Saturday 9 October 2021

Austrian Limber

Having produced a limber for the Russians it seemed only fair to knock one up for the Austrians. This didn’t take too much effort as I painted the limber several years ago and never got around to completing the set.

The horses are artillery draught horse H/1 and H/2, Driver AN.58 and Limber AL/5

The horses were reassigned from my four-horse team for the RHA so the only figure I had to paint was the limber horse rider AN.58 Driver, positioned for riding horse (H/1) Artillery Drivers’ Corps (wearing shako). The HH painting instructions for this figure state “Sword Belt Black Leather” but as I couldn’t see a waist belt, I’ve assumed this was the shoulder strap. All the figures, including the limber are vintage castings.

Here's the full team together with Austrian gun A.5.

I have reverted to two-horse limber teams as a four-horse team takes up too much table space and would involve painting too many horses for my liking. The only Nationality now without a limber is the French so I must do something about that.

17 comments:

Rob said...

Nice - hope to see him in action soon.
I agree full teams take up a lot of space and time - if they're multi-gun batteries then just one team per battery is OK but when it's just one gun it can look OTT.
Painting horses is a doddle, it's the harness and tack (or are they the same thing?) that takes up all the time.

Stryker said...

Rob, two horses does seem best although they may have difficulty hauling the guns over the Austrian mountain passes!

Wellington Man said...

Lovely work Ian! I think you've arrived at just the right solution, too. I'm curious about how you've managed to suspend the limber pole, though. What's holding it up?

Aly Morrison said...

Very nice…
I think that works really well as a ‘limbered’ marker…
I will probably do something similar myself…

All the best. Aly

Stryker said...

Ah WM, it's magic! Actually it's Araldite blobbed on the wheels which seems to be flexible enough that the limber doesn't pop off when you pick it up as might happen with Superglue.

Stryker said...

Thanks Aly, glad you like it!

Matt said...

Very jaunty looking fellow, does he do dressage in his time off from the front?

Stryker said...

As it happens Matt yes he does!

the Archduke said...

How splendid. He could deliver pizzas...sorry, Ian. Lovely job.

Stryker said...

Hmm, a new livery for Deliveroo?

Anonymous said...

Like the look of the Austrians,

Paul

lewisgunner said...

The old boys used to put traces on the limber teams. Its impressive and was done with wire and solder. They also used six horse teams .I suppose this was fair representation of the space a battery took up, butvwas awfully clumsy on the table., a limbered gun being longer than musket range. !

Stryker said...

Roy, the limber horses do have tabs sticking out that I always assumed were to aid the soldering of traces? However, mine will remain stylised with two horses!

The Good Soldier Svjek said...

Painting limbers and teams are one of my pet hates - but once done they do enhance the tabletop and this is a marvelous model .

Stryker said...

Thanks GSS!

David said...

Well clearly I am taking the wrong approach. I was just prepping a French 12# Battery for the old Guard and have six limber horses to paint! I do love the more simple approach you are taking and the lemon yellow really pops!

Stryker said...

A six horse team - that’s taking it to a whole other level!