British jerkin

[Arshak]

Some time ago I got some Brits, and I am thinking to cloth some of them for colder climates (would like to game Anzio one day).
So I added a leather jerkin with milliput, as you see here



Now, my question is: what colour (Vallejo etc...) would you reccomend for the jerkin?
Thought to ask here rather than going around on the internet comparing images… thanks in advance

[Alanmccoubrey]

I remember them(lots of men wore them in the 50s and 60s) as being a chestnut colour which faded.

[Fitz]

We were still being issued with them when I did my NZ infantry basic training in '79, mainly (I think) to mark us out as new recruits and therefore the lowest of the low. They were a great range of colours, from chocolate brown right through to a reddish tan. It's quite likely, considering how hard-wearing they were, that they were ex-WWII stock — I don't remember ever seeing a new one.

[Tony Barton]

Any of these Vallejo colours would be right:~
70981 Orange Brown
70940 Saddle Brown
70818 Red leather

And darkened shades of those. down to a Dark Umber. They were mass produced from sheepskin , mostly in the Clarks factory at Street, in Somerset.
The colour varied a lot, so don't worry too much.

[Arshak]

thanks a lot to all, I wasn't sure if the variation in colour visible in photos on the net was found even on the original item, but it seems to be the case.
So now I can paint some in darker chestnut colour and some more orangey, although I'll probably just throw in a few ones to be mixed with basic uniform, perhaps adding here and there some gloves or scarf, as well as some greatcoats, just to picture the variety of frontline troops...
in any case thanks again

[Bluewillow]

I used saddle brown on my chaps