Thanks to one of our readers I have some measurements to complement the British artillery description posted earlier on this blog: https://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/2021/02/updated-172-british-artillery-model.html - The diagram below (click to expand) shows how the measurements are taken and a description of how they are designated A-F. Thanks to some techno-wizardry in Excel, for which I am not responsible, the cells highlighted in yellow show measurements that are within an accepted tolerance (10%) of the prototype, scaled down to 1/72. The big surprise for me was the DK 12 pounders which are not far off the mark.
Many thanks to Goya who took the time to put this together! Measuring these little buggers is a bear, so there may be some variability in the measurements presented. If you have any additional models with associated measurements from other manufacturers, or note anything egregious as an error, let me know and I will correct/add.
Interesting. But is scale all that important? It's the overall effect that matters, and the detailing I've always felt. A wrongly-shapes muzzle swell for example, or inadequate syrap work on the carriage can really ruin a model. My particular bugbear, however, is flat wheels. Gun wheels were dished so that they woudn't shear or shatter every time one of the wheels fell into a rut!
ReplyDeleteUseful information David…
ReplyDeleteIt will come in handy when I get around to sorting out the big box of guns I seem to have acquired…
All the best. Aly
I would say keep me in mind for any extras but I seem to have acquired a few too many myself! I do hope to have a good artillery park of Napoleon's beautiful daughters for the Old Guard one day. They will be made with DK 12 pounders and I am slowly getting all of the 6 horse teams required to pull them. That is very much a distant dream however as there is still so much in the queue before I can get to those!
DeleteTo some extent I would agree with you Matthew. I would much rather have a slightly oversized model than under however, as the model gun wheels rarely approach the shoulder height that was normal. Especially if the gunners are mounted on a base and the gun is not, the size of the gun can easily appear quite diminutive in comparison to reality.
ReplyDeleteI'm more than happy if they just look the part, although like you I want them to look big next to the figures as having the crew tower over the gun looks wrong IMO.
ReplyDeleteI do think size matters but I'm not so fixated on muzzle swell as WM. The main thing is the wheels come up somewhere near the shoulder to lose that miniature toy cannon look.
ReplyDeleteHi David, Baxter here. I could not figure out how to post with my name, blame it on my Luddite tendencies. This was a informative article. I usually sink my wheels and trail's just a bit in the basing. I think that it looks good. But the comparison of wheels is interesting. I don't think that you can fudge on the barrels though. They are too distinct in size and appearance. Just my 2 cent's worth
ReplyDeleteHi David, Baxter here. I could not figure out how to post under my name. Blame it on my Luddite tendencies. Very nice article with useful information. Wheels are a personal taste as to how you want them in size. Barrels are a different matter as they were distinct to to each type and hard to fudge on. Any way just my two cents .
ReplyDeleteBaxter, Good to hear from you and you are not alone. I think blogger made an update and even I ended up posting anonymously. You have to be signed in to google when you post now or some such. As for the artillery, barrels are distinct, but I would argue the height of the wheels and size of the carriage is even more distinctive, and all too often are depicted much too small given the size of the figures.
ReplyDelete