Making 1/72 Caissons (1 Viewer)

Captain

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I got out my 1/72 scale ACW Artillery last night and was looking at it. With most sets you get one limber and three guns and never any caissons. I have bought many sets over the years and have lots of extra guns so I decided to do some converting/building of caissons today. I got out my trusty 1864 Artillery Field Tactics manual and starting checking it out.
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There are metal sets that can be bought in 25mm but by the time you get all the limbers and horses and the caissons that is a serious chunk of change. So, I decided to make mu own.
 
I looked at the gun carriage and figured that was a good place to start so got out some tools and started pondering.
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After much referring to the manual it looked to me like the trail of a cannon looked very much like the hitch and main pole of the caisson. The biggest problem was axle location. The Caisson axle is in line with what I'm calling the main pole and the axle on the gun carriage runs under the trail. Time for cutting. I first cut off the upper cheeks of the carriage and then cut the trail off even with the axle. I then trimmed off some excess and super-glued the two back together in line
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Sorry for the poor picture but it serves well enough to show the two pcs. prior to gluing.
 
I then took my handy wooden coffee stirring sticks that I've been using to make 1/72 scale buildings and used them to make the bed of the caisson. I also cut some pine stock into the same size as the ammo chests on the limber.
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The thinner wooden cross pcs. shown are just a stir stick split down the middle.
 
Then I set them on the plastic axle and poles just to see how they looked.
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I then cut off a piece of a toothpick and glue it on to the rear crosspiece and stuck the spare wheel on it.
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Then just put the finished bed onto the axle/pole.
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I'm not sure the best thing to use to glue the wood to plastic. Any suggestions are certainly welcome. I want to wash and paint the plastic (except where they will be a glued together) before I go any farther. This is as far as I got today more pictures when painted and finished.
 
Great work Capt.,
Ive always thought it a shame that there are so many collectors and few that are really "active" in there hobby in some form or another. For me being active in the hobby of my choice gives the greatest satisfaction and keeps me most interested.
Ray
 
Thanks fellas. It was a fun little project. The best thing is that now I have some Caissons.
 
It took me alot longer to get these things painted up then I thought it would. Confounded Spring chores! Major John Pelham arrives to escort them to where most needed.
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Thanks Britfarmer. I had fun doing it and was pleased with the way they turned out.
 
Photos and painted cassions look great. Thanks for the pictures and explanation on making the carriages. John
 
Thanks Leadmen and your welcome. Has it warmed up enough up there for you to do any painting outside yet?
 
For Civil War, I would suggest painting the limbers and caissons an olive green with replicated metal parts painted black. These were the colors of the vehicles as well as the cannons. Also, the lids were actually metal, copper color, with a canvas strapped on the lid. The horses were also tethered in tandem with chains. Let me suggest that you check Arms and Equipment of the Civil War by Coggins. It has an excellent portrayal of how the horses were tied together and with the saddles on one side. I use small chains from a craft store. Also my caissons and limbers were purchased from a gift shop in Gettysburg, already made and of metal construction. They may be a tad larger in scale but not noticeable even with 1/32 figures next to them. I painted them as above. They were so inexpensive that I plan to buy more to complete a battery of artillery. The only problem is finding horses, some of which I purchased from Schlege but I had to paint the bridles and other strappings.
 
Might I suggest you take a look at the RHA thread in the Uniform section under Historical Discussion. Although the main difference is that the ACW had collar harness and the RHA have breast harness the bulk of the trappings remain the same for both periods. You might find the photographs of some help. Trooper
 
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