Painting help - German 75mm Krupp Mtn Gun

[JBaumal]

I’m painting up a German WWI / Colonial Seebattalion Gun Crew and 75mm Mountain Gun. I’m having trouble locating good resources for painting the gun model. I’m using the excellent artillery piece model from Askari Minis and the Tiger Miniatures gun crew. I plan to use the gun and crew for colonial games through early WWI Africa scenarios. For those in the know, did the carriage colors change from 1895 to early WWI? I know some of these guns were confiscated during the Boxer Rebellion, some used in the Herero Revolt, and some used in early WWI East Africa as well as other places and by other countries. I’m actually trying to finish it up shortly as an entry in the 12th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.



Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

[Golgotha]

Not sure if any of this will help but at least may be of some interest…

I seem to recall the Johannesburg museum having some Krupp artillery captured in German South West Africa during the First World War see for example this excellent article on these http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol032dh.html

See German guns in South Africa https://saartillery.wordpress.com/archives/anglo-boer-war/german-guns-of-world-war-i-in-south-africa/

I have also seen the Leichte Feldkanone C73 in Windhoek, South West Africa, now called Namibia, see: http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/hist%20artillery.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.5_cm_GebirgsKanone_13 article does have a colour picture of a surviving gun, but this will likely not help.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LHM-7,7-cm-Feldkanone-96-nA-2.jpg 7,7-cm-Feldkanone-96 this is in grey but attached to a green carriage?

Had thought that looking at other German artillery of around the period would illicit a better answer... Do like your piece - what made you choose the colour it is and should you not do the carriage to then match?

This may also be of help http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/militaria/mountaingun.htm it does say the following of the guns in South West Africa " It is thought that they were originally painted in a sand colour when delivered to the Schutztruppen, but most now sport other colour schemes." Limbers must have been the same?

By the way I love your blog...

[JBaumal]

Golgotha, thank you! Those are some great resources! I fell asleep while reading them last night, LOL. I’ve seen the German Colonial site before, very detailed. Though as you say no definitive carriage and barrel colors. The only painted miniature reference I’ve found was the 1898 Miniatures of the gun in Spanish use during the SAW.   



Thanks again, I will keep searching.

[Golgotha]

I emailed the chap from the German colonial uniforms website and he kindly responded with the following (see especially the link he gives as it does have some great photos):

"It's a good question and one that I can't really be sure of. All the guns we see in modern collections and on display have most likely been repainted at some time.
On my trip to Namibia in 2019, I photographed a few guns, the C73 in sand colour were I'm guessing repainted.
http://germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/militaria/namibia%202019.htm
Lower down the page there a 7.2 cm Gebirgskanone L/14 M98, which looks similar to the model on the LeadAdventure Forum. As you can see it's in bad shape but maybe hasn't been repainted. It seems to once perhaps have had a red-brown undercoat and then a pale-grey green coat.
Maybe it was field grey, similar to the Erhardt Gun page but faded in the sun? I can't be 100% certain but feel free to share that guess and my photos on your forum."

[armchairgeneral]

This article might be useful?

http://landships.info/landships/artillery_articles.html#

The Landships website is a useful source for all things WW1. Also check out their forum

https://landships.activeboard.com/

[JBaumal]

Chris, I really appreciate your help, the links, and taking the time to assist!
I was leaning towards the olive grey green color until reading some notes Roy Jones sent me regarding the German artillery in the colonies. Apparently most of the artillery was sand colored. Since I plan to use it for the Seebattalion in the Boxer Rebellion and the Schutztruppen in Africa I will paint the mountain Gun sand and the barrel brass. The guns with shields however will be all sand colored.

From Roy Jones
Reasons for the corrections:
(1)  I neglected to read the following sentence in the description in German Colonial Uniforms:

"It is thought that they were originally painted in a sand colour when delivered to the Schutztruppen".

For the Mtn gun without the shield:

So, I would suggest option (a) - paint the barrel and breech brass-colored, and everything else sand-colored – for maximum flexibility of use.

[JBaumal]

Patrick, that’s a great resource I’ve long forgotten about. Thank you for taking the time to reply and help out an old friend. I have bookmarked it and plan to crack a cold one and dive in. I’ve checked the artillery notes and they are incredibly detailed. Thank you.

[italwars]

Hello
A little bit late in answering to this post but, in my opinion, you should paint your colonial German artillery up to WW1 in blue grey which is the classical colour of late 19c. artillery and, indeed, more iconic than the usual kaki or sand …the German artist Becker is usually sufficiently reliable as concern uniforms and battle scenes ..and the third  plate depicts a piece very similar if not identical to your toy

[Golgotha]

Italwars - it is never too late to have information on German colonial artillery. Agree that most would be blue-grey thinking of the colonial and even WWI examples I have seen.  Lovely images.