| LeavingTMP | 08 Apr 2020 4:31 p.m. PST |
Title says it! What colour are all the straps etc.. on the horses for a French limber. They seem to be light in colour but struggled to find a reference and others have painted anything from white to a light leather via a sort of buff.
What were they made out of. |
| 14Bore | 08 Apr 2020 5:47 p.m. PST |
Been working on Russians and Prussians, but in my research seems the horse collars in the French army each position horse had a different color so a horse could be moved to a different limber and hold the same position. No idea ofvthe colors or if any nation did likewise. |
| SHaT1984 | 08 Apr 2020 6:56 p.m. PST |
Some are ropes, natural or blackened.
Some are stitched straps, fawn and linen colours. These are sometimes likely to get an 'olive' type colour for parade use (Matches timber colours and guns).
Some are leather- may be natural but most likely to also be blackened for durability and weather resistance. (Remember only the 'outside' of an animal is weatherpoof)! There are many parts for the hauling process, but just as many for the horse and harness control bridles, saddles etc.
FWIW,
d |
 Artilleryman  | 09 Apr 2020 4:42 a.m. PST |
As far as my studies can tell, generally the strapping of the pulling harness was quite light, probably a light buff leather. The riding harness, for the drivers was black. The collar was black leather with the wooden halter painted artillery green.
It is illustrated quite well here. |
| Garryowen | 09 Apr 2020 6:45 a.m. PST |
Ah yes, Rousselot. My favorite source. Tom |
| 14Bore | 09 Apr 2020 8:42 a.m. PST |
Most interesting to me is the horse collar is grey. I take mostly it was wood and the back inside hollowed out and padded with wool or horse hair inside. |
| Artilleryman | 09 Apr 2020 9:00 a.m. PST |
The collar where it rested against the horses 'shoulders' was stuffed black leather (the image is a bit faded) with a wooden front piece. The straps were the same as the pulling harness while the wood was painted green. The 'cap' at the top was white sheepskin or black leather. |
| 4th Cuirassier | 09 Apr 2020 9:30 a.m. PST |
IIRC all woodwork was green including the handles of the sponges, etc. |
| Garryowen | 09 Apr 2020 1:24 p.m. PST |
The above illustration is from Rousselot's Plate 55. Pulling mine out the color of the wooden part of the collar is greener than it appears here on my monitor. Rousselot's text for the plate says "Olive Green." Today, many wargamers don't even know Rousselot's name, but he was one of the official artists of the French army. He did make some mistakes over the years. Some he corrected in his lifetime. But nonetheless, I don't believe there is any more respected uniform artist for the First Empire. Tom |
| LeavingTMP | 09 Apr 2020 1:33 p.m. PST |
Thanks all. Perfect. Will be cracking the paints out and finishing my limber teams tonight. |
| 14Bore | 09 Apr 2020 5:11 p.m. PST |
So makes me wonder if Russians were green and Prussians blue |
| 4th Cuirassier | 09 Apr 2020 5:30 p.m. PST |
@ 14Bore Just for a laugh, I copied the above plate into GIMP and fiddled with the colour balance and brightness until the horse collar shade was French Artillery Green. The result was that the uniform coats changed from steel grey to US Olive Drab. We've been painting our French drivers of train wrong all these years. |
| Brechtel198 | 09 Apr 2020 5:47 p.m. PST |
The 'official' color of the habits of the train troops was 'gris de fer' (iron gray) which covered a gamut of shades of 'bluish grays and grayish blues.' |
looks at a multi-period building.