"Late WWI French artillery to early SCW " Topic

Hi all, I'm trying to put together an artillery group for Barcelona July '36, particularly the revolting 7th light artillery regiment of the 4th Brigade of artillery. I've seen some sources say they have 75mm cannons, and perhaps French cannons at that. Thought this set might work,

French_75mm_Gun_with_Late_War_Crew.html

I'm thinking if, with a little work and creativity, i might even be able to use the crew. I've seen some SCW soldiers in French helmets, but I haven't found photos of this unit and don't know what artillery wore on their heads at the time. I would obviously have to cut off the gas masks on their chests, if not the heads for different helmets. I was wondering if anyone had good ideas or thoughts for me. Thanks for reading

Yes to all. French 75s were definitely used widely throughout the SCW. The crew could be useful, as many on the Loyalist side did wear French helmets. They may be a bit too regular in appearance though for any SCW troops. Maybe grab a set of American Civil War gunners and use the French heads on them.

My SCW chaps have a number of French 75mm guns, along with all sorts of other stuff.

Thanks guys. I've been looking for limber teams to go with it, and was thinking of using this link

I'm no expert on limbers, anyone have thoughts on what i might have to change with them (besides.not using the Napoleon drivers?)

As for SCW artillery crews, maybe our catalogue might be helpful:

link

Cheers,
Lluís
minairons.eu

Thanks Lluís, your miniatures are definitely my favorite SCW I've seen, and I've purchased a bunch of sets. Unfortunately for me, you get what you pay for, and I'm just another poor anarchist laborer. I'm working on some large dioramas that will feature minairons figures in the front and many cheaper plastic figures in the background. Haven't bought your artillery guys yet though, and now I'm tempted.

In the mean time, I'm not finding many photos of horse or mule-drawn artillery in the SCW. Heres one of the few and best ive found, but i was wondweing if a) it was typical to pull cannons with only 2 animals, seems like a heavy load, maybe because they're using city roads? and b) what type of cannon this is:

The gun looks to be about 75mm based on men walking beside it. Two horses seems like a very small team for a gun that size. I'm pretty sure that 6 horse teams were standard for a gun of that size. I know the Ft. Sill WWI recreation unit uses a 6-horse team for their 75. See: link

I would guess that a 2-horse team is a testament to the under-funding of the Spanish army in the 1920's and 1930's (and probably the basis of some of the grievances of the officer class).

Yes I bet they were using 6 horse teams on July 19 1936. I just got a book out of the library, "El ejercito del 19 de julio en Cataluna" by Solanes. I can't read it (lol) but that never stops me, and ive started translating photo captions.

There's a photo of a different angle of the pile of horses from the famous shot with the Assault Guards pretending to fire from behind the dead horses as cover. I took a pic of it on my phone but unfortunately can't upload it here, and haven't seen it anywhere online, but I'll describe: The assault guards in the pic are off the the left at the corner, and the photo is panned right so you can see the pile is indeed 6 horses in pairs. That the caption identifies them as from a battery, and the location as Diputacion, Pau claris, y Lauria, means they are almost certainly from a battery of the 7th light artillery regiment, who lost 75mm cannons there. Unfortunately for me, the 6horse team for 11 bucks I posted above is out of stock at my local hobby store, at their supply company, and everywhere else I've looked. So if you have leads on cheap 1/72 Horses either in teams of 6, or super cheap and loose (to be melted slightly or otherwise deformed into piles of dead horses) please let me know. Thanks for all the help as always!

Found that photo:

Makhno, Minairons also do separate heads with different headgear although I've no idea how compatible they are with most plastic figure ranges given the latter tend to have a less bulky/exaggerated style to most metal ranges. The Spanish army units in July '36 would be wearing the elegant M26 "Trubia" helmet and Isabelino caps:

link

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Thanks Mike, I've considered that idea but hadnt looked into it. Im a fan of minairons and thats are a pretty good price for the 9 heads. I could compare other minairon figures I have to the crewmen to see if size would work. Has anyone tried glueing metal heads to plastic? I use a generic 2 part, 5 min epoxy to glue to metal bases (washers). Actually the crewmen than came with the 75mm French guns are quite soft, and i had to glue twice, though I might have forgotten to wash them!

The metal heads come on stalks so I'd probably remove the heads from the plastic figures and create a hole in the neck of the correct diameter with a pin-vice or needle and insert combined with adhesive for a strong join. Soaking in warm, soapy water is definitely advised before painting and glueing.

I've got some Minairon figures that came as crew for the Sadurní Carrier so I'll check out the match too as I'm hoping to get a selection of heads myself.

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