The Christmas Brigades - Base Coats

Once the undercoat is dry I continue with the next step and that is to cover the main large areas of colour. In this case my regular Union Regiments get Sky Blue trousers.

This can be applied fairly quickly with a large-ish brush as it goes nowhere near the face or hands and it doesn't matter if it overflows a bit onto the boots or the jacket. They will be overpainted later in a darker colour.

 

This is where I start adding any fine detail (as far as fine detail and the 'toy' soldier style goes) and in this case it is a thin dark blue stripe down the trouser leg. My understanding is that regular infantry get a dark blue stripe, cavalry get yellow, artillery get red and militia get white.

This unit is destined to be Berdans Sharpshooters so they get both trousers and jacket in dark green with no trouser stripe. Again this only has to be tidy around the neckline and around the hands on the rifled musket. It won't matter if the backpack gets covered, it will be overpainted later.

A family crisis has interrupted this painting session so the blue coats will have to wait until next time.