More Foreign Legion

Ed's second French unit is Foreign Legion in their blue overcoats (FR-9). The trousers are the usual white painted in light gray with some white highlights. The kepis, like the other FFL unit, are bright white.

The capote is dark blue. There was a fairly pointless discussion online recently about exactly which shade of blue they were: the main point is, they were the same as the rest of the French infantry of the time. But likely faded by the desert sun and full of desert sand. So your choice, really, as to what you make them look like. I undercoat the central part of the figure with a dark blue, then mix it with a bit of white to create highlights.

So far, the figures don't take long to paint. What really takes the time is all that equipment the Europeans are carrying. Jeez, hadn't they heard of traveling light? Guess not.

I painted the blue waist sash a bit brighter than it should be so that it will show up nicely over the dark blue capote. The haversack is off-white; I used a light tan. Much of the equipment is black--like the pack and the ammunition boxes--and some of the rest is gunmetal gray and I undercoat that black, too.

For speed, the sequence goes something like this: the tan haversack, gray blanket roll (around the pack), black just about everywhere else. The rifle somewhere in there is painted overall brown. I don't try to paint all the black with the same brush: I find it's simpler to paint all the things that require the same size brush at the same time. When all the black is done, I go over all the gunmetal gray parts--the rifle barrel, mess tin and canteen. Silver on the bayonet and brass belt buckle up front and you're just about done. One really nice touch is drybrushing a little dark gray over the black parts like the ammo boxes to highlight the edges, straps and such.

The hands were painted dark brown along with the rifle (right?). Now is the time to drybrush the flesh tone over it. That brown is a little different than the undercoat used on the face but no one will ever notice. And it's a good speedy shortcut.

There are 21 figures in this unit because there are 3 x 6 privates, a bugler, fanion corporal and officer/NCO. The officer I save to paint with the officer from the other FFL unit since their uniforms are the same. The bugler and corporal I paint along with the privates but I don't do the flag or bugle. I could but I'm going to save all the command figures to finish up as a group.

I'm getting close to the end and I'm all about speed right now.