Monday 6 December 2021

Artillery Master Models for North Star

We have now pretty much come to the end of the models that I built and photographed up to about 2010. I have got quite a few more things on my shelves but they need photographing. I have a camera (thanks to my lovely wife Isla) and have bought an adequate lighting rig, so basically just need to work out how to take decent pictures again, and then be doing that. In the meantime, there's a couple of things yet that you might be interested to see.

Below are North Star artillery models for the Prussian army of the war of 1866 against Austria. Although really retired from commission work, I offered to make the master models for these, as a kind of collaborative project. I wanted a number of each of these gun types for my own Austro-Prussian wargames armies. I could build a master model sure, but the delicate parts would need a level of casting technology beyond what I have myself. North Star were struggling slowly through this range, and if I built the masters they could do the casting (which they are very good at) and I'd even get a little payment for my work. 

Here's the result. The photographs are direct from North Star's website and show the three guns in chronological order. First we have the light bronze smoothbore 12-pounder "shell gun", which was the artillery technology of the 1850's. No longer were solid cannonballs the projectile, but hollow shells with time fuses. The range was about the same as traditional guns, but the piece was very light for the calibre, so actually mounted on the six-pounder carriage of the previous artillery system (Model 1843/ 1856). And there was no longer a need for a couple of short-range howitzers in each battery because every gun could fire shells at high angles. In the form of the "12-pounder Napoleon" this was the most common artillery technology of the American Civil War.

The other two pieces bring us into the next generation, being cast-steel, rifled breech-loaders. The Model 1861 6-pounder came first. It fired a pointed, modern style explosive shell with an impact fuse. The carriage was the same as that of the 12-pounder. Finally we have the Model 1864 4-pounder, of similar technology, but a new carriage including axle seats for two of the gunners (the rest riding on the limber). The massive advantage of these guns was their effective range of more than double the smoothbores. The poor 12-pounders would scarcely get a look-in in 1866 against the Austrian rifled guns.

To model, these were a different challenge to making terrain items. They are proper scale models, detailed within fractions of a millimetre. The wheels are the hardest part, as you might imagine. These guns were made almost entirely from styrene strip, sheet and rod, assembled with liquid poly cement. The most important tool is the digital calliper gauge for measuring. The "chopper" tool is helpful where you want a number of identical parts such as wheel spokes. What came out was historically accurate, but a bit too delicate for casting by the normal methods of the industry. North Star cast these in resin, therefore and sell them as what they call "super-detailed" alternatives to the more basic lead models also in the range. 






 






13 comments:

  1. Impressive - I would never have the patience to make anything like this!

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  2. Totally agree..not the patience nor the skill. I am happy to knock together buildings that satisfy my requirements ( they are not even thirty percent of what you can do John, but work for me) ..... But building an accurate scale model from scratch us something I would never attempt!

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  3. Very impressive work John. There is always a compromise between historical accuracy and being able to cast the model itself. Resin is a good compromise and the more flexible resins these days certainly makes them more durable than before.

    the days of being able to make hand made product models are sadly long gone in my old business, hence I was quite happy to take early retirement when offered. Something that used to take a few weeks to make by hand is now a simple over night build. Such is life.

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  4. Thanks, guys. I sort of worked up to making full models like this.

    10 or 12 years ago I started a project to build Austrian and Prussian armies for 1866. At that time, there was a rapidly expanding range by Helion (yes, the book publishers), which later went to North Star. I painted and converted a lot of figures, only to realise the ranges were never going to be completed, which forced me to more drastic conversions, not least to get Austrian guns. I had tolerable side drawings, and a few illustrations to go on. So I started with a cross between a conversion and a scratch build. At that point I would have run a mile from attempting to build a spoked wheel, and used wheels from existing models. This kind of got me started. For a few years I was then doing France 1940 in 28mm skirmish, and wanted obscure thigs like radio sets, rangefinders and strange little guns, so again I started with the relatively crude models available and built on that. (Will get some photos done of these things in due course).

    This was probably a good introduction, because when you build something for yourself you don't have to worry about robustness too much, certainly not about what can be cast and how to get the best model with the least parts to assemble. The North Star masters were a stretch therefore, and I didn't get everything as good as it could have been. I do enjoy the problem solving aspect of modelmaking, but after a couple of hours I need to take a break, so couldn't do it for a living.

    I should stress that I use decent tools, good lighting and an Optivisor, which gives a magnified view, and would recommend something like that to anyone making or painting intricate stuff. You also need to make sure you have an up-to-date prescription in your glasses! Beyond that it's a question of motivation more than patience. I must admit I would not have the same patience if I was trying to build something that didn't interest me!

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    1. I never got on with an optivisor, much preferring a magnifying lamp. Good tools make a huge difference and when I started out, I had to buy my own basic hand tools, all of which I still have today and are still going strong.

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    2. Thanks for the additional comments, useful. I look forward to seeing the France 1940 stuff on this blog soon :)

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    3. Steve, yes your hand tools will last. Hence they aren't expensive so long as you get the right ones to start with!

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  5. Lovely work. Interesting to hear how these things get made.

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  6. Superb work John. I am particularly taken with the mitrailleuse. Having seen these pieces in various museums I have always been disappointed with wargames manufacturers renditions of it, but you have captured it perfectly.

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    1. Thanks, Mark, I appreciate that as I know you are a fan of this period, like me. I wanted to make a proper scale model (if slightly limited by what will cast OK and not end up with more parts than a wargamer would want to assemble). I really got into the workings of this wacky weapon, and establishing the sequence of crew actions. Michael Perry was prepared to go along with the madness on this one, hence the crewman working at the "reloading table".

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