Austrian Revolutionary period Uniforms
Hey Guys, I'm working on some of the Eureka Revolutionary era Austrians at the moment and have run into a snag. I've chosen to paint them up as IR18 Stuart. By my reckoning, the facing colour is pompadour, and the regiment has silver buttons. The silver buttons are what has thrown me. I'm assuming that the plate on the Kaskett remains gold, but what about the field officers lace cuff and collar distinctions, as well as the bicorne and shabaraque trim. Would these stay as gold or would they be silver. From what Dave was saying in an older post, Officers jackets were white with no coloured turnbacks. He doesn't mention the collar and cuffs. Would these have been white, or facing coloured? He also says that the ‘waistcoat' was facing coloured. I'm assuming that the waistcoat is the coat over which the sword belt is fastened, which is visible under the coat at the front. Is this correct?

They are very nice figures from what I have seen on the Net, except that the NCOs did not have the curls from the late 1780s. However, that is minor and they rightly show the NCO tunic open below the third button (officers only did that on parade). The buttons for the men were white metal, rather than silver, but as you say with pompadour facings. The man's Kaskett plate was brass, but the NCos was gilt and the Kaskett had a silver line round the edge (probably white lace in reality). Officers wore a plain tricorne, although they did wear Kasketts with gold plates in the Turkish wars. This was abolished in 1791, but may well have continued. the Staff officers' waistcoat was edged in 5.9cm gold or silver, depending on the button colour. The biocorn was not edged. The schabraques were not really regulsted until 1798, but it seems that the infantry officers used the cavalry form - narrow gold edging and broader inner gold or silver stripe, with a double broad stripe for the senior officers. The lace distinctions remained gold, except on the waistcoat as above. Pre-98, the officers wore a Frock coat with a square bottom corner, so no facing colour except on the cuffs and flat collar. The waistcoat was in the facing colour and the sword belt worn over it, as the the Feldbinde was not worn until 98. In the Turkish Wars, officers wore a Kaputrock (hooded, monk's style cloak) in the same "pepper and salt"colour as the men's, but that was cancelled supposedly in 1791. They probably contionue dtow ear it as in 98, the design does not chnage much, just the colour to a greysih hechtgrau. The Hungarian officers all wore a light blue waistcoat and their cuff decorationw as gold or silver depending in the button colour.

Incidentally officers wore gold or silver loops onn their trousers too.

Thanks Dave, that's just the info i've been looking for. Cheers, Ben