which shade of paint?

[dtb]

suggestions please for flesh paint and driver's / fireman's overalls etc
could obviously look on the internet, however would be great to hear others opinions

thanks

[LC&DR]

Flesh is not an easy shade to get 100% right. Not least because people all have different skin tones and colours. Most paint manufacturers make paint described as flesh, but this tends to be a light pink, with a hint of yellow, which may not be right for, say, a manual worker, with a layer of soot or oil on their cheeks, or a fireman who has been busy shovelling coal on to a locomotive fire.

You are probably best to put a base flesh colour on exposed parts and then when it is dry, dry brush other colours on areas like cheeks, neck, and hands to indicate a layer of dirt, but be careful, don't over do it.

Overalls also come in many colours but navy blue or a dark blue colour are probably best for locomen. However older sets of overalls fade and get lighter, but also collect oil, dirt and dust, especially on the backside and knees.

Electric and diesel drivers sometimes wore different colours green being quite popular.

It is certainly a topic that allows you to be creative.

[RogerB]

If you are in OO gauge, then to be honest it will make very little difference. As long as you are near a skin tone no-one will be able to say it is wrong. The area painted is so small. These are mine. I can’t remember what I used, but it gives a good impression of skin colour. R-

[Steve M]

No surprise that I use Vallejo acrylics for my figures. They do at least three different flesh shades!
For overalls, I use a ‘wet palette’ with a few drops of various blues and purples, black and white, mixing slightly different shades as I go along - they will end up with different shades for jackets and trousers.
Always start with faces and hands, then shirts and caps, finishing off with trousers and jackets - it’s much easier than trying to ‘cut in’ the faces and shirts later.
Finally a dry brush of grey/off-white to pick up the highlights on the clothes. A dark wash can also be applied for shadows and grime on faces and hands.

20191009_185140 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[dtb]

Thanks for some great tips, exactly what I needed.

I have a few of the black Hornby figures sitting around, the one's they used to supply in the detail packs, at the moment I gave then a grey primer coat so can build on from that.

[Steve M]

A word of caution regarding primers. Grey is usually a good all-rounder but can be too ‘strong’ for some lighter shades. Surprisingly, red can be a difficult colour for coverage as well.
This photo shows some test pieces I did earlier this year - yellow over grey and white primer. Not difficult to see which is which.
I find I am using white primer more than grey these days.

20200310_134913 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Bandit Mick]

Very nicely painted Steve.