Firearms of GNW

[Clibinarium]

Can anyone help with good images/details of Swedish and Russian muskets? I have some images and photos, but high detail stuff is lacking. Also important are dimensions if anyone has those.

Cheers

[Tacitus]

The Swedish site Digitalt museum is a good place to find this kind of information about Swedish firearms.

http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/search?query=musk%C3%B6t

Useful search words are:

Musköt = musket
Karbin = carbine
Pistol = pistol
Flintlås = flintlock (as in flintlåsmusköt or flintlåspistol)
Luntlåsmusköt = matchlock musket
Hjullåspistol = wheellock pistol
Bajonett = bayonet

The word gevär is also commonly used in these collections and can mean both musket and rifle.

[Friedrich August I.]

How much of the Information for the Russian Muskets is to found on this page you may decide for yourself

http://www.peter.petrobrigada.ru/index_e.htm

Its a re-enactor website of the russian Guards in the GNW

[Dfogleman2]

Note that Hoglund says the musket was 140 cm long and the bayonet was 70 cm long. pp 18-19 (Swedish edition). Hoglund says Karl XII was 178 cm tall, which was, according to H., considered tall for the time. The drawings in the book reflect this, in that they show muskets with fixed bayonets to be longer than the men are tall. See, e.g., pp 64 and 119.

[Clibinarium]

I got that impression from the Karoliner book, and having checked Hoglund you are quite right. I am concerned this poses a practical difficulty with figures; that's a very long, thin bayonet for 28mm and might pose a fair risk of breaking or bending. I'm not sure how to deal with it.

[billwargames]

You could seperately cast the muskets with hands attached,this would mean a miscast would be a weapon rather than the whole figure.You may have to exagerrate the bayonet for practicality..

[barr7430]

Yup this is going to be the challenge. Anyone who owned Foundry GNW Swedes will remember that the bayonets were a bit of a problem even though they were hugely exaggerated in thickness (looking somewhat like young tree trunks). The problem is the join to the musket barrel mostly not the bayonet itself.

[Dfogleman2]

At least it appears that the muskets were not fixed while marching (the Gadebusch illustrations) and probably were not while firing. That leaves for the most part the attacking figures. Still a problem though. Can we use a softer metal alloy for these? Not sure if it's practical.

[Ben Waterhouse]

Back to the future. Include some steel pins with the figures?

[EvilGinger]

Might be worth having a look at how Musketeer Miniatures managed this as he has a small GNR range with attacking Swedes in it if I recall. Not suggesting copying another's work but looking at how some one else dealt with the same issue can help one think out ones own solution. I dont have any of his GNR range but those figures form other ranges I have suggest he knows what he is doing.

Or Perhaps I could suggest going into Plastics ita all the rage apparently.

Ginger

[Friedrich August I.]

The discussion starts to sound like one I had once about Austrian Jaegers (1809) with their Stutzen and the attached Hau-Bajonett which was to be that long to provide them with the same reach as the Line Infantry. The debate raged along as how to sculpt such a Bajonett and how to make it not too brittle. The discussion ended unsucessfully
The result was they didnt receive Bajonetts attached to their Stutzen in any fighting or marching position at all. Very Sad.

[barr7430]

I don't think it is impossible to do. We have already overcome some tricky castings problems.. one of the most challenging was the casting of the finial and tassles for the cavalry standards. Actually a tougher job than the bayonets. Our casters stepped in with some reinforcing to the masters and mould modification. I wouldn't get too pessimistic about bayonets folks.. I think we'll manage it ok. On the subject of plastics just as a calibration.. a set of dies to make one box set costs approximately £16-20,000. I won't be going into plastics. Anyway, those bayonets are even worse! They snap off all the time at least a metal one can be bent back some of the time..

[EvilGinger]

just throwing in the idea Barry

Ginger

[barr7430]

No worries, I wasn't sniping, just positioning the idea in context for all interested. I am very friendly with Julian at Victrix so I know a lot of the behind the scenes story. The future is probably in 3D printing actually

[billwargames]

When casting I used to drill a small whole thru the mould at the end of spears,etc-this allowed the metal to flow thru to the end of the cast object(spear,sword,etc)this extra flow prevented most miscasts of the weapon.Never did like the blob that other manufactures used to put at the end of bayonets-as this needed a lot of careful trimming/filingto keep the bayonet shape.