Austrian "3pdr" - and best wishes for the New Year.

Nothing much has been happening on the 40mm SYW front over the last few months. I am told the plan is to release the dragoons early next year - fingers crossed.

I have however, as suggested in my post back in March (was it really that long ago) had a play at making an Austrian 3pdr battalion gun using the following components:

• Wheels from new SYW range
• Barrel from the Karoliner 6pdr
• Carriage from the Rossbach 12pdr

I then made the following minor modifications:

• Added a cross piece in the trail - not quite correct but looks better.
• Drilled out the holes at the rear of the carriage, which made it look much neater,
• I originally assembled the wheels on the carriage as cast - but they looked too wide. To correct this I narrowed the solid/rectangular axle by about 2mm and then attached the wheels by drilling out 1.5mm holes, and inserting new axles made from the pegs of spare heads.
• Drilled out the end of the barrel.

As discussed in the earlier post, the dimensions are not quite right - however I am happy with the result and will be rearming my Austrians with them (when I start working on them again).

Best wishes to you all for the New Year.

Steve

Steven's Artillery

Steven Marthinsen has kindly sent me some photographs of his completed PA Austrian and Russian Artillery - in both cases he has increased the crew to five by adding in an officer figure.

Mix-and-match Artillery

He has also sent an interesting photo showing his collection of mix-and-match guns using parts from not only other parts of the PA range, but also other manufacturers.

As can be seen there is a lot of scope for mixing parts from different moulds to get something which looks closer to the historical dimensions.

I only have the PA moulds, so to bring the information together Steven has provided me some additional information on the Artidee and Nurnberger moulds, so I thought it worth collating the dimensions of the various parts...........

Wheels

Dimension as measured on model (scaled up assuming 1:40):

   PA - SYW 6pdr                32mm = 1280mm (12 spokes)
   PA - Rossback 12pdr       32mm = 1280mm (8 spokes)
   PA - Karoliner 6pdr          27mm = 1080mm (8 spokes)
   Artidee - Prussian 12pdr   27mm = 1080mm (12 spokes)

These two diameters cover most of the Prussian and Austrian guns. The Austrians use the larger diameter for everything and the Prussians the smaller diameter for most of their 3pdr and 6pdr battalion guns, and the larger for the lighter 12pdrs (but not the Brummers).

Ideally you should use the 12 spoke wheels, the old PA 8 spoke are wrong.

Carriages

Again dimension as measured on model (scaled up assuming 1:40):
   PA - SYW 6pdr                 68mm = 2720mm
   Nurenberg                        68mm = 2720mm
   Artidee - Prussian 12pdr  59mm = 2360mm
   PA - Rossback 12pdr       57mm = 2280mm
   PA - Karoliner 6pdr          52mm = 2080mm
 
Information relating to carriages is not easy to come by, for example I assumed Napoleonic dimensions for the Austrians, and scaled the Prussians from Kronoskaf, however here are some examples:
   Austrian 12pdr - length 3191mm - nothing long enough
   Austrian 6pdr   - length 2759mm - there is a PA carriage for this
   Austrian 3pdr   - length 2440mm - the  Artidee 12pdr is closest (or PA Rossbach 12pdr)
   Austrian how   - length 2739mm - the PA Austrian 6pdr is fine
   Prussian 3pdrs - one is 1900mm -  the Karoliner 6pdr is closest
   Prussian 6pdrs - one is 2200mm -  the Rossbach  12pdr is closest

Barrels

There is quite a nice collection of barrels, dimensions are the overall length including the counterweight, which is longer then the dimension often quoted:
   Nurenberg                          - 55mm = 2200mm
   PA - SYW Prussian 12pdr - 51mm = 2040mm
   PA - Rossback 12pdr         - 47mm = 1880mm
   PA - SYW Austrian 6pdr  - 43mm = 1720mm
   Artidee - Prussian 12pdr  -  42mm = 1680mm
   PA - Karoliner 6pdr          - 36mm = 1440mm
   PA - SYW Russian Uni.   - 28mm = 1120mm
   PA - SYW Austrian how   - 26mm = 1040mm

I don't have a lot of information on overall lengths, but I measured the Austrian barrels in Vienna:
   Austrian 12pdr - length 2030mm - PA Prussian 12pdr is closest
   Austrian 6pdr   - length 1640mm - PA produce this (model is a bit long)
   Austrian 3pdr   - length 1270mm - Karoliner 6pdr is closest
   Austrian how   - length 1040mm - PA produce this

So What does all this mean?

Well if you want to try and match a gun you can try mixing parts from different moulds, for example an Austrian 3pdr would have:

• A barrel from the Karoliner 6pdr
• The carriage from the Rossbach 12pdr
• Wheels from the SYW 6pdr

I'll give it a go next time I get the moulds out!

As always comments welcome, and information on your projects would be welcome.

Artillery - Released

Just a couple of photos to show you the painted figures which will go on the packaging.

Prince August went for the Prussian variation on the gun. Probably not noticeable but this has the wheels with the thicker spokes.

And they were released today (1 August).

Now lets hope for some cavalry in the near future.

First Artilley Castings

The blog has been very quiet as of late as the moulds are taking a long time - and I have to confess to my recent wargaming currently being in other scales and periods. Anyway, enough of the excuses, I finally received some test moulds over the weekend, and as it was good casting weather I gave them a go.

I was told in advance that it would be difficult to cast the wheels (it always is), however I did manage to get some good castings, by a combination of:

• Using the expensive Model Metal.
• Venting the wheels on every spoke.
• Applying talc between every pour - and then ensuring the vents were clear.
• The minimum clamping force I could get way with.
• Giving the moulds a good tap when full.
• Good luck/weather.

They do take a bit of cleaning up - but not too bad.

One of the reasons the mould production has been further delayed as Chris (the sculptor) decided that the spokes needed thickening up a bit to make casting easier (I have the unmodified version).

I have cast a gun to carry each of the four barrels, and they look pretty good, although compromises have to be made to allow all the barrel sizes to fit between the carriage cheeks.

Austrian 6pdr

The wheels measure about 33mm tall, and the crew are about 44mm to top of head. As the Austrian wheels were 51" high, that makes the crew 5' 8" tall, perhaps a bit on the tall size but not far off. (As is always the case with shots like this, the fact that the figures are on a thick base makes them look taller.)

Also, the moulds will not contain an elevating wedge, so I decided to make one by cutting a triangle off the corner of a 1.5mm thick MDF base using a razor saw.

The axles are round (I know that is wrong), which allows the wheel track to be adjusted. I have made the Austrian track 43" - which looks narrow - but distinctive.

The crew are painted in sleeveless waistcoats, not quite correct, the most noticeable differences being that there should be two rows of buttons on the front of the waistcoat, and the gunners amongst the crew (about half) should have boots rather than gaiters.

However overall I think it looks fine, which is what we were aiming for.

Russian Unicorn

The barrel on this is quite short, so I modified the position of the cross member below the back of the barrel, and added an elevating screw. However I am sure it will look fine with the barrel just glued on with no elevating mechanism.

The wheels are set further apart which makes it look much more distinct than it would be if just the barrel was changed.

The crew are the same as for the Austrians, this time painted with the waistcoats long sleeved. I could not resist adding a bombardier in the distinctive helmet.

Other Options

There are to other barrels in the moulds, which will make up a Prussian light 12pdr, for which I have just added the wedge.

I have not painted up a crew for the Prussian gun, as the ones I have cast have gone to Richard Hattersley for painting to use on the packaging.

And an Austrian 7pdr howitzer, for which I again added a wedge, and relocated the support cross member a bit lower and further forward  (and also set the wheels closer together).

And finally for a size comparison the new gun alongside the Karoliner 3pdr - which I might try with the new wheels?

I don't think these are far off production - but how many times have I said that?

As always comments are very welcome - particularly if they are positive....

................bring on the cavalry?

Extra photos to answer comments......

A close up of the wheel as cast with the vent holes.  In the production moulds the spokes will be heavier to simplify casting - I have not seen the new wheel yet and will cast a couple when I get  a mould.

Rahway asked about the vent on the Austrian guns - you can just about see the vent on the shot of the howitzer, however to put his mind at ease here is a close up on the 6pdr (the barrels will clean up better than this without too much work).

Rahway asked about the height of the figures. I have to confess that initially I thought that they are way too big when compared with the infantry.

They are probably a little bit larger, however the thing is that the gunners are bolt upright, whereas everything else has a very distinct lean, and the figures are similar distance heel to top of head.

The base IS too big, and that will be corrected in the production mould.

Artillery Equipment Sculpting Complete

Chris has now pretty much completed sculpting the artillery, and has used his computer wizardry to produce some graphics to show what the models and figures will look like.

Austrian 6pdr Gun

The original idea was to produce an accurate as possible Austrian 6pdr, and below is the almost finished article. (The only issue I know of is that the elevating wedge  (which will be a separate part) is too wide, so I have asked for it to be changed).

In order for the master figure to be robust enough to withstand repeated pressing in the mould making process,  there have had to be some compromises, such as leaving out the lighter cross pieces in the carriage trail, and locating the lifting handles of the barrel too close together. It is (in my opinion) a great improvement over the guns in the Karoliner and Rossbach ranges, and a welcome addition to the range.

And here it is with crew in waistcoats.

Austrian 7pdr Howitzer

The Liechtenstein system used the same wheels for all guns, so there is clearly some scope for reusing the wheels. Also the carriage of the 7pdr howitzer is reasonably close to that of the 6pdr, (it should be a bit deeper and heavier, and the support for the elevating wedge is in the wrong place). However I did not think we should miss the opportunity to add a howitzer to the range, so I asked Chris to produce a howitzer barrel - here it is on the 6pdr carriage.

 As discussed above, the elevating wedge is not in the right place. If it looks too far out when cast and made up, then a little work will be needed to cut out and move the wedge support forward and down - I don't have access to any castings, so cannot say how difficult it will be!

Barrels for other Nations

As the sculpting work progressed it became apparent that the gun would need to be split over two moulds, but the second would be half empty. This gave the opportunity to try and provide some reasonably representative artillery for other nations. There was no space for more wheels or carriages, but a couple of extra barrels could be squeezed in.

I carried out a review of all the information I had to hand and decided that a reasonable representation of some artillery could be provided on the Austrian carriage (purists turn away now)..........

Prussian light 12pdr

The closest I could find for the Prussians was the 12pdr M17/38, as this was a conic chambered piece it did not use such a large charge as a 'proper' 12pdr, so could sit on a smaller carriage. Here are details of the gun.............

....and here is the extra barrel on the Austrian carriage.

(Interestingly, if you look at the drawing, the Prussian barrel is identical size to the Austrian 12pdr, which also had the same wheel, but unfortunately the Austrian 12pdr carriage is 15% longer - worth a try at lengthening the cast carriage?)

And then for the Russians......

Russian 12pdr Unicorn

As far as I can figure out the 12pdr unicorn had the closest carriage size - drawings..

..and model

French Guns

As far as I can see they were all way bigger than these pieces (unless you know better)?

Interestingly the French Vallier 8pdr and famous Prussian 12pdr 'Brummer' looked very similar - so they would make a nice addition. Prince August currently have no plans to make these, so if you want them a good case will need to be made.

If you have stuck it out this far your then please take the time to comment?

06/04/17

Another view of the crew better showing the wheel height.

Artillery Update

Not a lot happening on my side with regards the 40mm SYW figures, I am currently spending valuable figure casting and painting time renovating and decorating part of my house.

I thought I had better post something just to show that the project has not been abandoned.......

Artillery Crew in Waistcoats

Chris has almost finished the artillery crew in waistcoats, there is a little more work to do, but as you can see the will make a valuable addition to the range.

The figures are intended to be quite generic, as it is not practical to make a different set for each nation - they are probably closest to French in waistcoats as the print below.

There will however be heads with both differing tricorn styles so both Prussians and other nations can be represented. If there is space there will also be Prussian and Russian bombardier heads.

6pdr Austrian Cannon

This is also nearing completion, but still a few tweaks to be done.

As always comments welcome.

Artillery Ideas?

Updated 06/12/2016 - artillery crew in discussion.
Updated 07/12/2016 - Russian Unicorn added

I am told that Prince August are getting a number of requests for artillery to support the SYW range, so have decided to make an initial release of some artillery. Their plan is to release the first artillery soon after the Austrian cuirassiers, which are being sculpted. Chris Tubb (the sculptor) has asked for advice on what to release?

Artillery Pieces

There were a great many different artillery pieces in use during the war, making it impractical for PA to release everything, so a plan is needed........................

Austrian

The Austrians are the easiest to deal with, as they had a standardised system for the field artillery (it gets more complex if siege guns are included). There were just four pieces, a 3pdr battalion cannon, 6pdr and 12pdr cannons for use in batteries, and a 7pdr howitzer, also used in batteries.

The Austrian system was simplified by the fact that all the guns used the same 50 inch diameter wheels. From a modelling perspective it is further simplified by the fact that the carriages for the 6pdr cannon and 7pdr howitzer were very similar, and could probably use the same one for casting.

It should therefore be possible to produce the whole  Austrian system with just the following eight main parts:

1. 50 inch wheel
2. 12pdr cannon barrel
3. 12pdr carriage
4. 6pdr cannon barrel
5. 7pdr howitzer barrel
6. 6/7pdr carriage
7. 3pdr cannon barrel
8. 3pdr carriage

Back in February I posted an image of the Chris' start on an Austrian 6pdr cannon. Once this model is completed (to match the image at the top of the page) we will be able to see what can be squeezed into the moulds, and how things fit together?

Earlier this year I went to the  Museum of Military History (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) in Vienna, and took a lot of photos and measurements of the barrels.

Unfortunately they did not appear to have any carriages. However I think we have most of the details needed for this range, as I have a lot of information in the books by C. Duffy and S. Summerfield on the subject. This I have I supplemented by the Osprey book on Austrian Napoleonic Artillery, this has the missing details of the carriage dimensions, which I think are very similar.

Prussian

The subject of Prussian artillery is much more complex. Although they used a similar range of calibres there were many types within each of these categories.

The best place I have found for information on Prussian SYW artillery is the excellent 'My Seven Years War' blog , which has many drawings such as the one of the 12pdr 'Brummer' below.
http://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.co.uk

In view of the wide variation in Prussian guns it may be possible to 'make do' with some of the Austrian guns, as for example they copied the Austrian 12pdr, and made use of captured Austrian 3pdrs.

I think there is a good case for producing the famous 12pdr 'Brummer' - if it will fit in a mould, and possibly a battalion gun with smaller wheels and longer barrel then the Austrian counterpart.

Russian & French

For discussion later!

Artillery Crew (updated 06/12/2016)

Updated 06/12/2016, I have tagged this onto the bottom of the previous post to keep comments together.

• I suggest there need to be 4 members in a crew - 2 moulds?
• Prussian, Austrian, Russian & French crews all had different uniforms. That would be 8 moulds - is it too many?
• Could we use 'generic' crews in waistcoats/shirtsleeves instead?
• What poses would be best?

Artillery Crew in Waistcoats

Thanks to Allan an Ross for feedback.

I have had a further look at the possibility of crews in waistcoats, and history is again conspiring to complicate matters as uniforms were all a bit different:

• Prussian - sleeveless waistcoats and gaiters
• Austrian - sleeveless waistcoats and cavalry style boots
• Russian - sleeved waistcoat and gaiters.
• French - sleeved waistcoat and gaiters

I have seen prints of both Russians and French gunners in the waistcoat (they are very similar),  so it would make sense to do those, but that would mean sleeves on the waistcoat.  I suppose they could all be made close enough with a paint job.

Artillery Crew in Coats

I've been looking further at crews in coats, and again they are all different:

• Prussian - belt over left shoulder, turn backs and gaiters
• Austrian - chord over right shoulder, turn backs and cavalry style boots
• Russian - belt over right shoulder, turn backs and gaiters.
• French - belt over left shoulder, full coat and gaiters

However were things really that regimented, below are two prints by Harald Skala taken from Kronoskaf.  These show the Austrian with the chord over the left shoulder, bot also with belts over the right and left, chords over the right - and none.  Also one has gaiters. Does anyone know if these can be relied on, if they can I suggest we just do some generic crew in coats with turnbacks and gaiters - thoughts.?

Artillery Poses

How about something like the picture above?

The No1 (front left) should be the loader, so relatively upright carrying a ball or cartridge (could it be made to carry either?)

The No2 (front right) could have an open hand (I don't like open hands but there are advantages here) to accept various tools.

The No3 (straddling gun) obviously not practical pose, but could either be stood to left and aiming, or stood with portfire.

The No4 (handspake) if open handed and a little more upright he might also pass as using a shovel?

Crew Suggestions

How about 4 moulds in total?

• A generic 4 man crew in sleeved waistcoats who would cover the Russians and French
• A generic 4 man crew in coats with turnbacks?

Russian 1/4-Pud Unicorn - added 07/12/16

Refer to Rahway's comment below:

• Is this a 1/4-Pud Unicorn?
• Scale - did it have a 4ft wheel?

I have a few others like these, so if they are SYW they are very useful?

Enough for now, as always feedback welcome.