C73 Krupp Field Guns

I am the project conservator for the restoration of a C73 type field
gun made by the Krupp, Essen works, Germany, in 1892. This one is
the No. 4 marked gun of a batch of six delivered to the South
African Republic in 1892. Originally part of the Transvaal Artillery
Corps, it was assigned to Piet Cronje's Orange Free State commando
in 1899 and captured when Piet Cronje surrendered in February 1900
at Paardeberg Drift. The gun was gifted to New Zealand by Lord
Kitchener as a mark of respect for the volunteers of the 1st New
Zealand Mounted Rifles.

We have received extensive help from museums and organisations in
the past three years, and the project is almost complete. This
includes the accurate replication of a C73 breechblock which had
been lost. Information we still need and which has so far proved
impossible to get are the following:

    What is the factory paint colour that Krupp used for their field
    guns in that period? (there was no paint remnant left on the
    gun)

    We have no design details of the brake bar

    What was the purpose of the lidded steel box in the middle of
    the trail

    Does anybody know where to get a design or photographs of an
    1880's or 1890's limber that was with this gun but was lost
    around 1940 and which we hope to be able to replicate?

Our documentation with CAD drawings of all components and
photographs so far is extensive and we would be pleased to make this
available to colleagues interested.

Detlef Klein
Manawatu Museum Services Ltd
301 Kahuterawa Road
R.D.4
Palmerston North 4474


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:35
                 Distributed: Monday, December 8, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-35-025
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