French Horizon Blue - Help !

[Sunray]

Right - I have some WW1 late French in the "to paint" box for far too long. 

Not my period or my usual colours  What does the forum recommend to get  the shades of distinct Horizon Blue at 10mm ?

[fred.]

I like the Vallejo colour it's either called horizon blue or mirage blue. It's a good blue/grey. I often use it for a basic clothing colour for medievals as well.

[Leman]

Have a look at the Lurkio blog. He is currently putting together a French WWI army and has taken a very interesting approach to horizon blue, i.e. don't attempt to go for authentic horizon blue or your tiny figures will just look like a blurred mess - and he's doing it in 15mm! Instead, his approach is to aim for the look of French cartoons so that the figures stand out on the table. I know this sounds odd but if you look at his blog you'll see what he's getting at.

[Sunray]

Many thanks for the prompt response.   The Lurkio blog is the log of an artist at work .   

I am a fan of Vallejo so may spray a matt grey primer and wash with the acrylic mirage and see what they look like. 

[Ace of Spades]

Hi Sunray,

I'm an enamel man myself and use Humbrol paints. I'm at work now so can't really check the numbers but for a basecoat I use number 87 (I believe it is) which is a blue/greyish colour and comes close to some faded original fabric I have. (Even though there were of course a lot of different shades available!). I paint every third greatcoat or pair of trousers in a more blueish shade afterwards to get some diversity. Helmets and gasmask tins are in RAF blue. You see them painted in Bleu Horizon too but as far as I know that's wrong; all helmets I have that have some original paint on them clearly are much darker than Bleu Horizon and even come closer to oxford blue.
Still I try to keep slightly on the lighter side with my colours; partly because it suits the scale better and also because washes and quickshade tend to darken the whole anyway. Good thing about the 'medium' quickshade is that it gives the figures a dirty, worn look. I like it but then again; who am I...
You could check out my pictures in the WW-1 section ('My WW-1 project 1918') but I have to admit the colours, especially the Bleu Horizon, don't really show that well...

Cheers,
Rob

[DanJ]

Hi,

I couldn't find a shade of blue I was happy with so generally ended up mixing my own from Vallejo Sky Blue and black wash, the a final wash of light brown over the whole lot.

I always use white primer for all my 10mm figures as I find black primer makes the figures to dark.

[Ace of Spades]

Nice work!
En avant!

Rob

[Techno]

Those look really spiffy, Dan ! 
Cheers - Phil

[DanJ]

Thanks, here's a close up, the colour might be a bit light but against a dark green/brown table they look quite good and in 10mm I prefer the figures to be slightly on the pale side.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Top work Dan! 

[Techno]

Again.....

They look particularly spiffy !
Cheers - Phil

[Ace of Spades]

Always nice to see some French; especially on a day like this...
The guys running at 'trail arms' (with the rifle to their side) appear to be wearing a chechia ('fez')? Could you tell me from what set they are...?

Cheers!
Rob

[DanJ]

They came in an WW1 French Army Pack, but I'm pretty sure they are the F13 Tirailleurs Senegalese infantry.  I didn't want separate Senegalese units so just mixed them in with the main infantry and hoped no one would notice 

[Ace of Spades]

Thanks Dan!

They probably are Senegalese then. Looking forward to doing a company of those in the future but I'll have to mix in the regular infantry too to get the special weapons they need (Chauchat,s HMG's etc) so I guess they'll end up in a mix of paletot jackets and greatcoats and helmets and chehchia's. Ah well; could be nice too... mustard coloured uniforms with yellow facings, madder red chechia's; the odd blue helmet still in service with the majority in mustard... yes; I think I should do that!

Cheers,
Rob

[Sunray]

Hi,

I couldn't find a shade of blue I was happy with so generally ended up mixing my own from Vallejo Sky Blue and black wash, the a final wash of light brown over the whole lot.

I always use white primer for all my 10mm figures as I find black primer makes the figures to dark.

Thanks for taking the trouble to share this image Dan.

It might have just solved a post war uniform shade I was looking for.  I have some Commando type figures I wanted to paint up as RAF/civil defence  types - something with a 2/30 AP .  The shade you have achieved with do nicely.