Painting artillery

As far as painting goes, this weekend I've been working on- amongst other things- a section of French artillery; a 6 pdr. and four crew, all from Front Rank.

Here is the progress so far.

My latest hare-brained scheme is that I'll paint up one stand of artillery and a squadron of cavalry for each infantry battalion that is completed.  Not only will that break the painting monotony and save me from the madness that comes from painting multiple horse-harnesses and the black iron banding around the artillery pieces,  but it will also mean I can build up an all-arms force in relatively appropriate proportions.

This means it may be a while before I work on the next gun in the battery, so I will have to keep a record of what paints I used so that the miniatures are consistently painted the colours I want!  

The best place for me to do that is right here on this blog, so here is my "recipe" for painting a French artillery piece- largely for my own reference, but maybe someone out there may also find it useful.  All paints are Ceramcoat unless stated otherwise.

• Prime whole model black.
• Paint carriage and wheels Hammered Iron (a dark olive-grey). A number of thin coats are best to give depth.
• Drybrush with Timberline Green to bring out the woodgrain.
• Give the carriage and wheels a very thin wash of Amsterdam Acrylic's Raw Umber.
• Bring out the highlights on the woodwork with a light drybrushing of Olive Yellow.  Don't overdo it!
• Paint gun barrel with a couple of thin coats of Metallic Bronze.  Leave lots of time to dry between coats.
• When thoroughly dry, give the barrel a black wash.  Using a very thin brush, line in the raised parts of the barrel casting with black. 

Still yet to be done; first, however, take a good swig of some strong tea, coffee, or some stronger beverage to fortify self before going on to the next step.  It will take some time.

• After taking a deep breath, start painting all the remaining ironwork using matte black,  one side of the gun at a time. 
  
• When dry, highlight with Metallic Pewter.
• Carry out the same step for the wheel rims and iron hubs.
• Glue the wheels on to the gun.  
• Brush on satin varnish.
• Add figures and gun to base.
• Place on gaming table, roll high and knock down Russkis like ninepins.