Conferate Cavalry yellow in acrylics

[captnenglish]

I'm currently working on a dio involving JEB Stuart and two other Confederate cavalrymen and I want to the yellow (for JEBs sash and one of the other rebs kepi band) correct can anyone suggest a mix in acrylics (Citadel or Vallejo preferably)?

Thanks,

Matt H

 

[Steve]

Matt, as far as the Confederacy is concerned, there are few absolutes concerning color. The yellow trim for cavalry was regulation but rarely made it to the field, and I suspect it would be unusual to find two out of two enlisted soldiers with the yellow trim on their forage caps. Having said that Vallejo 953 flat yellow is a nice, slightly dark yellow which allows highlighting nicely. Hope this is useful.--

 

[captnenglish]

Thanks Steve, It's more JEBs sash I was concerned with then the trooper (actually a SGT carrying a ANV battelflag), I'll give the flat yellow a go, just didn't think it looked right.

 

[DOswalt]

J.E.B.'s Sash

Hi Matt,

Double check me on this, 'cause I am more usually wrong, but I believe that JEB's sash, along with all CS Generals was buff, not yellow.

 

[captnenglish]

Hi Matt,

Double check me on this, 'cause I am more usually wrong, but I believe that JEB's sash, along with all CS Generals was buff, not yellow.

David,
Buff makes sense, I'll have to check the photos I have of his uniform, I'm pretty sure his sash was yellow; there is a photo in Echos of Glory of his jacket and sash it's in another book I have too. All reconstructions show it as yellow too (Troiani and Kunstler), but if it's buff so much the easier for me.

 

[Einion]

Assuming you have a yellow of the right hue to begin with - mid-yellow or a little more orange I think. One of the simplest ways would be to add in a little of something about the colour of Raw Umber if you have it in your Vallejo collection. Raw Umber is a very dark yellow and it can work well for taking the edge off mid-yellow without changing the hue much or at all (depends on the Raw Umber). Since you'll be adding in very little though any dark brown might work okay, try it and see.

Shep Paine's approach would be to add a dot of grey (black + white if you don't have any greys) to the yellow, then compensate for the greenish shift with a tiny bit of red.

For best results you'd have to be very particular about how you shade this kind of thing as some yellow fabrics have shadows that are distinctly more orange, while others are just duller versions of the basic colour.

Einion

 

[captnenglish]

Einion,
Your raw umber approach was where I was thinking of starting, and you've just confirmed it should work thank you. I'll try to post pics soon

 

[Steve]

Reb Yellow

Matt, I am hardly an authority on the subject so if you have tried that yellow and it does not look right you are probably correct. I only have two Vallejo yellows, the other being "deep yellow" which is considerably lighter than the flat yellow.

 

[captnenglish]

Steve, I haven't tried anything that's why I asked. The last time I attempted to paint anything yellow I used "deep yellow" and boy was that bright.

 

[captnenglish]

Here's the pic of JEBs jacket and sash, I was thinking of. Clearly the collar is buff and the sash is yellow, I think the resolution might be off on pic (the jacket looks a bit darker than other photos and the sash a bit lighter.

 

[renarts]

I think that within the context you are using it in, any yellow that makes you happy is fine. The photo is a great souce but it is also a photo (given to some variation dependent on monitor, original file and original film it was pulled from) of a 140+/- year old piece of organicly died fabric. I would be worried about exact colors only if you expect a visit from the Virginia Hysterical Society and their team of lab experts toting color spectrometers and 140 year old fabric swatches to make a compartive analysis to your figure........

 

[captnenglish]

My thoughts exactly, so yellow it is, now I just have figure our which of the above mixes works best for me. Thanks for the input. I may not be taking the piece to Virginia Hsterical society, but judges at shows can be just as @n@l