Wednesday 12 July 2017

Une coq up

I can’t believe that I just about finished painting the Voltigeurs when I realised that I’d done the collars in red instead of yellow. Not just these ones but the 18 previously painted by Matt G (to my instructions – not his fault) will all need over-painting in yellow, grrrrr!

I’ve tried one here and it was a right old fiddle because it takes at least three coats of my yellow to cover up the red. Perhaps some line Voltigeurs did in fact have red collars? Come on, help me out here!

I guess I could just leave them as a ‘retro uniform error’ a bit like Baraguay d’Hilliers in his blue uniform rather than dragoon green (click here) or like Picton in his circus outfit rather than raincoat (click here).

10 comments:

MSFoy said...

Quelle dommage - I reckon a man of your calibre will get 3 coats of yellow on these chaps in much less time than you would spend justifying their not being yellow over the foreseeable future - important thing is, it's you that's not going to be pleased with them, so it's well worth the effort. As for Baraguay d'Hillier's away strip, I see no problem with that, and Picton must have had a few coats, you would think. Courage, mon brave.

Stryker said...

Tony - this is not the answer I was hoping for but you are right of course!

MSFoy said...

I think chamois was a valid alternative to yellow, but in your heart you know you wouldn't be happy with that.

Stryker said...

Hmm, I'm not sure, useful if they wanted to wash down the wagons though.

Matt said...

You know you're going to sleep well until it's done; however if that was the colour scheme from "back in the day" you are more than entitled to keep it that way as it is in keeping with other units deliberately made so.

Stryker said...

Matt - I am now resigned to painting them...

Wellington Man said...

Do you know, I hadn't noticed (even though my voltigeurs do have yellow collars). I put it down to the stunning quality of the paint job that you and Matt achieved. They were so clearly and quintessentially voltigeurs that the colour of the collars didn't come into it.

Stryker said...

WM - I think the red actually looks better which may be why you (and I) hadn't noticed it. However yellow it's going to be!

Lee said...

That's a shame Ian, they looked so nicely finished too. Yellows can be a real pain I know,a couple of the Vallejo Yellows are very thick and can cover in one coat while others are more 'runny' and take a lot of building up. I think you use Foundry? But I'm sure it will be worth the extra work to make the correction :)

Stryker said...

Lee - yes my yellow is Foundry and it doesn't have great coverage, I usually do a coat of orange first over black undercoat but will probabaly go straight to yellow over red on these.