Hello.
These are the first steps.

Looking good, J. 

Cheers - Phil

You're work is always beautiful so looking forward to watching your progress!

Seconded

Looking forward to see what you're going to do to them!

Cheers,
Rob

Thankssss

Coming on nicely

Take care

Andy

almost there

more

Very nice indeed

Take care

Andy

Lovely work, again, J. 

Cheers - Phil

Coming on nicely!

Definitely a nice paintjob but I see some authenticity issues... you want to hear them or rather not...?

Cheers,
Rob

Hello, I am always open to learn more. To paint them I have looked at different plates which may already have errors that I have copied. I find it hard to find a good photographic and bibliographic source on several occasions, in the end nothing is perfect and I just think that small mistakes may not be, after all nobody was there.

Really lovely figures, but It might be that federal issue kit usually comprised black leather straps and the back pack was also black painted canvas. The only white strap might be the water bottle strap. Which Zouave regt are you recreating? Have you got any of the osprey books?

When I painted my Seven Years War miniatures, I spent a lot of money on Osprey uniform books which I could well have saved if I had known about the Kronoskaf website beforehand. So, when it came to painting my Civil War miniatures, I avoided spending money on uniform books and resorted to the internet instead.

Reasoning that re-enactors are more likely to be motivated in "getting things right," I focused on movies that re-enactors have got involved in (e.g., Gettysburg & Gods and Generals) and suppliers of Civil War uniforms, equipment and accessories.  I therefore recommend you do the same. The movies can be found on Amazon, YouTube, etc., as can footage of re-enactors' events. I have also referred to the movie, Glory. Suppliers of Uniforms, etc., are easily found using any search engine such as Google. Here are links to some suppliers. These are great for getting uniform colours and shades, hat colours, equipment colours, etc., and should help you paint the majority of your ACW armies, authentically and economically.

http://www.ccsutlery.com/store/ccsutlery.html
https://fcsutler.com
http://www.regtqm.com
https://www.civilwarsutler.co.uk

I am an American Civil War re-enactor (and several other periods) and have been for many years. We recreate the 6th Alabama Infantry that fought in the East from '62 onward and gained it's fame in the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg (Antietam for Yankees) under Gordon. To use re-enactors as a guideline is not always wise as I have seen many that are just in it for the fun and guns. I could point out some very good units if you're interested.

What I see is that it is sometimeshard to recognize certain types of equipment on figures if you don't know exactly what you're looking at, which makes painting them correctly also very difficult. Personally I find it a pity to see such quality paintwork being somewhat spoield by historical innacuracies, but hey... that's me!
As Dr. Dave already mentioned leather for Union troops is all black except for example for USMC and some early militia units who could have worn white. Haversacks for the Union were usually black but off-white or natural cotton wasalso used. Backpacks are black, in US service often with unit designations painted or stamped on them in white paint.
The canteens you have painted blue with the white 'circle' around them are US model 'Bullseye' canteens made from stamped tin plate with concentric rings for strength. These were issued with wool cloth covers, normally in light or dark blue but were often used without the covers showing the dull metal.

The Osprey books on the ACW, especially the later titles, are quite good actually although they do usually concentrate on very specific small units. Still; standard equipment used is usually portrayed very well.

Cheers,
Rob

Quote from: Ace of Spades on 10 January 2018, 08:52:30 AM
To use re-enactors as a guideline is not always wise as I have seen many that are just in it for the fun and guns.

Yes, there is always that to bear in mind. Indeed, in one of the above movies (can't remember which one), I recall seeing in one scene portraying a particularly serious battle situation (might have been Union routing troops at Chancellorsville?), one of the re-enactors running past the camera with a broad grin on his face(!) ......  

You have bitten me and I have already changed the orange socks for whites. But the backpacks will not change because if I paint them black the figure will be too dark, it will be a small license to take me, apart from others that may suffer. I am a lover of osprey, but I can tell you that to paint something I sometimes spend more hours trying to find good models than painting. Even the plates are inaccurate at times, I remember when I painted the French blue cannons because I saw it and it turns out they were green as you told me. I try to be the most trustworthy possible but it is a task that is sometimes impossible or too titanic for me. So I am satisfied with reaching an accuracy of 80-90%.

You're right that with black packs and straps they do look dark, but thems the breaks! I undercoat black, but then dry brush lighter shades of brown up to a beige to reveal where the edges of the packs have become worn and scuffed, showing the canvas through. It looks great at the end. I don't know how you'd cope with painting the Brunswickers for Waterloo.