Last fall I was "this" close to buying a Parrot Rifle mould from Miniature Moulds when Armies In Plastic announced a sale and I jumped. This week I finally put them together and added a second gun crew to the Rebel army.
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| The newly raised Red Cap Horse Artillery with their muzzle loading rifled field gun closest to the camera. |
The AIP guns come with a choice of barrels, an 1859 Armstrong 12pdr RBL or the 1871 9 pdr RML. The models are pretty good for what they are apart from the barrels being a little too short but beside the Britains' guns, which are spring powered, firing, toy models of 2nd Boer War era 15pdr RBL's, the barrels look puny! I had been torn about which side would get metal guns and which plastic but the difference led me to decided to issue the lighter
(literally) guns to the Horse Artillery on both sides.
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| The Queen's troop trying out their new, lighter, breech loader. |
Can a battle be far behind?
Wait, wait, wait - you have little toy cannons that shoot?!?
ReplyDeleteI got 'em, but I don't shoot with them. Die hard dice man!
DeleteMy own experience with toy guns that can shoot is that the gunpowder (spring) deteriorates over time. I have a Britains ACW 3" ordnance rifle (Rodman) kicking around somewhere (that one 'exploded' at the breech, actually), and a pre WW1 piece of indeterminate provenance whose spring has corroded into nothing worth while.
ReplyDeleteRoss: nice guns!
Most of my firing guns are 1960's vintage Crescent and Britains, the 2 antique Britains' 15pdr field guns are an exception.
DeleteA good solution for the ordnance—the Queen’s Troop is smartness personified
ReplyDeleteIndeed! By the way are you not tempted to add a Gatling gun to the arsenal for a change?
DeleteAlan
Thanks Ed.
DeleteAlan, its in the queue.
Very nice models- you have done a great job of finishing them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kev.
DeleteRemember as a kid fighting battles with a friend where you 'won' any models you knocked over. Most of my toy soldiers were new-fangled plastic, most of his old-fashioned lead - guess who always won...
ReplyDeleteI was never much of a gambler.
DeleteI still have a couple of the spring-loaded Soledo (?) WWII artillery pieces given to me one Christmas in the mid-1970s by my maternal grandparents. The two-piece metal artillery shells (into which a boy could place a single small gunpowder cap) are long gone, but last I checked the springs still had some life to them. Life was a lot more fun before everyone became hysterical about health and safety. And I say that as a non-smoker!
ReplyDeleteLovely guns by the way. Armies in Plastic has some neat things.
Best Regards,
Stokes
They painted up nicely and fit in better than I expected.
DeleteThe gunners are all excellent, are they homecasts?
ReplyDeleteThe Confederates are homecast copies of my old Ft Henry Guard with shakos cut down.
DeleteThe RHA are Soldierpac castings from 20 years ago.