Scheming

Ok got a gun, now what is the colour scheme?

The only pictures I have of the real 4.7" guns are Black & White and none of my brief  sources thought to mention colour. In most pictures the barrels don't look much different than the carriage, sometimes a little darker. I have read stories of British units going crazy with khaki paint during the Boer War, even painting mules, though that might be apocryphal, but a monochrome model was not going to cut it.

The finished gun with temporary crew from my Mid 19thC forces. Homemade 40mm sailors with converted Scruby ACW officer.

The original Britain's model came with a grey carriage and bronze barrel. The grey seemed plausible but I'm pretty sure the barrels were steel not bronze. Then I found a picture of the burst barrel of a 4.7 that supposedly was used in the Boer War and then at Gallipoli.

Pic from Wikimedia of a 4.7" gun barrel abandoned at Gallipoli.
Now in Australian War Memorial

Black! There we are then. Now what about the crew? If this was an historical project I would have to do the sailors in standard army khaki with a naval straw hat. Borrrrrring! Luckily my old favorite  History of The War in South Africa  by James H Birch. (You can download it or read it on line, pictures included,  here on openlibrary.org ) has a more attractive version seen below.

"How the Blue Jackets shelled the Boers at Ladysmith".  

But I also found this on the net.

(Attribution pending once I find the picture again)

Since I had been contemplating a 1914 landing party in similar dress and have some very similar original Britain's I think I will go this route, once I get some more putty. Of course having seen the landing party 12 pdr and thought "ooooh!" I am going to have to make one after all. Although, it does kinda look like that old toy gun I've been using as a mountain gun and I do have two of them......,