Saturday 9 January 2016

From PeterD - 28mm Falconets plus crews (60 points)



Next up for me is a pair of light artillery pieces with crews for my Italian Wars project. These are two different Perry Miniatures packs, both representing wrought iron breach loaders.  I have seen pieces like these referred to as culverins, and falconets among others, but will stick with falconets as it has a nice ring and avoids confusion with later culverins.  



The technology on these is outdated by the Italian Wars but old tech stayed in use for quite a while.  For instance similar pieces were carried on the topsides of the ships of the Armada in 1588, referred to as versos at that time.  While somewhat crude, the breech loading design allowed for rapid fire in an antipersonnel role since multiple breech chambers could be loaded in advance.  To wit each pack comes with half the crew loading or carrying breech chambers which pretty much scuppered my plan to repurpose the crew for other weapons.




The single arc piece went together nicely and was very nice to work with.  The gun is loaded and the captain is about to touch it off.  The crews are nice figures and actually look to be working the pieces not just standing around watching.  The clothes are perhaps a little too early and a little too Northern European for the Italian Wars, but they will work for my purposes.  They ended up being more muted and dull than some of my other figures but this was smoky work!



The double arc piece looks beautiful in the online catalogue but it is fussy to put together and was a royal pain in the tush.  The bits are fine and easily bent and it pushed my modelling skills envelope.  The double arc is still not right but it'll have to do.  On this piece the crew are just about to place a new breech block in place, and one crewman has a ready charge set to go.  The breech block was set in place then wedged in using wedge and a heavy mallet (lovely brute force tech).

I like the pose of the captain who seems to be trying to explain orders to a rather dense set of crewmen.
Ok pay attention lads, here's the plan.  Ray, I need you to focus over here.  Ray....

I waffle back and forth on texturing my bases, as I am normally too impatient and want to get on with the next unit.  This time I added texture in the form of glued on railway ballast before painting the base and adding foliage.  Not sure if it was worth the extra time or not. 

Two guns plus a total of 8 crewmen gives me 60 points methinks.  

Nice! I love the look of these guns Peter. I definitely have to get me one or two for my collection. I really like the brick red paintwork of the double arc culvern and, as you say, the crew look great servicing the gun.
To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm entirely convinced with your green foam groundwork Peter. Sure, it does the trick, but I don't think it flatters the work you put into your figures. Have you tried acrylic texture gel? I find it to be a wonderful product and it makes basework so much easier than the traditional tallus, flock and diluted white glue approach. Let me know and we could try it sometime on one of your upcoming entries.
 60 Points to add to your lead in our Renaissance Men Duel. I have to get going here or I'm going to get stomped...

41 comments:

  1. Lovely artillery Peter :)

    Ray seems to get everywhere, doesn't he? ;)

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    Replies
    1. He does keep turning up in the oddest places!

      Next year there will probably be a side Challenge seeing how many people can include Ray proxies in their entries...
      ; )

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    2. Thanks Tamsin. I still wondering why he didn't show up on your minion watch!
      CheerdPD

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  2. Gotta love that ol' timey artillery! 60% of the time, it works every time!
    ; )

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  3. cool guns of Navarone! don't stand too near of them :-)

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  4. Curt
    I am willing to try the Gel goop, but basing is something I run out of steam on quite easily. I will admit to going for a LCD effect on recent basing. That's a recently oxide I used, which is actually a pigment that would have been used 500 years ago.
    Cheers PD

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    Replies
    1. We'll see if we can work out a quick, painless method for you. To me the base is almost as important as the figure itself, but then again I realize I'm a bit OCD about it. I also find a good base covers up a lot of sins with the figures and/or how I've painted them. :O)

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    2. I second the advice re: gel, Peter. I get impatient with basing and I still find it works the best.

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    3. Fore some time now I've subscribed to the idea that the basing is 40% or so of the whole. It's amazing how a little effort there can be repaid in spades. Probably the most important aspect for me is how it ties whole armies together even if the miniatures and colour schemes are different from unit to unit.

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    4. Yeah, basing is just one of those things that has to be done--who doesn't hate having to spend more time on a figure that's already "done"? But there's no substitute for a good basing job.

      I'll second Curt on the gel recommendation. It speeds things up and looks good to boot.

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  5. I like the primitive look of these guns. Hope to see them on the table soon. I concur: gel.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sylvain. I was hoping for this week coming or the next.
      Cheers, Peter

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  6. They look great Peter and I think the basing works. It gives the idea of how hard it might be to haul this artillery over rough terrain.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Anne. This is a period I'd like to see you dabble in. Your colour palette should produce figures that looked like they walked out of Raphael.
      Cheers Peter

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  7. I really am enjoying all the renaissance goodness this year, I strongly approve. Very strongly. I very much want to see more of this project. Keep them coming and try not to run out of steam. They do look excellent.

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    1. Clint
      Careful what you ask for - you might get it. There is more coming, but I suspect I'll slow down a bit soon.
      Cheers Peter

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  8. Wow, I am amazed at th primitive and crazy nature of some of these weapons - I wonder what the life expectancy of the gunners was like? Really nice work on them, just cover your eyes when you roll dice for them firing!

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    1. Black powder was a alchemical science and best left to experts with the arcane knowledge! I suspect that they kept the powder charges low for safety. Cheers Peter

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  9. The arty pieces are really well done, I like how they are all interactive, a lot to see for each weapon system. The crew getting lectured is a particular favorite too.
    Basing is a chore I agree. I usually focus on making the ground look like suitable dirt. I really miss GW graveyard earth. I replaced that with devlin mud which is okay, but really muddy in color, it does complement the flock and static grass really well though.
    I like to vary the height a bit too with patches of bare earth and taller static grass clumps. I've really got to get some of those tufts Curt and the others use, the right combos really pop the minis.

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    1. I have had good effects with the railway ballast approach on my El Cid figures adding tufts as required, but Castille should be arid. I need to get some new tufts in a lusher tone to represent the verdant Lombard plains.

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  10. Replies
    1. Thanks Alex. Let's see you give the a go. Cheers Peter

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  11. Thanks for all of the suggestions on basing. My efforts have wandered from OK to reasonably good, depending on what I had on hand and how motivated I was. I feel encouraged to do more next time round, and expect a trip to the Art supplies store this week.
    Cheers, Peter

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  12. Nice work on these. I can't make out what's going on with the ground work from the photos, so can't really give an opinion.

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    1. Sean
      Not being able to work out what's going on with the basework is more or less what I was aiming for!
      Cheers PD

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  13. I've learnt stuff about culverins and falconets, thank you!

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  14. Pretty guns who could resist that!?

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  15. Well done, Peter - those artillery pieces are wonderful.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sidney, the are fun little guns. Cheers Peter

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  16. Renaissance artillery is just so cool-looking. Great work on these, even if they were a bit maddening in the assembly phase!

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