"How Polished Did They Keep Their Cannon" Topic

Hello,

How polished and shiny did they keep their brass cannon on campaign and active service? I'm trying to decide whether to paint some new barrels bright shiny gold, or a more muted, more satin brass (that usually contains a hint of red).

This is also 15mm, so I want to take into consideration scale effect. Bright shiny gold might be too striking at normal table visual distance.

Thoughts?

I use Vallejo Old Gold 70878 or 173 on my 15mm cannons.

Cannons were not made out of brass -- they were bronze or iron. Paint bronze cannons (12pdr Nap) bronze, and iron cannons (3" rifle) black.

I don't know about your armies, but the lads in MY armies take pride in their pieces and keep them spotless.

Vallejo Brass for sure.

Sam Watkins in his memoir talked about Genl Johnston getting the artillery to "rub up" their field pieces to make them look nice . That is if I am remembering the correct memoir.

All of the iron was initially painted with a gloss black lacquer. That included tires, gun barrels, chains, heck everything NOT wood, leather, cloth, etc. The only universal exception was the lids of limber chests which were copper and left unpainted, though were polished often.

Bronze guns were polished often and thoroughly. The gunners most often made a paste of water and campfire ash, which worked remarkably well to polish the bronze to a high luster. It also worked on the copper-topped lids for the limber chests. And for buttons, rifle barrels, etc. I have used this method and it really works quite well.

As for maintaining the appearance on campaign, it should be noted that the Ordnance Wagon/Battery Wagon which accompanied each battery, carried both paint, and the materials to create paint for keeping up the appearance of the guns. Cleaning the guns was an excellent means to keep otherwise unemployed gunners busy during lulls and rest periods.

Bit of a perv that general. Vallejo brass with a wash of watery black grey works for me I do matt it all down to not shine though.

Cleaning and polishing the guns also provided the opportunity to detect if there are any flaws in the barrel that might lead to a barrel failing and exploding.

Terry

When they weren't on the move or fighting troops then, like now, were kept busy drilling and cleaning their equipment and standing inspection. Everything that I have seen indicates that cannon barrels would be polished. Polished bronze looks like brass. Now perhaps on campaign you can dirty it some, dull it down, but the odds of it going all the way to bronze are slim. Woe betide the crew whose equipment was out of order.

I know they are made of bronze. Sorry, that was a typo on my part. But if you polish up bronze cannon, they can get as shiny as brass and gold. I'm looking for a good scale effect, and if there is documented evidence of keeping them highly polished in the field, then I will go for the shinier option.

Years ago I did bronze barrels with a bronze paint that was sort of a metallic brown. Now, after looking at Don Troiani paintings of ACW bronze guns in actin, I paint them with some Vallejo gold color and then give them a wash of Vallejo sepia wash.

Tom

Here's an example of a previous one I've painted. I'm considering making is shinier and another tone with more yellow/gold like highly polished bronze.

Nice painting – and I believe that gunners take very great pride in their ordnance and spent a lot of time polishing and painting them

Polished guns are visible for a ridiculous distance as such. How did Quaker guns fool anyone?

Probably easier to paint the Quaker guns the same gloss black available to the battery. So no, you wouldn't see any shiny brass-looking Quaker guns.

Bronze is a little lighter than gold, usually. Maybe add a touch of silver to it.

Shiny is probably a relevant term. Rain, mud, dust…all would have a dulling effect in the field. I'm sure the crews attempted to keep them as shiny as possible, but the tubes certainly weren't museum-piece bright.

I once read a British officer's account of the battle of Waterloo in Tradition magazine (not ACW, I know.) He commented that the Prussian gun barrels he saw were spotlessly polished.

So Extra Crispy might be on to something!

The scale effect is something that needs to be considered. Bright, hard gloss surfaces don't scale down well. For any miniature with representing a hard gloss finish a satin finish is far more realistic.

Thank you for all the feedback. Good discussion as always. I'll post pics of the new pieces eventually.

Are they in use? I am sure it didn't take more than a couple of shots to put that nice black powder residue on everything. So maybe pristine in camp but fifteen minutes into a battle I would think the front at least would be getting some black stains on it

I have a thin black wash over the front part of my Napoleon barrels for just that reason!

Cleburne 1863, those are some beautiful guns, even if they are Confederate!

qAre they in use? I am sure it didn't take more than a couple of shots to put that nice black powder residue on everything. So maybe pristine in camp but fifteen minutes into a battle I would think the front at least would be getting some black stains on it

I don't know, I've seen photos of the guns used in the bombardment scenes in the movie "Gettysburg", a lot of those guns fired a lot of wounds and they stayed pretty clean. If you're looking for buildup maybe a little around the muzzle and a touch around the touch hole.

Nice close ups of a real gun in this video. You can judge for your selves what to make of the colour. I fancy its a bit blacker in the shots of the gun on the trailer at the end of the credits.

YouTube link

Again its only a limited number of rounds fired.Worth sitting through this vid if you haven't seen it before.

Notice how the main barrel dulls up after a couple of minutes of people putting sweaty hands all over it!

Also I would venture to suggest these guys are using modern powder – the old school stuff was a lot dirtier!

Any way a good view of the metal and this is an original gun BTW. Love the way it rings when its fired!

"I don't know, I've seen photos of the guns used in the bombardment scenes in the movie "Gettysburg", a lot of those guns fired a lot of wounds and they stayed pretty clean"

Not sure what powder Hollywood used and how it compared to the powder of 1863?

Interesting thread in that I just had a conversation with a friend who visited Shilo where he was witness to a reenactment gun crew in action. He was taken by how shiny and "golden" the barrels looked. Afterwards he queried about that, thinking surely this was just for show, and was advised that the crews did indeed work very hard to keep their pieces in that condition, even on campaign.
By the by, it is much less work to polish a barrel on a continual basis rather than letting it go for a time and trying to bring it back to life later.

Well this is me with "Fanny" our original Napoleon.

link

I find that you can get quite a good effect by painting the barrels matt dark brown followed by a reasonably generous dry-brush with a bronze paint (I use GW's Tin Bitz) and then a light dry-brush of gold just catching the raised details such as the dolphins, very top surface of the barrel etc.