Slitherine

I have quite a few artillery pieces of different calibre for ECW and wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction on barrel and chassis colours please.
All my Osprey books are not at home atm.

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=168314

Try this link

I believe either plain wood, or painted bright colours. Paint was the only method to preserve wood in those grand old days, so a bare wood carriage is less likely.
Metal fittings would normally be painted black, a custom that will continue on for the rest of the time that black powder artillery and wooden carriages are used.
The metal on the wheels would be left in plain dark metal, I doubt paint would last long on them.
Barrels are iron, usually, for the regular sized guns and the smaller guns. Larger guns would be brass as it weighs less and the carriages could handle the weight. I believe that the barrels would be left in their natural colour. It was common to paint them black, at least later it was, during peace time as a method of keeping your gunners occupied when not fighting. When war broke out they would scrape the paint off as it would peel off on its own from the heat of the barrels being fired.

I do recall reading once that the Landsknechts would paint the carriages black and the metal parts red. Made for some interesting cannons I no longer have.

I don't think that artillery carriages will get a national colour for a while yet. Early artillery was run by mercenaries, although by ECW I believe the artillery pretty much belonged to England's army. I did read of one battle where the King had to ask a local commander of the depot to use some large gun they had there. It was then returned after the battle and was later used by Parliament against the Royalists. I guess they got to the depot commander first that time.

Thanks guys. I must have done a bit of research 20 odd years ago then because my barrel colours are right.

Looking for some tips on painting gun barrels black. I've tried it on some of my 15mm Napoleonics, but I've never been happy with the results. Do you highlight or dry brush the bare black gun, and if so, how do you go about it?

Peter C
Sword and Sandal Gaming Blog
http://swordandsandalgaming.blogspot.com/

[quote="deadtorius"]I believe either plain wood, or painted bright colours. Paint was the only method to preserve wood in those grand old days, so a bare wood carriage is less likely.

I do recall reading once that the Landsknechts would paint the carriages black and the metal parts red. Made for some interesting cannons I no longer have.

quote]

Yup, check out the Zeugbuch of Kaiser Maximilians I (1502)

http://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de/B ... ?prozent=1

Earlier that ECW/TYW, but a great resource anyway. Artillery is illustrated in a mix of natural wood (prob varnished), red and black

Interesting site. I like the original concept of a breach, metal cup that was filled with powder, then placed back in the end of the barrel and held in place with a wooden wedge, don't want to stand behind that baby. I find it interesting the carriages are painted but not the wheels, makes one wonder why that is unless the wheels needed to be replaced so often as to make it too expensive to have them painted.

L

ooking for some tips on painting gun barrels black. I've tried it on some of my 15mm Napoleonics, but I've never been happy with the results. Do you highlight or dry brush the bare black gun, and if so, how do you go about it?

I use artist acrylics and I mix in a bit of silver with the black to give it a bit of a metallic look, otherwise I just painted them black and left them like that. My cannons are all 20mm and 25mm, I thought they looked good. If all else fails go for some bigger guns and go with bronze barrels they always look sharp.

I went with dark wood and gun metal (with black wash over the barrel as well). That plus Army Shader came out nice.

pcelella wrote:Looking for some tips on painting gun barrels black. I've tried it on some of my 15mm Napoleonics, but I've never been happy with the results. Do you highlight or dry brush the bare black gun, and if so, how do you go about it?

I paint the blackened iron parts some sort of dark metallic 'gun metal', 'blackened steel' or whatever. Then I apply a heavy wash of black. The top and other raised areas gleam metallic, but the tube is basically black overall. One of those artistic lies that looks right.

Thanks for the help on painting black barrels, guys.

Has anyone tried painting black, and then using something like gun metal for a drybrush?

Peter C
Sword and Sandal Gaming Blog
http://swordandsandalgaming.blogspot.com/

Pete,

GW bolt gun (or any other dark metallic), two-three heavy badab washes, letting each dry in between.

Will go heavy grey with just a touch of metallic seeping through.

Madcam

pcelella wrote:Has anyone tried painting black, and then using something like gun metal for a drybrush?

Yes. For me the result looked too stark and abrupt in gradations - more like chipped paint than a dull iron gleam. I am not very adept at drybrushing though, so most of my painting revolves around washes to bring out the sculpting and dimensional details.

BTW - important point - use a semi matte medium for your washes. This thicker mixture is technically a glaze, but results in greater control and more even, consistent application and results.

Of course in all of this there is no right or wrong - whichever technique and result suits you better is the one to use.