"License to fade" Topic

[The following contains hyperbole, look it up and lighten up]

I don't know how much this impacts actual finished models but on the boards here, folks love to trot out the effects of sun, wear and tear on uniforms. But since no one ever details what that would look like, I believe that the constancy with which this is so often said, may in fact encourage license for folks to use whatever damn color one wants. I think this is dangerous for the historical hobbyist.

Seems to me, you should go with the textbook color unless you have a darn good idea of what the actual color looked like after sun and campaigns have taken their toll.

Question: how much license do you get when taking into account the effects of campaign wear and tear, etc?

1 will be "I'm not in this for accuracy but as a creative outlet – truth be damned" to 10 being "I endeavor at all times to get the colors accurate according to the best level of info out there."

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1 With the thought that the trueth is never fully known only guessed at,

x42

This is one of those "emperor has no clothes" questions isn't it? Neither print nor electronic media communicates color very well with any accuracy. Without a swatch in my hand I'm only guessing, as is everyone else. It is virtually impossible for me to color match a sample shade of color anyway even if I had one. Don't sweat what you can't control, nor worry about what those who never get anything painted think either. Paint more fret less.

Just get as close as you can. Soon 3-D printing will come in color and we won't have to worry about it anyway.

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Would have been 1 a few years ago

Now I do try to weather/wash campaign gear, so maybe 5

For World War II and later at least (and surviving uniforms from other recent wars such as the ACW and WWI), we have color photos of the color variation in uniforms and various fading patterns. The variation is unbelievable. License to use whatever color you want? Not really, but do you honestly believe that EVERY WWII US Army uniform, made by multiple producers, each with multiple suppliers of cloth, was the same color? Now compare that to Germany at the end of the war and the USSR and other places where there was basically no such thing as QC and do you really believe that every uniform they produced was the exact same shade of color? I've seen WWII USMC uniforms where the front of the pants are one distinctive shade and the back of the pants are another distinctive shade – and they were obviously produced that way. Heck, even with today's technology, US Army ACUs are not all the same color, and the variation grows as they get used and faded.

For myself, I try to match color to a historical sample, but I don't believe there is such a thing as the absolute correct color aside from maybe the original color chit that was used for the manufacturers to try to match. And I know some of my figures are painted in the faded color (such as my North Africa Germans and Brits) rather than the original, unfaded color.

1.

I'd go for about 5. When painting masses of 15mm the right color called for consistantly. For 28mm skirmish a little more artistic license should be allowed.

5 – I use cheap hobby colors and wash them with brown or black, comes out looking decent. Some of you would recoil in horror upon seeing them though

2-ish…
As long as the original color is close, fine by me.

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5> Fade happens along with dirts and stains . Start with an accurate color and work from there

If you could direct me to the appropriate ISO9000 or QS9000 paint chips, and the printed and distributed (and signed!) Quality Manuals that various nations produced for color control, I would be grateful.
I would particularly like to read about full dye lots of cloth being rejected because they did not match the masters under a Macbeth light, with the walls painted the appropriate colors in the Macbeth room, of course.

Said insectors are of course to have their Color Acuity scores from the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue color Test (taken quarterly) on file in the Quality Commandant's office, available for the ISO auditor's inspection… (My best score ever was a 7, but I knew the backs of the disks.)

Until then, I will paint my soviet infantry with the "kind of khaki" bottle that is closest to my hand when I am looking. They're all going to get The Dip anyway.

I painted a Continental regiment with GW Ultramarine last month. It's not finished yet, because I got sidetracked. I'll let you know after it gets Dipped.

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