"British (English) Red for AWI. What color really?" Topic

My research and Google-surfing has left me in a quandry: which color of "red" is appropriate for "Redcoats?" I've seen everything from scarlet to bright red (fire engine red). What do you guys use?? Oh, yah…am starting the southern campaign in 28mm. Thanks

I generally go with a "brick red" -- darker -- for rank and file. But after the sun fades them, you could justify a much lighter shade.

"British Scarlet" is more appropriate for officers and sergeants, who had a better grade of cloth, and dye.
I have used Armoury's "Brick Red", but my bottle is almost rubber, and they are OOP.
I am now using Ceramcote Terra Cotta.

The colours we associate with British Army uniforms today – bright red for O/Rs and scarlet for officers – are 1880-ish in origin. Surviving examples of AWI uniforms in the National Army Museum in London suggest a (light) brick red or even tawny for O/Rs and close to cherry red for officers. Of course, these are 200+ years old…..

A red oxide shade would not be a bad starting point for O/R coats; bear in mind batches (even from the same contractor) could vary considerably.

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Compare with:-

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or any of the other British/Loyalist plates by Troiani.

In sunny climates you could easily end up with some sort of terracotta shade; in colder/wetter climes (certainly after rain) you could easily get a madder red, almost mauve, such as this:-

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OK, it's a drummer, but bear in mind that this regiment's facings are listed as "purple". The red cuffs and lapels are the sort of tone that an officer's or NCO's coat might be.

Worth noting that captured British coats were dyed brown (I suspect by using earth, but others may have more accurate details of the methods used).

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Would highlights be pink? I use a dark maroon for a base coat followed by a nice Folkart dull red for O.R.s and a scarlet for officers and NCOs. For the 2nd highlight I would usually add a pale flesh which gives a pinkish highlight suggesting fading or use scalet to suggest new coats for the ORs. For officers I use orange for the 2nd highlight

When I reenacted late war Loyalist,my coat was a brick red color.NOT the bright red normally associated with the British.But there was also a VERY famous long standing British regiment that had the fire engine red coats! They knew it was the wrong color,but weren't going to change! NOW, I also believe that the Guards regiments did have a finer made coat of a more RED color.

Bob

<<I use a dark maroon for a base coat followed by a nice Folkart dull red for O.R.s and a scarlet for officers and NCOs. For the 2nd highlight I would usually add a pale flesh which gives a pinkish highlight suggesting fading or use scalet to suggest new coats for the ORs. For officers I use orange for the 2nd highlight.>>

FWIW, I think that's a very good choice of palette that I think would be justified by taking a look at the photo gallery of the 47th Foot. They are based in the UK and buy their uniform cloth (or used to, at least) from a company that was a contractor back in the 18th Century and still has the original "recipes".

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You can see that the level and direction of the light source is an important factor in determining what shade of red the uniform "appears" to be* – some of those in strong daylight are almost orange. Towards the bottom of the page is a pic of four men aiming their muskets at the camera. The coat of the figure on the extreme left is a dark red, whilst the coat of the guy next to him has more pink in it. Standing next to these guys a couple of years ago, I was struck by the almost crimson tone of the O/Rs coats.

* On a slight tangent, I've noticed that, when facing into the sun, troops with white small clothes display virtually none of the "shading" that is typically seen on wargames figures. Usually you can (only) just make out the dividing line between waistcoat and breeches; sometimes not even the pockets are visible.

Yhe color for other ranks is called Madder Red, based on the madder root dye.

Officers wore a brigher coat made out of bug dye.

The wool from teh 18th century looks nothing like even the best wool we can get today. :-)

The coat color definitely varies with light-the coats are quite dark in some pictures but the NCO's brighter coat stands out.

Thanks for the input, gents. You are a great source of info.

Pete