"Paint colour ACW red barns." Topic

Hi.I know barns were often unpainted/weathered and others were whitewashed but wonder what Vallejo colours you'd recommend for a "red" barn? Thanks.

19th Century barn paint was made from skimmed milk, lime and red iron oxide (the mineral that makes clay red.)

I have used a mixture of Wargames Foundry madder red and terracotta triads for my barns.

You can mix a flat red and a flat brown or rust brown.

I don't have a lot of Vallejo reds, but I'd suggest a base shade color of something like 70.982 cavalry brown, with a lighter, redder (but muted) mid-tone. On-line Train modelers suggest 70.908 Carmine red for barns, but it seems a bit bright to me looking at on-line color swatches. Perhaps mixing increasing amounts of Carmine red into cavalry brown until it looks right would work.

I still use an old Musket Miniatures paint called "Barn Red" that I have on hand. Unfortunately, it is long out of production. Great color over a black prime with dry brushing of lighter colors to your delight. I would go with craft paints or Howard Hues paints for buildings. A red brown is a good start over black with lighter colors of red and other shades of dry brush. A wash would also be useful depending on who your primary colors are looking.

This is so helpful everyone and exactly the advice I was looking for.Many thanks to all….agree(Courier doo Boise especially), probably better/cheaper to use craft paint vs Vallejo although the barn I am working on is 15mm rather than 28mm scale.

Delta Ceramcoat 'Red Iron Oxide' #02020 or (surprise!) 'Barn Red' #02490

You can mix these for more-or-less weathered surfaces.

Note that in the mid 19th Century, most paint was mixed up 'on the site' by the painter, not manufactured to 'standard' specifications.

I will second the Ceramcoat "Red Iron Oxide."

HEX code is #8C3135.

Ok thanks again for this info….feeling I've been a bit lazy now by not just searching for "Barn Red"!

Most barns were not red, but white.

Kim

Google images of:

* Seurasaari Open-Air Museum

A collection of farm buildings from around Finland placed on an island on the shores of Helsinki.

The images show a variety of different tones for the red oxide treatment (which seems mainly to be about prevent burrowing insects).

Also – the roofs are often of wooden planks rather than shingles or tiles.

Remember to take some ground-nuts for the red squirrels which are very tame.

The color of dried cow's blood is a good color for barns.