And so to the second instalment of the Prussian heavy guns. This time it's the 1st and 2nd Heavy Batteries of the 1st Field Division, 7th Field Artillery Regiment attached to the Fourteenth Infantry Division.
Lovely work Mark. If you are pouring them out at this pace prior to retirement, I wonder what your output will be like in a year's time? Beautiful stuff.
Thanks Lawrence. Just finished the last of the six guns tonight. The FPW and the Ottomans armies will be my last big projects. Next year will see a dramatic drop off in purchases and production as a result. Only 357 days to retirement now...
Hi Mark. Love your blog. A question for these Prussian guns - I assume they are representing C61 6 pdr.s with the Warendorf breech. I can see you have painted them bronze, and some seem to exitst in that metal, but were they not steel (black) in 1870 - asking out of respect for your knowledge - not to be a smartass .-)
Excellent question. The barrels are indeed steel, but they were chemically corroded at manufacture and linseed oil rubbed into them to protect them from further corrosion. So I have painted them in burnt sienna to represent this. All other fittings are painted black.
Really interesting, I had no idea. I just asumed they were painted black like ACW steel barrels. Do you know of any pictures of surviving pieces or replicas showing this practice?
I don't have any colour images, but when I first read this I was doubtful so I asked an expert who replied: "Yes, the gun barrels were chemically rusted as a protection from damp. This was then smoothed off and linseed oil regularly rubbed in. I have never seen a decent image of how this actually looked, but it was evidently a dark brown of some sort, with a little bit of a sheen to it, so neither high gloss nor matt...The woodwork was a deep mid-blue, or cornflower blue at the lightest, but the only woodwork in evidence is the trails, the wheels and the handgrip of the traversing handle. Everything else was black-painted ironwork, including the whole of the seats."
Thx a lot - that is mindblowing, when something you believe firmly to be one way turns out to be completely different. I have som 3000 Bacus FPW, where all the prussian guns are black barreled. I am contemplating redoing the whole collection with Turners new FPW range - selling of the Bacus - this time they will get the right color!!!!!!
I wouldn't worry too much. My armies are riddled with minor errors...the Crimean Russian flags are wrong, in my first FPW armies (in the '80s) the Prussians all had dark blue trousers instead of grey and the guns all had bright steel barrels...
Lovely work Mark. If you are pouring them out at this pace prior to retirement, I wonder what your output will be like in a year's time? Beautiful stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence. Just finished the last of the six guns tonight. The FPW and the Ottomans armies will be my last big projects. Next year will see a dramatic drop off in purchases and production as a result. Only 357 days to retirement now...
DeleteVery nice, they look like they mean business!
ReplyDeleteThanks.They sure do and all 16 batteries completed.
DeleteThey are really looking good! I'm tempted to start a new period.
ReplyDeleteThank Neil...go on you know you want to...
DeleteHi Mark. Love your blog. A question for these Prussian guns - I assume they are representing C61 6 pdr.s with the Warendorf breech. I can see you have painted them bronze, and some seem to exitst in that metal, but were they not steel (black) in 1870 - asking out of respect for your knowledge - not to be a smartass .-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent question. The barrels are indeed steel, but they were chemically corroded at manufacture and linseed oil rubbed into them to protect them from further corrosion. So I have painted them in burnt sienna to represent this. All other fittings are painted black.
DeleteReally interesting, I had no idea. I just asumed they were painted black like ACW steel barrels. Do you know of any pictures of surviving pieces or replicas showing this practice?
DeleteI don't have any colour images, but when I first read this I was doubtful so I asked an expert who replied: "Yes, the gun barrels were chemically rusted as a protection from damp. This was then smoothed off and linseed oil regularly rubbed in. I have never seen a decent image of how this actually looked, but it was evidently a dark brown of some sort, with a little bit of a sheen to it, so neither high gloss nor matt...The woodwork was a deep mid-blue, or cornflower blue at the lightest, but the only woodwork in evidence is the trails, the wheels and the handgrip of the traversing handle. Everything else was black-painted ironwork, including the whole of the seats."
DeleteThx a lot - that is mindblowing, when something you believe firmly to be one way turns out to be completely different. I have som 3000 Bacus FPW, where all the prussian guns are black barreled. I am contemplating redoing the whole collection with Turners new FPW range - selling of the Bacus - this time they will get the right color!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry too much. My armies are riddled with minor errors...the Crimean Russian flags are wrong, in my first FPW armies (in the '80s) the Prussians all had dark blue trousers instead of grey and the guns all had bright steel barrels...
Delete