"Basic Brit 28mm Question" Topic

I ordered today a spray can of red for use as a primer and base for my Napoleonic Brit 28mm army.

Immediately after ordering it, I started to feel very uneasy about using this approach as opposed to black prime and build up with red.

Can anyone give some advice to someone who has never done 28mm before if this is a reasonable approach or not?

Thanks in advance

I'm not too sure if I would go with the red base layer. Like you I'm used to working from a black base but changed this just last year for napoleonic British to a gray undercoat, I'm not sure it saved any time but the colours were a little more vivid in the end.
I'll see if I can get a comparison picture for you.

I have not done it myself, however I can't see any problem with it. Spray your models red, ensure this undercoat is given plenty of time to dry. Then either use army painter light tone or GW Delven Mud for shading. You can then pick out all white areas quite easily. I would imagine that you could churn through a lot of figures using this techinque in a short period of time. Anyway, painting is all about trying things out and finding a finish that you are happy with.

Raglan

I agree with Raglan, I see no problem with this approach. The AP website offers many examples of this approach (oddly enough they suggest blue as the base for British, but their figure has blue trousers which I have not heard of). link
I think though I would consider grey or white for British as prime coat. It is sometimes difficult to cover red with white which will have to do if you prime red. There is a lot of white on British figures and it might be easier to add red for the jacket.
I pick the most prominent colour and spray with that. Here we have figures airbrushed with GW Tallerin flesh as a prime:

These figures were primed with GW Bolt Gun Metal:

I think it is a great method and am using it more and more.

John

fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.ca

I always prime with black.

I tried priming white for British, thinking that I could just pick out the jacket in red and save a load of time. Couldn't get it to work for me though!

I bought a flat acrylic white spary for $.96 USD at Wal-Mart this week, and sprayed 24 Victrix British this week. It really shows the detail well. This is the first time I have ever used white. Too soon to say much, except it is a good base for overalls, straps, chest tapes.

I did 38 Victrix French last year, and started with a dark bron acrylic spary. That seemed a surprisingly good base.

I did the faces and hands in two tones of flesh; and the hair in 4 different browns. The the shakos in a very dark flat gray. The leggings showing below the trousers in a somewhat lighter dark gray.

I plan to use antique white; warm white; off-white; and linen for the overalls of separate figures, and possibly a dark brown for one of two of the figures. The white will be a big help here.

I do see a problem coming in getting the red into tiny triangles among the cross-belts, between the chest tapes and the like.

No matter what I do, I always hate painting! And it comes harder at 76, despite good vision!!

GdeP

No easy way to do Brits unfortunately, it has to be a labour of love! Personally I have tried many ways, and always come back to a black undercoat, which, if you think about it, at least means shoes, knapsack and shako are done…

If you undercoat red, remember that Officers and SNCO's had a much more scarlet colour coat than the toms…

link

I've used a chocolate brown as an undercoat for AWI British infantry with considerable success (IMO of course!), but I've also tried a Halford's red oxide primer spray with good results. I've never used white base/primer, but this is more a hangover from my Humbrol enamels days (Inow use acrylics) where the red I used for the coats would "bleed" into everything else.

Someone mentioned the problem with painting white over red basecoats (I'm guessing straps, buttonhole lace, etc); one way around this is to first paint the straps with buff, and then do white over the top – much like the actual belt, in fact, which was "buff" leather that was whitened.

Simple solution. Prime with white or light grey.

I think the point that the original OP is making is that he is looking for the quickest way to paint the British. The AP method is to take the most common colour on the figure and prime it this colour. So for French Legere it would be definitely blue, for Brunswickers it would be Black etc. You then block paint the rest of the figure and apply the Dip. You are trying to do the figure in as few as steps as possible.

John

I would go for a light grey – trouser colour. The red tunic and white straps will cover well over the grey "undercoat". I saw in a WI Brits undercoated in red and it looked a lot of effort. YMMV

yeah thanks Marc – I have vague recollections of that also which prompted my question.

Anyway, ive ordered the spray, so I will do a couple of units both ways and see what happens!

Thanks again for the very useful comments.

Personally, i've done black and white primer for my Brits

I found I had to do two coats of red on black vs only one coat on white, which took ages

So I now use white

Ferg

If you really look at the British uniform the major color is white. I have found over the years that when I paint red I need to have a light base under it as the paint is very transparent. If I prime the figures in black I will then dry brush a coat of white or light grey over them paint the red and then shadow using a brown ink. For high lighting I first use the original red and the a color called Sunset Orange. Recently, however, I've just taken to priming in light grey.

I do my brits with a Brown undercoat…black is too dark.

@ AICUSV;

Got to agree with you there! Reds and browns never cover as well as blues and blacks from the same paint range. I believe you're correct about the amount of white on British uniforms, too; unless they have no packs on the figures.

I find a similar phenomenon with the French, os I prime them white and paint in the blue bits, if their trosuers/breeches are white, there's only about a third as much blue!

Unfortunately the British are one of the nations which are more complicated to paint. However I used white or light grey undercoat until now and I'm satisfied with the results:

I don't like black undercoat because I experienced briter colours like red, white or yellow are rather difficult to paint on it. And I prefer the slightly briter colours on white undercoat. Black always darkens the miniatures a bit even after painting.

However I guess that red undercoat should work.

Cheers
Monty

So what was the result of your spray can trial? Good news?