FPW Prussian Artillery

[archiduque]

Hi all!! I’ve painted the new Prussian Artillery from the Franco-Prussian War range for Perry Miniatures  . Painted with AK Interactive 3rd Generation paints. Tufts from Tajima1. I hope you like them !!! 








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Saludos
Rafa

[John Boadle]

The gunner figures are accurately and very nicely painted, Rafa, but something has gone a bit wrong with the colour of the guns, I'm afraid. When I sculpted the masters for these pieces, I was conscious that wargamers would have difficulty working out what colours to paint what parts, and hoped that the painted examples which would doubtless end up on the Perry website/ FB page would serve as an example. So I sent in a description of what parts should be what colour, hoping that would be passed on to you or whoever was painting them. I guess that didn't fully work out.

In the case of Prussian artillery, the woodwork was a strong mid-blue, similar to the highlights on the gunners' coats here. The only parts that were of wood were the trail, the wheels and the handgrip of the traversing handle. Almost every other part of the gun was iron or steel painted solid black. That includes the whole seat arrangement, the axles, the traversing handle and the trail chest. Of course this paint would soon get scratched off the wheel tyres and other heavily worn parts.

The gun barrels were steel, but "browned" by a chemical process to protect against rust. The result was they looked to be dark brown. The parts which open the breech on both sides were bare steel.

[archiduque]

The gunner figures are accurately and very nicely painted, Rafa, but something has gone a bit wrong with the colour of the guns, I'm afraid. When I sculpted the masters for these pieces, I was conscious that wargamers would have difficulty working out what colours to paint what parts, and hoped that the painted examples which would doubtless end up on the Perry website/ FB page would serve as an example. So I sent in a description of what parts should be what colour, hoping that would be passed on to you or whoever was painting them. I guess that didn't fully work out.

In the case of Prussian artillery, the woodwork was a strong mid-blue, similar to the highlights on the gunners' coats here. The only parts that were of wood were the trail, the wheels and the handgrip of the traversing handle. Almost every other part of the gun was iron or steel painted solid black. That includes the whole seat arrangement, the axles, the traversing handle and the trail chest. Of course this paint would soon get scratched off the wheel tyres and other heavily worn parts.

The gun barrels were steel, but "browned" by a chemical process to protect against rust. The result was they looked to be dark brown. The parts which open the breech on both sides were bare steel.

And the gun barrels are painted exactly the same as you say.
Btw,excellent guns John!!!

[John Boadle]

I'm glad you liked the gun masters, Rafa, thankyou! I can totally see where you've got your colour choices from, but this illustration from after 1870 isn't altogether reliable. The artist is just trying to show that the guns were a lighter shade of blue than the gunners' coats, which is true, only to a lesser degree than he represents. He makes the gunners' tunics a black-grey-blue, which we know is darker and duller than the reality. And in the same way he makes the guns paler than they really were. But here's a detailed, contemporary, scale model from the Prussian arsenal ( the piece is a 6-pounder, Model 1861, still used in the FPW):

There are a couple of surviving examples of actual Model 1867 4-pounders, notable in the museum at Rastatt. They are somewhat brighter in colour than the arsenal model, but the paintwork is unlikely to be original:

We can't rule out the possibility that some units painted their guns lighter and some darker. Units did mix their own paint in those days, and the regulations perhaps called for "cornflower blue", or "a good blue colour", rather than laying down precise proportions of ingredients to produce a consistent shade.

[John Boadle]

My brain seems to have turned to mush. I tried to post two images as part of that last message, but they haven't come out. How are we supposed to post an image as part of a message?

[fred]

My brain seems to have turned to mush. I tried to post two images as part of that last message, but they haven't come out. How are we supposed to post an image as part of a message?

You don’t post the image directly. You post a link to the image. So if the images are on another website, right click on the image, select copy link, return here, click the little image button above the edit box, then paste between the img tags that have appeared (you can normally just do ctrl-V at this point as the cursor will be in the right place).

[vtsaogames]

Must repaint my Prussian guns with brown barrels!

[John Boadle]

Thanks, Fred, that's helpful! But the images I had were saved on my PC many months ago. I have just spent some time trying to find them in their original home on the web, but no luck. Is there a way I can post them on here from images saved on my PC?

[tom_aargau]

I think you can upload them as an attachment. The options for that are under the text field when you reply.
Hope this helps.

[John Boadle]

Thanks, Fred. Will try again. There should be two images of Prussian guns attached to this post.