part 3 the guns

[jamesmanto]

part 3 of the continuing  coverage of my Anglo-Indian army. This blog entry is about the artillery, including some conversions.

http://rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com/2010/07/soldiers-of-queen-empress-part-3.html

Thanks for looking!
James

[Gluteus Maximus]

You certainly don't do things by halves! 

As with the rest, they are lovely models.  That's a fantastic army you have created 

[Furt]

A great stack of ordnance! Hope to see some of the enemy too.

[jamesmanto]

Well, I do sometimes wonder if I've lost a bit of perspective with this project. But the Mrs. thinks Colonials are far nicer to do than WW2 or Napoleonics and there's the whole crossover into Pulp and VSF too, so you get double or triple duty out of many figures.
Obviously, the screw guns see the most action. But I built the rest to give me some flexibility.
And thanks to Pasha Dan I got all the pieces from RAFM for less than a song.

James

[Major Weenie]

Very nice, and intimidatingly thorough,

1.) I have, as yet unpainted, a lovely Artizan screw gun.  It comes with a couple of crewmen, a 'deployed' gun, and 4 mules and a 'packed' gun.  But it looks substantially larger than the screw gun in your photos.  Any ideas why?  Oh, and it also has a splinter shield.

2.) And what color did you use to paint the gun carriages?  These seem to be a sort of light grey.  When I had a quick go round on the Internet a while back most of the images seemed to make the woodwork look pretty darned blue.  If I remember correctly from my school days, when I was painting Napoleonics, we always made the Royal Artillery carriages 'grey.'  As in medium grey paint, straight out of the bottle.

Any information will be gratefully accepted.
MW

[Plynkes]

Artizan make a screw gun? What range is that in? Can't find it on their site.

But it looks substantially larger than the screw gun in your photos.  Any ideas why? 

Probably isn't the same model. There was a succession of different mountain guns. The one on James' blog was replaced by the BL 10pdr, which itself was replaced by the 2.75" mountain gun. Both of those were used in WWI and the latter is much bigger than the Victorian-era screw gun. Perhaps your model comes from a WWI range?

[jamesmanto]

@Maj. Weenie: sounds like a nice kit. The splinter shield makes me think it is one of the guns Polynikes is suggesting and appropriate to WW1 or between the wars. I've definitely seen a gun with splinter shield from photos of the 30s era Indian army.

I do mine in a 'blue-grey'. So dark grey base and then a dry brush with a blue-grey over top. I think I ought to go greyer though.

[Plynkes]

The BL 10pdr had shields fitted as field mods,



...while the 2.75" came with them from the factory:



As I said, both are Great War era guns, rather than Victorian models. Brigade do a kit of the latter, so it could be the one that Major Weenie has, and he has mistaken where it came from. 

[Chairface]

Again lovely stuff James. I can't find most of the RAFM pieces on the website. Probably discontinued 

[jamesmanto]

For the ACW bits (scroll down to limbers, caisson, teams and the BLR): http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=ACW
(listed under RAFM Historicals American Civil War)

RAF06721 has the NWMP constable I used for the RHA drivers: http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=RR
(listed under their Riel Rebellion range)

RAF1824 for the gatling packed on the elephants (scroll waaay down): http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=S1889
(listed under the Space 1889 range)

James

[Major Weenie]

Yes,

Sounds eminently believable.  My gun, crew & 4 mules all came to me through what we at the TBC now derisively term "The Incredibly Complex Figure Deal."  Brigade Games sounds familiar, as does W.W.I line.  If I'm really industrious I'll take a photo of the gun, and perhaps a mule, tomorrow and we can settle this.

However, the last/latest photo is beginning to look about right to me.

[Chairface]

For the ACW bits (scroll down to limbers, caisson, teams and the BLR): http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=ACW
(listed under RAFM Historicals American Civil War)

RAF06721 has the NWMP constable I used for the RHA drivers: http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=RR
(listed under their Riel Rebellion range)

RAF1824 for the gatling packed on the elephants (scroll waaay down): http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=S1889
(listed under the Space 1889 range)

James

Thanks James! Weird that the Elephants are under Space 1889. Very affordable at $21.95! And there are Elephants in Indonesia....

[Major Weenie]

Well,

Looks to me as if I've got the 2.75"  So now the question is, "How should I paint it?"  The photo below has the gun with it's suspiciously blue undercoat, and a Copplestone Chinese officer (with umbrella) for scale.  Oh, and the really good news is that some time ago, as part of the Incredibly Complex Figure Deal, I received some French mountain guns. These were so small that I thought they were in the wrong scale, but the photos above seem to indicate that 'small is accurate. 

So, to recap;
1.) Photo below
2.) It's too 'blue' for actual colonial gun carriages, but is really a W.W.I carriage so should be... Tan?
3.) And what color should a late 19th century French mountain gun (37mm ?) be?  It's only recently that JC en France informed me that my old Napoleonic French artillery was 'too green.'  That the real French carriage color was 'bottle green' not 'Blue + Yellow = Green'.

And here's the photo

[Plynkes]

I don't know for sure (it's so damned inconvenient of them to go fighting their wars in black and white), but I think a sand colour would do for your mountain gun. Here is an image that seems to be from the 1930s (or from a film set in the 1930s), showing a similar gun painted that way:

[jamesmanto]

Nice gun! That's the shade of 'bluey-grey' I aim for with my 'earlier' ordonnance (gatlings and screw guns). For later ordonnance (maxims and BLRs) I paint the carriage khaki.

James