Painting Sudan Grey serge

This is a real tricky one to get right, partly because the reference material can vary quite a lot.

Here I have started to collect possible candidates for the invisible gray colour. I saw somewhere that British artillery gray from Foundry is a good paint for it. It is close but I think I've found a closer hue. 

Miniatures Paints Mid gray is a bluey gray and comes very close to ticking all the boxes. I know I could mix up a batch of paint but I like the idea of finding one straight from the pot for ease.

The black equipment gives this unit away as the Rifles. True to Napoleonic form, even their buttons are black rather than shiny brass.

Here we see a test of MP Mid gray for a base and a highlight of Foundry artillery gray 'b'.

You can see here just between these two illustrations, the colour varies quite a lot.

 I will continue to experiment until I crack the perfect paint for the job...stay tuned.

These other references are looking a good match for the Foundry British artillery colours.

UPDATE: 

I think I've cracked it! It took a little more searching around but I've come up with a combination that looks pretty close I think.

So...a base coat of Miniature Paints Mid Grey then a highlight of GW Administration Grey. Both are quite a blue grey and compliment eachother nicely. 

A wash of yellow ochre just helps to give a sand blasted look to the uniform. 

I will give the odd soldier a different colour jacket to show one that hasn't been so sun bleached. This will help break up the regiment.

As the Rifles have black equipment, it made sense to undercoat them in this colour. This was then painted around using the mid grey base paint.

Working out the secret code of the invisible grey.

The Perry book was pulled out to check colours. I have decided to use this rather than the osprey books, as my primary source for reference.

Here are the two chosen colours.

Now I have these worked out I can crack through the regiments and not worry about mixing up batches of paint.

Woodland scenics Yellow ochre, watered down, is great for creating a sand wash to weather the uniforms. It's very subtle if watered right down and looks good on the grey.