Uniform Colour - What ever floats your boat

[dabhand]

Every now and again, I like to finish a collection of figures.  Sometimes Airfix, sometimes not!  I am taken with the extent to which YouTube videos appear to influence colours, particularly for 'whole forces'.

 

I am conscious of just how great a variation in unifotm colour can be, especially where the basic uniform is a died cotton eg Japanese WWII or North Korean (of the 1950/53 war),

 

Thinking of the Korean War, the North Korean land forces are said, by a major source) to have worn a khaki-greenish uniform that rapidly faded to a 'light yellow'.  Having seen the uniform displayed in the Imperial War Museum, it appears a khaki-grey but may very well be 'as issued' and not subjected to harh sunlight. 

 

 

I know that the bright Korean sun bleached this to what has been termed a 'light yellow', and have noted how this has become the default colour quoted for painting small scale models of north Korean troops.

As most troops would have been issued with the 'khaki-greenish' uniform to start, then wouldn't this be the predominant colour to have featured in the field,  accepting that some troops may well have displayed a more faded (yellowish-mustard) appearance?  And where unit casualties were made good 'in the field' wouldn't uniforms within unit have varied fairly significantly at any one time?

 

I occassionally complete units of Japanese fighting men, and introduce a slight variation in uniform colour to reflect the difference between 'old sweats' and recently joined soldiers.

 

I invite comment as to what colour to depect North Korean units in around the summer periods where cotton based uniforms would have been worn.

 

 

 

[MisterE]

I know nothing about this specific subject but can throw in a couple of sweeping generalisations to consider.

 

You're absolutely correct in that unit colours would show a degree of variation between those which have been worn for some time, and those issued to new recruits, or troops rotating through resupply depots. If the units are for your personal collection, then as much variation as possible would look really attractive, and make the units more interesting to paint!  I do kind of pity the Napoleonic wargamer, sitting down to a block of 50 French infantry and thinking "ho hum...blue again..."

 

However, if painting for competition, I think you would need some way of showing this narrative to avoid viewers/judges just thinking you were being inconsistent with your mixes!

 

The other thing which strikes me is the way in which the sun would bleach the fabric, or more properly the direction.  Perhaps think about the areas of the uniform which would be more exposed to the sun's rays, and those which would be more sheltered. I'm not sure which scale you work in, but this would be more of a consideration for larger scale miniatures.

 

The final thought from me is that you could have the odd garment on an 'old sweat' which looks new, as perhaps those trousers have been patched one time too many and he managed to scrounge/steal/win-in-a-game-of-dice/be-reissued-with (the most unlikely prospect of all!) a new pair.

 

Look forward to seeing the results!

[Ratch]

Likewise, Korean War is outside my sphere of interest. I mainly paint Napoleonics. I always vary the colours. Over the years I have read quite a lot on the subject. At the time, colours were not as fast as we have today and there might be several shades on one bolt of cloth. Reds faded to pink and brick red. Greens to black and brown and blues varied enormously too. Under harsh conditions I suspect that uniforms in Korea would vary a lot too. Don't be afraid to experiment.