Questions on painting a union soldier

[Chris Kelm]

I am in the process of painting a union flag bearer soldier. I paint in Jo sonja acrylic paints and would like to know,what color of blue should I use in the JS line?
Also, knowing that the union uniforms are a very dark blue I hope that there is a color in the JS line of paints.
If not,what would you recommend for the color in question?
Thank you.
Chris

 

[Blind Pew]

I can't be too specific, but just remember the ACW blue tunics are very dark blue and be sparing with the high lights and you shouldn't' go too far wrong

 

[Viking Bob]

I use scale 75 paints and the colour of choice is Deep Blue SC55 with a touch black added. I have found them to be a good matt colour, perhaps JS have an equivalent or very near colour.

Here is a website that make quality repro uniforms which are used by the serious re enactor

http://wwandcompany.com/

You will see that not all uniforms are dark black blue.

 

[Chris Kelm]

Thank you for the info.
chris

 

[chailey]

I would think you have a fair degree of leeway with "Union blue" depending on wear and tear etc. Totally agree with Viking Bob regarding using the Scale link colour's, very dependable matt finish. I have also used Andrea Blue set with some fairly good results.
Steve

 

[REMOVED]

For JS, think of mixing up from Payne’s grey..ultramarine blue deep isn’t a bad start..just remember it’s not a purple

 

[REMOVED]

The base actual,colour was a Prussian blue..except later in war officers had lighter trousers...and remember weather, wear..means anything dark that’s close will work. Play with mixing a Prussian blue..I don’t think there is a JS..and lighten and darken towards Payne’s grey..even try a tough of aqua for highlights. The beauty of JS and the like..you can play with blobs and get your recipe down..much easier than dropper bottles

 

[Tony Barton]

It's worth remembering , for all blue uniforms before the 20th century, that they were dyed with Indigo. It produces a very dark blue/black colour, that fades very little in use, though all uniforms get dusty and abraded, which tends to make them slightly lighter.Indigo can be used as a watercolour pigment, but the result is very close to black, and not light-fast, which means it's not a serious pigment for use in paints.
The pigments we use in paint to represent them are quite different from the dyestuffs, and this seems to create some confusion.
Prussian Blue is NOT a dyestuff, but an artificial blue paint pigment created in the early 1700s, an extremely vivid, quite light kingfisher blue.
It's cheap , and used for a lot of modeller's paints , which is unfortunate , because it's nothing like Indigo. The best thing to do with most of the model paint manufacturer's dark blues is to add a little red, which is very effective in darkening them and getting nearer to the true Indigo shade.
Try it...

 

[REMOVED]

I agree re both Prussian and the indigo dyes..but two things to bear in mind...not all units wore the same shade..some even wore grey..and officers had the most variations...plus scale effect means a different effect might work best for smaller scale than for large. Darker and more muted with small..with JS, the paint Chris uses, he can work with pthalo...and has several to play with and come up with his own range of tint and tone...I’d try to avoid lightening with JS ti white as it’s really heavy stuff...maybe try darkening othalomwith a Red that’s tomthe blue and create some nice deep ones...as I said, that’s a plus for playing with tubes..can mix more precisely tiny bits than working with droppers

 

[Chris Kelm]

Great! thank you for all of your info. It will be of great help.
Chris