"Early War French Uniforms colours (Vallejo)" Topic

Hi Guys,

I've recently purchased a 1:1 platoon or so's worth of the excellent Early War Minis (ex Toms Tins) Frenchies. I've had a look around here, and it appears that the colour for the uniform has been a bit of a contentious issue.I know that BF say to use Green-Brown, but that looks a little light to my eye.
I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations, and if the Panzer aces French tank crew colour might be suitable.

Cheers,

Ben

Have a look at the French guide here
link

Here is an extract…
As I prepared the guide, I searched the posts on The Miniatures Page. These comments are based my own research backed by posts on TMP by Bill McHarg, KevanG, Crunchy Fro, Eric Larkin and Allen Curtis Many people have suggested recipes for the correct French Khaki uniform colour. Mostly, they recommend two parts Vallejo Russian Uniform 70.924 to one part English Uniform 70.921. This colour mix is almost exactly Vallejo Brown Violet 70.887. One painting guide suggests Vallejo 70.879 Green
Brown.
Pictures of French Greatcoats on the internet appear to vary from Vallejo Brown Violet 70.887 to Vallejo Khaki Grey 70.880. Greatcoats had matching khaki buttons.
The actual colour of the helmet was khaki green to match the uniform. However, I find that miniatures look better with a stronger green so I recommended Russian Green 70.894 or Bronze Green 70.897 in the Artizan Goumiers guide. Other painting guides recommend Olive Grey 70.888. Regulation infantry boots were brown. However, other painting guides suggest black boots.

Mick Farnworth

After eyeballing an original 'manteau' (my grandfather in law's), English Uniform (after much trial and error) is the colour I would recommend. I used it for my 15mm Early War and Vichy French. Applied in a thin coat over a black primer. As near as damn!!

try English uniform over chocolate brown

thanks guys. Mick, i've printed the excellent guide, thanks for the help. I'm thinking i may use the greener looking VPA French Tankcrew for the officer's tunic. Waiting on a copy of the excellent looking Gazette des Uniformes Mai 1940 special from ebay before i put paint to metal. :)