Probably the most referenced artillery piece in the '45 campaign is the Coehorn Mortar. As far as I can see no one makes a 20mm soft plastic one, so I was going to have to scratch build.
Rod, who is the Bible for this sort of thing, drilled out some railway luggage trunks from an OO/HO accessories set. I don't have any of those.
Having routed through my bits and pieces boxes and stuff just lying around on and in my desk and on my storage shelves I found nothing suitable. In the end I decided to resort to Miliput.
I wasn't too bad at making oblong blocks, but whenever I tried to put the barrels in (cut down from the IMEX AWI small howitzer) they went out of shape, and I couldn't get them back square. Very annoying. So I made up some open topped boxes from thin card (all those business cards I had left over when I lost my job still have a use) and crammed them full of Miliput, then stuck the barrels in. I was then able to level off the putty and make some lines like they're made from wooden boards. It wasn't until after they'd set that I realised I'd put one barrel in upside down. They look a bit scruffy, but I reckoned they'd paint up okay.
Here's the painted version, mounted on their bases. I added some painted detail on the sides and they look okay. A bit too deep, but that was the practicalities of what I could fold and glue with the cardboard and my none too nimble fingers.
I've painted up two crew per mortar so far. I may need to re-think this as the rules have something in them about rolling the same number of dice as crew. The figures are IMEX again, but I think now I have got the Zvezda figures from yesterday I'll switch to them in future.
I relented on not using the figures with ramrods. We'll just see how they work out. If it snaps off, then so be it, and I'll just have to paint up a replacement figure, or maybe drill out the hand and replace it with a modified pin.
Here they are as a battery. I think they'll do, so I can knock up another pair now. And looking at the barrels I could probably improvise some of those from sprue off cuts.
Yes. Very pleased with that.
Rod, who is the Bible for this sort of thing, drilled out some railway luggage trunks from an OO/HO accessories set. I don't have any of those.
Having routed through my bits and pieces boxes and stuff just lying around on and in my desk and on my storage shelves I found nothing suitable. In the end I decided to resort to Miliput.
I wasn't too bad at making oblong blocks, but whenever I tried to put the barrels in (cut down from the IMEX AWI small howitzer) they went out of shape, and I couldn't get them back square. Very annoying. So I made up some open topped boxes from thin card (all those business cards I had left over when I lost my job still have a use) and crammed them full of Miliput, then stuck the barrels in. I was then able to level off the putty and make some lines like they're made from wooden boards. It wasn't until after they'd set that I realised I'd put one barrel in upside down. They look a bit scruffy, but I reckoned they'd paint up okay.
Here's the painted version, mounted on their bases. I added some painted detail on the sides and they look okay. A bit too deep, but that was the practicalities of what I could fold and glue with the cardboard and my none too nimble fingers.
I've painted up two crew per mortar so far. I may need to re-think this as the rules have something in them about rolling the same number of dice as crew. The figures are IMEX again, but I think now I have got the Zvezda figures from yesterday I'll switch to them in future.
I relented on not using the figures with ramrods. We'll just see how they work out. If it snaps off, then so be it, and I'll just have to paint up a replacement figure, or maybe drill out the hand and replace it with a modified pin.
Here they are as a battery. I think they'll do, so I can knock up another pair now. And looking at the barrels I could probably improvise some of those from sprue off cuts.
Yes. Very pleased with that.
Interesting little project of an unusual topic!
ReplyDeleteYes. Never really thought about what they looked like until now, although they do pop up all over the place in the late 17th/early 18th century.
DeleteThe mortars look good, and a nice addition to your army.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm pleased with the look too.
DeleteNewline Designs do some nice 20mm figures that might look OK with your other figures. No mortar though.
ReplyDeleteNice looking but not plasticy enough for me.
DeleteThis might be of interest - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-48574135?fbclid=IwAR0EnKzlKyF65zI1HVe9xmZVhpAyhIf3SnlE_3_zpmovThvMxkoA8tLkVKQ
ReplyDeleteThanks. I seem to have missed that report. My Coehorns are a bit wider than that, but pretty close.
Delete