Some of this I talked about in my post almost two weeks ago; WWI USMC Weekend Work New Uniform Color. So there is some repeat information here.
The US Marines made up only a small portion of the AEF that
deployed to Europe in 1917. The 5th and 6th Marine
regiments along with the 6th MG Battalion made up the 4th
Brigade of the US 2nd Division. The Marines entered the fray in their P1912/1917
“Forest Green” uniforms. These are very similar to the US Army uniform from the period differing primarily in the style of the pockets and of course the buttons all had the EGA symbol on them. Pershing refused to allow Marine replacement uniforms to
complicate the already difficult logistics situation so the Marines were issued with US Army uniforms
when they needed new ones (and not necessarily the whole uniform, sometimes just the pants sometimes just the shirt). He actually ordered the Marines to completely switch to the US Army uniform but based on the accounts I have read I don't think this actually happened. Essentially veteran Marines ended up completely clothed in Army uniforms by the end of the war. However, Marine replacements continued to be
sent over in their Forest Green uniforms creating a very rag tag look to the
Marine regiments.
One of the objections that Pershing and the US Army had to
the Marine uniform was how similar in color it was to the German Feldgrau
uniform. My first attempt to represent this was with Vallejo Olive Grey and Feldgrau,
mixed at 1:1 for the base coat then highlighting and shading from there. This
gives a reasonable representation and in reality there probably were Marine
uniforms close to this color. Quality control is not high on the list at this
time and there was a fairly wide variation in uniform colors. But I really
wanted a color a lot closer to the way the uniform is described. Kristopher
Battles, a US Marine combat illustrator had taken a number of color pictures of
Marines wearing WWI uniforms for some sketches he wanted to do and these were
published on his blog. One of the two uniforms featured is pretty much spot on
to the color I wanted to use.
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| I'm going for the uniform on the right, but with the helmet color on the left. The uniform on the left looks very brown, but in some of the photos in the fields it looks very green. |
I experimented with some color mixing on my own but I couldn't quite get what I was looking for. I reached out to my friend Anne Foerster and
asked if she was willing to take up the challenge. Getting a yes answer I sent
over the pictures and she responded in less than 15 minutes with a series of
colors to try. Being head of the Reaper paint department these were, of course,
Reaper paints and since I had them in hand I gave it a try. She pretty much
knocked it out of the park on the first try. There are two variations both of
which occur in the shade coloring. At this point I can't really tell the
difference although when the light is right Uniform 1 does appear a bit more brown. Here is
what I’m working with:
P1912/1917
Uniform, Variant 1 P1912/1917
Uniform, Variant 2
Reaper MSP
9064 Brown Liner Reaper
MSP 9065 Grey Liner
Reaper MSP
9082 Jungle Moss Reaper
MSP 9082 Jungle Moss
Reaper HD
29834 Field Grey Reaper
HD 29834 Field Grey
Reaper MSP
9090 Misty Grey Reaper
MSP 9090 Misty Grey
I usually work from my shade color up. For Variant 1 I mix
the Brown Liner 1:1 with the Jungle Moss, this gives the shadows a browner
look. For Variant 2 I substitute the Brown Liner for the Grey Liner, this gives
a blacker shadow. Seriously use what ever you have on hand the difference is not great enough to see unless the light is right and you know what you are looking for. If I was going to pick one to work with all the
time I would go with Variant 1 primarily based on the various pictures of
Marine uniforms that I can find on the web. Most of these uniforms tend to have
a bit of a brown cast to them. I do like the new variants better they come a lot closer to looking like our right hand uniform.
Here are the variants
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| There are four uniform color variations here. The difference is a bit more apparent here Uniform 2 does seem to be a bit darker than Uniform 1 in the group photo. From left to right; 2012 Vallejo Version, 2014 Vallejo Version, Variant 1, Variant 2, Variant 2 in mixed uniform. |
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| The is the original done in 2012. I used the Vallejo Olive Grey and Field Grey as my base coat. These I worked up and down rather than from my more usual working from dark up. |
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| This is one I did when I decided to post on the LAF for the Great War Paint Club. Its still Vallejo Olive Grey and Field Grey but its a bit greener. I used Vallejo Olive Drab as my shade color |
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| Here is our Uniform Variation 1 using Brown Liner and Jungle Moss as the shade and working up. |
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| Here is Uniform Variation 2 using Grey Liner and Jungle Moss as the shade and working up. |
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| This is a mixed uniform but uses the Uniform 2 base. |
My steps are
as follows:
Step 1 Brown Liner 1:1 w/ Jungle Moss
Step 2 Jungle Moss
Step 3 Jungle Moss 1:1 w/ Field Grey
Step 4 Field Grey
Step 5 Field Grey w/ Misty Grey as desired for
highlighting. I have found that a 1:1 with these two is about the highest
highlight you should use. A little Misty Grey goes a long way!
Belts and
such can be various shades of drab and khaki as desired to suit you, some of
the belts I have seen have quite a bit of green in them so really if you have a
combination you like I would continue to use it
My Skin
tones tend to go through a lot of changes but I’m quite happy with the current
one:
Step 1 Reaper HD 29821 Sunburn
Step 2 Reaper MSP 9259 Bronze Shadow
Step 3 Reaper MSP 9260 Bronze Skin
Step 4 Reaper MSP 9261 Bronze Highlight
Those are
quick and dirty steps and quite frequently I use 1:1 mixes between the
different colors as I work my way up from the shadow to the highlight. To ease
transitions I will glaze things back with Sunburn. Although for a dirtier look
I have used Reaper HD 29849 Umber Brown (and this color is not yet released, it
is part of the Reaper BONES II Kickstarter, sold my soul for this one) as a
glaze instead.
I have also
found the FOW Brown Shade 200 (this is a re-branded Vallejo product, it might
be one of their washes) to be quite useful for a quick wash across anything
that would benefit from a little depth, in particular anything done in the drab
US Army colors.
But for
those of you who want to know everything these are the colors I’m using for the
various bits (I don’t necessarily stick to this all the time, variation is a
good thing):
Belts,
pouches, backpacks and dusters
Vallejo
Green Brown (879/114) or US Field Drab
FOW Brown
Shade 200
Reaper MSP
Green Ochre 9128 + a bit of whatever I used as my shade
Now to get
some variation so everything doesn’t blend together to much this where things
deviate
Dusters
Reaper MSP
Green Ochre 9128 2:1 Reaper MSP Faded Khaki 9129
Belts,
pouches and backpacks.
Reaper MSP
Tanned leather 9031
Reaper MSP
Tanned leather 9031 1:1 with Reaper MSP Khaki Highlight 9123
Putees
Reaper MSP
Uniform Brown 9127
FOW Brown
Shade 200
Vallejo Green
Brown (879/114) + a bit of Reaper HD Field Green 29834
Boots
Reaper MSP
Muddy Soil 9244
Reaper MSP
Basic Dirt 9245
FOW Brown
Shade 200
Reaper MSP
Brown Sand
Rifle
Reaper MSP
Harvest Brown 9200 + a bit of Reaper MSP Ruddy Leather 9109
FOW Brown
Shade 200
Reaper MSP
Harvest Brown 9200
Helmet Strap
Reaper MSP
Ruddy Leather 9109
Helmet
Reaper MSP
Jungle Moss 9082
FOW Brown
Shade 200
Reaper HD
Field Green 29834 2:1 Reaper MSP Jungle Moss 9082
Glaze with
Vallejo Olive Drab 889/
I think that’s
it!
