Post
by Rob Herrick » Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:27 am
Theoretically, British blues were darker, with the blue used on royal regiments and light cavalry supposed to be almost black.
With that said, it all depends on the cloth they got from the contractor, how well the dyes held up, how recently the unit had been equipped and how hard weather and service had been seen by the men since their last issue. Also, generally officers (especially British) would have better quality uniforms, which means better quality cloth that MIGHT take the dye job better. Guards and some units with rich colonels MIGHT fit that as well.
With that said, both the French and the British were scratch forces. Some of the British light dragoons were apparently wearing the old pattern hussar jackets, or maybe it was just their officers. I've seen both. The French were uniformed with pretty much whatever was available.
I've seen all kinds of shades used for both the French and the British blue, from very dark almost black to not quite cornflower. You can't really go too far wrong with any shade in there.
I usually do a Dark Prussian Blue shade, Imperial Blue middle, and Prussian Blue highlight for most of my blues. If you like darker, then you can always do black or a 50:50 black/dark prussian blue for the shade and work up from there.
Basically, I advise figuring out a blue palette YOU like the looks of. As long as it's not sky blue, you're on a firm historical basis.