"5th New York Zouaves painted with Contrasts and Speedpaints" Topic

My latest unit just finished up. Painting coming along at a good pace. I have to say that the Perry plastic Zouaves painted with transparencies were even more successful than both the Union and Confederate infantry, and those came out pretty well in their own right.

One thing I figure out with regards to two of the primary uniform colors I've been using. Contrast Stormfiend and Speedpaint Blood Red both work better if they are diluted a bit with acrylic medium. I used them at full strength on my first batch of Union infantry, and the color is excellent but it tends to be somewhat blotchy in some areas where it might have been put on too thickly.

The diluted versions here are much smoother and even.

Here's the full color palette for the 5th New York:

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These first two colors were perfect for the jackets and baggy trousers.

On the jacket trim, I reverted to using traditional red mini. paint. Primary reason being that Speedpaint is too thin and liquid to control on very thin, fine details. It would seep over onto the blue. So for that I Used a Citadel Color layer paint.

I found that plastics for some reason seem to provide a better, smoother finish for Contrasts and Speedpaints than metal minis. do. Not quite sure why this is, but something about the differences in the two surfaces creates a difference in how they look. Both are good, but the plastics are especially good.

Overall I'm really happy with how the unit turned out. 20 models with command painted in just a couple afternoons.

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They look great. The red trousers in particular really "pop".

Looking great!

Fantastic work! Very inspiring!

Damn fine work there.

Eric

Damned good work and table ready!

Don't buy into that system but you have produced very nice work with a campaign look.

These look fantastic. I was not sure which unit of Zouaves I was going to paint, but if these colors are accurate for the 5th NY … this is the unit for sure.

Wow. Truly impressive results. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!

@SeattleGamer,

Yes indeed, these are the historical uniform colors for the 5th New York. Blue jackets with red trim, red fezzes with yellow tassels, baggy red trousers, and the officer and drummer with a kepi, fez and trousers of the same colors as the rank and file but with trousers of standard cut instead of the baggy ones.

The research I did showed that the regiment, other than the unique Zouave uniforms, were issued standard federal issue equipment. I painted the canteens in the most likely color which would have been tan or brown jean cloth.

Here's are two of Don Troiani's paintings depicting the regiment. The only difference here is that in the battle scene it shows them wearing the turban around the fez. I chose to model my regiment with just the fezzes. I believe the Perry plastic boxed set of Zouaves comes with the option to do turbaned heads if you want to. But the painting of the individual soldier is what I really focused on for the color palette:

Very nice! Pretty sure this will be the Union Zouaves I go for. I wanted a regiment that had red pants, as I like the splash. With my eyes, having a blue jacket and blue pants zouave unit would be mostly lost on me. But the red pants, with the red hats, and the possible white turban, will make these guys stand out.

Thanks again for sharing.