We are back again with some more of Billy Hill’s conversions. this time Billy is talking about his conversions for Scratch Built Caissons.
Scratch Built Caissons
Several years ago, my wife bought me 6 of the new [THEN new] CTS 6 horse limbers and caissons as an anniversary present. I already had 6 of the CTS/Marx cannon and limbers, so that made up a regulation battery: 12 limbers, 6 cannon and 6 caissons. While 4 horse teams might have been common under wartime conditions, I decided to update my other CTS teams to match the new ones with the regulation 6 horses. My collection also included some IMEX limbers and guns, as well as some guns and limbers from the BMC Gettysburg playsets.
I decided that it would be fun to bring the other 2 groups up to battery status. Neither IMEX nor BMC makes a caisson. The IMEX limbers only have 4 horse teams and the BMC limbers have no horses at all, so I had quite a bit of work ahead of me. For the IMEX battery, I had to locate more IMEX limbers, add a pair of horses to each team, and scratch build 6 caissons. These were mostly made from balsa, with grab handles made from staples and wheels from extra IMEX cannon.. Due to the flexibility of the IMEX harness setup, I chose to base the limbers. The BMC battery required more work. I already had on hand more than a sufficient number of limbers and cannon. I needed to make 6 caissons and add 6 horse teams to the limbers. Rather than do a complete scratch building, I decided to cut up some of the extra limbers and cannon and combine the pieces into caissons, adding a couple of bits of balsa and plastic card to complete them. I chose to preserve the BMC toy flavor and attach the horse teams to the limber in the same way and with the same horses that come with the BMC covered wagons.
I’m still painting the last 6 limbers from the IMEX battery.
Excellent work!
Thanks!
Nice job Greg,I can picture them in a Picket’s charge scene !
Where is Billy Hill from, if we might ask?
New Hampshire by way of New Jersey
Now THAT’S a proper artillery battery! Way more detailed than I ever got. I ensure each gun has a limber and 2 to 4 horses depending on the size of the gun, but no caissons. Great idea to combine pieces from the BMC limbers. I have to ask; what do you do with this stuff once it’s all done? I game with mine, therefore leaving out much of the minute details. I’m guessing you do dioramas?
Thanks Greg! That’s high praise from you! Currently we are doing post retirement renovations and I have no dedicated space to set up. I have a 4′ x 4′ plywood sheet that I take out on the deck on nice afternoons.
I like to set things up and take pictures. I move them around and make the noises. Sometimes I do rudimentary gaming, using the flip of a coin to decide things. In the past, I have done more formal wargaming and hope to do so again when I once more have the space.
Correction – TWO proper arty batteries. Also have to add – that’s the first time I ever saw those new ‘little horses’ ever used in a way that I liked what I saw. Excellent work!
Actually, THREE batteries, IMEX, BMC and CTSMarx.
What a great piece of work; I never cease to be amazed at how great you guys are. Always inspiring.
All these conversions – from Saracens, to cannon wheels, to caissons – are very impressive and show the sort of creativity that is possible in this hobby.
The axles are to far back. CTS one has many errors. See Coggins books for blueprints
Have you done a field forge or battery wagon. All in all great work
Axles ARE too far back. I referenced the CTS caissons because I had them in front of me and they are too far back on the CTS caissons as well. I didn’t catch on until I was ready to paint them and looked online to check details on the metalwork. At that point I didn’t feel like tearing them apart again so I let it stand. They all match each other and I’m happy with the way they look.
Hey Billy Hill, I love what you did to the BMC cannons, I am planning to do something similar, to add horses to the limbers, but I don’t exactly know how to do this. Is there a way maybe you can email me more pics of your work or maybe you made a video explaining your work in detail? Thank you.