Tunic and pants may be of quite different shades.
Get it “close enough for army work” then don’t sweat it.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I’d actually call all of the attempts in the above pictures “close enough.” As has been mentioned again and again, dyed cloth fades with use and bleaches in the sun. I’ve got a Canadian greatcoat from 1941, and the fabric beneath the collar is significantly darker than the areas exposed to the elements.