"Texian question" Topic

I'm in the middle of painting some of Blue Moon's Texian sets. I have quite a collection of reference material, but a few items have me wondering what colors to use.

#1 A few figures are wearing a uniform coat with turnbacks. Are these captured Mexican coats? Pre-war militia uniforms? Obsolete U.S. army coats?

#2 A few figures have a hunting cap that looks similar to a WW2 'jeep cap'. Are these caps cloth? Corduroy? Beaver?

#3 This is just a general question on hunting frocks. Were most of these cloth, as in the AWI, or did they tend toward buckskin in the 1830's. If cloth, were there any particular colors that were popular in the 1830's? I know the Alabama Red Rovers had red-dyed hunting frocks, what about other frontiersman?

#1 Yes. I do mine mostly blue, which covers all three, more or less.

#2 Some books (e.g. Zaboly, who knows the subject as well as anyone) picture the NO Greys as in those caps, as opposed to the round hats. Zaboly says they were made of seal skin.

#3 I mostly go by the Osprey Warrior book FRONTIER MILITIAMAN IN THE WAR OF 1812, which shows shades of khaki, tan, off-white, yellowish grey, etc. But there's nothing wrong with different colors mixed in, blues and greens and browns and black.

Thanks for that. I suspected the uniform coats would be blue. Interesting info on the hunting caps, I'll paint them black or dark brown to look like seal skin. When I look at them under the magnifier they do have a texture that appears to be fur.

I like the color suggestions for the hunting frocks. It seems they were often left natural linen or 'linsey-woolsey', but I do remember AWI versions being green, violet, etc. I get conflicting info on buckskin. It is reported to be cold in winter, hot in summer, and is difficult to dry, but was often worn due to lack of anything else.

#1) I agree with doc and think dark blue is a safe color but I doubt any of them were actually captured Mexican uniform coats.

#2) Don't know.

#3) Again, I agree with doc. I think they can be anything you want, so you can paint some as buckskins if you so desire. I think an unbleached linen is always a safe bet as well.

Looking at the coats under a magnifier shows they are probably not supposed to be Mexican uniforms. They lack cuffs and epaulettes. So perhaps old U.S. coats with insignia removed. What color should the turnbacks be?

I'd paint them dark blue (same color as coat) or white.

If the tail coats lack cuffs and epaulettes then they are most likely civilian tailcoats, which were the fashion in the 1820's, through to the early 1830s when the frock coat was starting become more prevalent.

malamute, I thought the same thing at first, but the coats in question have distinct turnbacks, not the usual plain claw-hammer. Maybe they are the civilian coats modified to look more military.