After much pondering, I have finally decided on an idea of how to model a Swedish 3-pounder artillery piece. I only have written descriptions of them, but they indicate what seems to me to be a setup which would have been old-fashioned by the eary 19th century. But then again, the 3-pounders used in 1808 were old, and the design for them was even older. There was a plethora of different models of artillery in the late 18th century, but one of the designs still in use was essentially the Cronstedt system, introduced in the late years of the Great Northern War, i e in the 1710s. Some changes and addition were made: the ammunition box on the limber was added and the old system of harnessing horses directly to the artillery piece when in action was dropped. The second change would not be visible on this model of course, but adding a ammunition chest was easily done. The model is based on two different Perry AWI light limber/artillery sets, with a couple of horses added from an Austrian Foundry set (if I remember correctly). I will add drivers to it, also based on figures from the Austrian set with new heads.
While this isnt a huge thing in itself, this particular limber was one of the last important elements missing from my Swedish/Finnish collection. So I am very happy to have finished it. Scratch building limbers is a particularly difficult project, especially when you dont really know how the pieces looked and there are no good proxies available. At the same time, having finished so much of my 1808 project, this piece was the very last last thing missing from my three Finnish brigades. The Russians now have three limbers of their own as well, so that things are coming together very nicely.
Pancratist 