British Scarlet

Humbrol Authentic Colour MC1 »British Scarlet«, the desaturated orange-red coat colour of British Napoleonic infantry and cavalry, compared to a second, noticeably darker variant of Humbrol MC1 »British Scarlet« in our paint collection, and our own »British Scarlet« mixture of three parts PRIMAcryl 13.318 »Vermilion Red«, three parts 13.210 »Vanadium Yellow deep«, and 0.1 part 13.431 »Indigo«.

Humbrol Authentic Colours are no longer available. Even more importantly, enamel paint is the wrong medium for painting soft plastic figures, because it dries to a hard surfaced finish; it breaks and chips off if the painted surface is bent. Instead, we mix our own »British Scarlet« from artists‘ acrylic paint, which adheres well and stays flexible. See our tutorial “How to Mix Historic Colours: British Scarlet”.

Humbrol Authentic Colour MC1 »British Scarlet« has been replaced by Humbrol 178 »British Scarlet«. PRIMAcryl 13.317 »Cadmium Red light«, 13.320 »Cadmium Red medium« and 13.321 »Carmine«, or Vallejo Model Color 70.817 »Scarlet RLM 23« and 70.957 »Tomato Red RAL 3013« are good alternatives.

Scarlet