Wednesday, 28 February 2024

Austrian artillery Napoleonic 51

 In an effort to balance the Napoleonic arms race in my shed I am happy to present eight Austrian artillery pieces, three horse artillery pieces, two from Eagle miniatures and one from Perry. Two 12lb from Eagle and three Frankenstein cut and shunt home cast 25mm Prince August carriages with some eBay purchased wheels from long ago and plastic/resin barrels.  I needed to lengthen the carriages aa the Austrian pattern is longer than the French. The crews are a couple of Eagle figures and the Perry handlanger team that have been promoted from hauling guns to crewing them! The other team are from Trent miniatures sold as revolutionary Austrian artillery crew, although to my mind they're more like seven years war but they're done and the Austrian artillery branch were notoriously conservative! They're a bit chunkier than Perry but nice figures, the Eagle figures are less good in my opinion and I won't be buying them again as they cost the same as Perry but at least they're done! The four limbers started out in two cases as 25mm British limbers that I ended up with when purchasing a load of bits of artillery for my war of three Kingdoms armies made redundant following my key ring light guns and were knocking around when I needed to have some Austrian limbers but wasn't able to spend any money! With the addition of foamboard box and resin wheels,  a new central pole I had two Austrian limbers, two spare warbase mdf French limbers got the foamboard box treatment and I had four limbers. I just needed some draught horses, three spare renaissance Hinchcliffe draught horses got me started, the other five are home cast Prince August 25mm horses with the addition of Perry plastic horse heads and necks that you get spare with their medieval horse sprues. The riders legs started out as British light dragoons, the torso's French chasseurs with the detail carved away, the arms are from the Austrian cavalry set and the heads are Austrian Landwehr, all Perry. With the addition of string, card, wire and a few spare bits of 3d tack, I  merely had to stand back, pull the handle and cry "give my creation life!" Or not as perhaps I got a little carried away, but they are undeniably Frankenstein limbers!

































There's also a spare French draught team that missed it's comrades' post but is here now, first cuckoo of spring?

All the best

 Iain 


38 comments:

  1. Fine work all round there and for me, the scratch builds look fine, but then I'm not a purist for this period, unlike WWII;)!

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  2. Thats a fabulous looking artillery park! 👍

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  3. Fantastic creations Iain, and once you have them all painted, can't see where all the different parts come from.

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  4. Wow, quite the effort, excellent results there. The white horde is well served now by all these gunners and thier charges.

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    1. Thanks very much Joe, no more Austrian artillery, well for a while !
      Best Iain

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  5. Lovely work on the limbers as well!

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    1. Thanks, I will have to do some more of them but I might cheat and buy Perry figures next time!
      Best Iain

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  6. Nice to have added touches with the string and wire. I do like the Eagle Miniatures stuff, his stand is an automatic attraction at the game shows.

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    1. Glad you liked them, not too keen on the Eagle figures but it might be they just don't suit my style of painting?
      Best Iain

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  7. I'm sure the Emperor would aprove! Crackin work Iain.

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  8. You have put a lot of work into creating these Austrian gunners Iain, but the results are worth it 👌

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  9. that oughta balance out the arms race nicely.
    They look great all together. 😁

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  10. That is a very impressive artillery park, the Austrians are one of my favourites so it's always nice to see them, cracking work and the limbers work well for me, I would be very happy with them, great work!!

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  11. That is quite a large batch to muster out, and all beautifully done Iain. I have a few Eagle figures for units that noone else produces and they are noticeably different to Perry and others. Much slimmer.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, yes Eagle do some units Perry don't, I was thinking, long term, of doing a Spanish Napoleonic army but I don't think I'll be going with Eagle?
      Best Iain

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  12. Top stuff Iain! I am especially impressed that you painted guns and limbers at the same time (the latter so often put into the 'ron category). All the more since you did such excellent conversions!
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James, it's Valour and Fortitude pushing me into it but to be honest, I didn't need a big push!
      Best Iain

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  13. Well done Iain a great bringing together, with my ‘painting holiday’ in Edinburgh I have managed to paint up some artillery crews but they will have to wait till I am home to be based up etc

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    1. Thanks Matt, good to hear of a productive holiday!
      Best Iain

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  14. Impressive artillery pieces and train, Iain. I see the two makes blend in well together too.

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  15. I love the make do and mend philosophy Iain. Great result too.
    Chris/Nundanket

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    1. If Iwork out the hourly rate spent on them compared to buying them from Perry, I would just buy them but where's the fun in that?
      Best Iain

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  16. Terrific work, the effort certainly paid off.

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  17. More great figures Iain, the brown Austrian artillery (and Grenz) is a nice contrast to the white of their infantry.

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    1. Thanks Chris,definitely, it'll be a while before my Grenz are ready to paint!
      Best Iain

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  18. The good Baron would certainly be impressed and possibly inspired by your ingenious creations…
    All the best. Aly

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    1. Indeed, now with added metalwork for the creation?
      Best Iain

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