Ww1 Kilts

[Carl Edward Sambrook]

I have just ordered the excellent model of a Gordon Highlander from SK Miniatures (FULL FIGURE) I'm trying to find out if the kilt that was worn in the 1st World War was of a kaki colour without the normal tartan. I know the bagpipes where kaki coloured, I have tried looking on the internet but have failed to find anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[billyturnip]

Due to shortages some battalions did have khaki kilts, from memory 9/Black Watch was one but usually the tartan kilt was covered with a khaki apron.
Hope this helps.
Roger.

 

[Mirofsoft]

Here a photo I found
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/glosters/4405473833/
showing aq billyturnip said, a cover on the tartan
Best

 

[Wings5797]

Hi Carl,
Here iis a photo of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1915. It shows the apron over the kilt that Roger refers to (the apron would be the same for the Gordon Highlanders). Often a similar apron was worn over the back of the kilt as well.
I hope that this is of some help to you.
Cheers,
Keith

 

[billyturnip]

Perhaps some of the Canadian members will help me out here but I think the Canadian Highland regiments suffered badly from a shortage of tartan and issued khaki kilts. Useful to know if you don't fancy painting tartan.
You can usually tell if it's a cover or a kilt because the cover usually has a big pocket on the front, see Keith's attached photo.

Roger.

 

[carl reid]

I have just ordered the excellent model of a Gordon Highlander from SK Miniatures (FULL FIGURE) I'm trying to find out if the kilt that was worn in the 1st World War was of a kaki colour without the normal tartan. I know the bagpipes where kaki coloured, I have tried looking on the internet but have failed to find anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Carl,

The khaki apron was worn over the kilt. It consisted of 2 pieces, one worn on the front (with the pocket), the other at the back. There was a split down each side.
The Gordon Tartan is visible at the bottomed the sides where the split is.

The Tartan is. Gordon Pattern, this a government Tartan with a yellow over stripe.
Also the patches at the top of each sleeve was the Tartan, in this case Gordon, also the patch behind the Cap badge is Tartan!

I hope this helps a little!

Carl

 

[Carl Edward Sambrook]

Thank you to everyone, it looks like I will have to paint Tartan, any tips ?

 

[Wings5797]

Hi Carl,
For me, and everyone has their own method, I always start with the base colour. This will be the most prominent colour, for the Gordon tartan it is Navy Blue almost black. Paint the whole kilt plus highlights and shadows in this colour. Then I paint the next promine nt colour, green. Use a dark green in thin coats to paint the hoops around the kilt.
Once this has dried, using the same green mix paint the verticle stipes at the same width. You will see that where the lines cross the colour will be richer giving brighter squares. This is the foundation of your kilt.
After this has all dried fully paint the thin yellow stripes in the same manner as the green, ie. Thin coats with brighter tiny squares where the lines cross. Now all that remains is to paint the thin black lines, again using the same method. There are may people on this site that will have alternative methods and I advise you to choose the one that you are most comfortable with.
This may not be very clear but if you work through it slowly I am sure that it will work for you.
Good Luck,
Keith