"Opinions on Prussian Dragoon Blue" Topic

Gents,

I'm in the process of painting up some Prussian Calpe Dragoons and would like you opinion on this blue I used.
Peter on the Calpe website thinks it should be a medium blue, the Mont St. Jean website is slightly darker than what I painted.

Thoughts?

[URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Calpe%20Prussians/Prussians%20005.jpg.html]

Looks a little too bright for the Napoleonic period, though about right for the 1860's and '70's. Chemical dyes made a big difference. I use Ceramcoat North Sea Blue.

Humbrol used to do a "Prussian Dragoon Blue". I believe the color is still part of their line, but the name has been changed.

It does seem a little lighter than what I usually think of in terms of Napoleonic Prussian dragoons

Thomas,
Check down this link to my 1806 Prussian Dragoon as I always thought the early and later Prussian Dragoons used the same blue for their uniforms.

TMP link

John

Thanks for your comments gents, I wondered if they were too light, thus the post here.

Hi John,

Thanks for that link. They are quite a lot darker than what I have painted. I can try a blue ink to tone them down and see how they turn out. Some of the older prints have them quite light sky blue in color, or maybe that is just the coloring of the day, fading as well?
Any other suggestions as to darken them up?
Love your Chassuers a Chevel!

Best Regards,
Thomas

Thomas,
Try a blue ink wash. They do look light but I'm sure if you were out doors all the time they would fade lighter than their actual color. I painted mine with Prussian Blue/White mix and than added a little more white to lighten it for the highlights.

Think of your blue jeans and how they fade from washing and just general use.

Also thanks on the Chasseurs a Cheval and they are now residing in Scotland with my friend Paul.

John

link

Thanks von W.
Interesting there are variances in the color between regiments. Some very royal blue, others medium blue and some lighter still with a hint of grey.

variations – for me most likley, there this was a difficult colour to achieve and each bale of cloth must have looked differently, certainly not like the old Humbrol Prussian dragoon blue though.

But the Humbrol Blue is a beautiful colour. I still have several of the Authenticolours from 1970s (some never opened and probably solid!)

With suggestions from VonBlucher Von Winterfeldt. and Deadhead, I've done a blue ink wash.

One regiment in with a light wash the other with a heavy wash.

Opinions?

[URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Calpe%20Prussians/Prussians%202%20001.jpg.html]

I like the heavy wash

I kind of like the lighter one on the bottom.

Thanks gents!

von W is surely right. Even the top one is too vibrant. The real thing was surely even duller than that…….it needs to be boringly darker yet.

But we are artists are we not? I too would say the lower one. Who really knows? Remember scale effect. My 1970s memory of Prussian Dragoons is the lower one EVERY TIME. If they did not wear that colour, that was their mistake then!

I'm going to do one regiment of each color. That also distinguishes each one on the table. As Deadhead says we are artists after all.

Thanks for all your input gents!

good choice

The color of Dragoon regiments is open to debate. Light blue Dragoon uniforms doesn't mean sky blue. Still on the table top with 15MM or less it is best to go with a shade lighter.

Are the figures in your photos dragoons or landwehr?

Stephen

Humbrol authentic colours. The holy grail of painting for me. I so wish that range was available still, or re-mixed by a modern company. What colours do you have? If you wanted to paint some on some white card as colour swatches i would be a very happy bunny.

Especially the dragoon blue, polish crimson, British scarlet, oh so many evocative names and colours. My youth in a can…

Marc

I have found;

Orange facings (not convinced)
French Artillery Green (brilliant still)
Dragoon Green (good)
Polish Crimson (brilliant…I think, but who really knows)
Prussian Dragoon Blue (looks just like the darker colours of von W's references)
Rifle Green (a bit light)
These have been unopened since 1970s, so I was sure they would be rock solid. Sure enough they did take much stirring and another 5 minutes each would be even better, but all are still salvageable! I am now reminded just how useful they are, if only as a reference. Modern acrylics beat them hands down for convenience.
Send me an address via liam.flood@nhs.net and I'll post them to you. They have sat there unused for 4 decades after all…….

PS I bought that Vallejo lighter gold today…thanks for the tip!

I have to disagree about the Humbrol authetic colours, they were usually far off the mark – and yes I also did use them in the past – but wouldn't use them now.

There are much better ranges available, like Foundry triads.

Nostalgia…it is not what it used to be………

I still like the Artillery Green on my thirty year old Hincliffe Cannon. I never did buy the British Brick Red. French Dragoon Green is a bit bright. The rest are reasonable at best…….I still quite like the Prussian Dragoon Blue.

Of course they are grossly dated now. Enamels gave way to acrylics, easier to mix and shade/highlight and so many available.

Still cannot belive that after thirty years they are still liquid….after much stirring. Happy to post to you Marc if wanted. Mrs F would be dleighted to see anything go out instead of in!

Email sent Liam, email sent

And yes vW, I totally agree with you. My paints are Vallejo now (although I may go back to some Plaka colours as I found some of them were very good – not acrylic, caessin based)

But Himbrol is my childhood, and sometimes that can be worth it, when painting a unit of Airfix or similar.

As to the dragoon blue, my old school friend that I used to game with (he is a union rep now, all grown up and not into his toys…), well, he had some Hincliffe dragoons. So for nostalgia, I will paint up a set of HaT dragoons, and remember the good fun I had with him and Naps back in my formative years. No one else need be troubled by the garish colour of them

There is a box here in front of me. It is a plastic container for gatgut sutures (not used for at least ten years + in surgery, but the boxes were brilliant!)

It is padded. It is wrapped in brown paper and plastic sheeting. Every tin has the lid sealed with Sellotape (just in case). Enjoy the nostalgia trip. Incredible that after 30 years they still seem to stir up…….if only as swatches!

PS. Tell your lad. UCHMS 1971, I got in on two Bs and a D….it'll kill him!

Of course, those now mean I will have to hunt for more pots to complete my nostalgia collection. I often check eBay just in case but never found any before now. So really excited by these

Seeing the young trainee tonight. I will mention your grades and pharmaceutical experiments