20mm French Napoleonic 8/9 pdr Field Gun - Comparisons of different manufacturer's model

Without doubt my first choice for artillery for this period would always be the Hinchcliffe 20mm products - clean good looking - scale correct and a good range of different pieces. Alas they are no more and trying to find any nowadays is almost impossible. So I sorted out all the different samples I had - bought some I didn't have - and compared the French 8/9 pdr offerings from all the manufacturers I managed to collect/obtain.

The images shows on the top row - from left to right:-

RSM - Currently available but a little too small in my opinion given that Hinton Hunt are the figures I need the artillery to match.

Hinton Hunt - No longer obtainable - untidy casting - always seemed too small to me - Even if it was obtainable I wouldn't use it!

Alberken - Oversize wheels and barrel - shows its vintage and of course no longer available.

Minifig S Range - Quite a good casting - a little coarse by today's standards and again no longer available.

Hinchliffe - The ideal product in my opinion - all others have to be compared to this standard - Sadly no longer available.

Bottom row left to right:-

Lamming - No Longer available - nice clean square casting - a little thick in the wheel but if it were available it might be a contender - because of its clean square and neat casting - although some of the others are better scale and more accurate.

Rose - Available again from Greenwood and Ball - Really nice clean square casting - Scale feels right - proportions look right - except wheel hubs which are too small and no outward cant to spokes.

NapoleoN - Currently available - also a nice clean casting - probably the best wheels of all the models - a very accurate representation of the field gun - I am not sure I like the one piece casting of the barrel and the carriage - it just doesn't feel right - Nevertheless it is a model that is well worth using.

Kennington(SHQ) - Currently available - it also is a good clean casting if a little unsquare and slightly misformed - at least the ones I got were - but again it looks reasonably accurate but the trail side view doesn't ring true to the scale drawings. Wheels and axles are a very sloppy fit - I would certainly use in the absence of a couple others here.

Les Higgins(Phoenix) - Not sure if NapoleoN will re-issure these guns - I didn't have a French one so I had to resort to the British one that I had to show the scale and quality. Clean casting little plain - If NapoleoN reissue it then I need to get a French gun for better comparison. Though I cannot see why they would reissue it given the quality of their own gun.

So who wins? - For my money in the absence of Hinchliffe - I will use the Rose and/or The NapoleoN. I love the clean square uniform castings of the Rose product - but I also really like the wheels on the NapoleoN gun. If it's barrel was not cast to the carriage then I would use that model solely

Now I want them both to make the howitzer and the 12pdr and also the limbers!!

I used the drawings in Osprey's New Vanguard - Napoleons Guns 1792-1815 as a guide when looking for scale and accuracy.

From My Sample Box (6) - Hinton Hunt - French Napoleonic Dis-mountable Line Cavalry

The images above show all the French line cavalry dis-mountable series from left to right:
Top row: FN310 Cuirassier (FNH5), FN311 Carabinier (FNH5), FN313 Lancer-Gendarme 1811 (FNH3), FN315 Elite Hussar (FNH7), FN315a Elite Hussar holding carbine (FNH7). Middle row: FN315b Elite Hussar firing carbine (FNH7), FN316 Hussar Trooper (FNH7), FN317 Hussar in Merliton Cap (FNH7), FN318 Elite Chasseur a Cheval Trooper (FNH7), FN319 Chasseur a Cheval Trooper in Shako (FNH7), FN320 Light Horse Lancer (FNH7).
Bottom row: Horses FNH3, FNH5 & FNH7. Red paint remnants are from aborted attempt at recasting!
Not shown FN148 Dragoon - which is included in Line Dragoon numbering series.