dafi

And the winner is ... ... ... ... Mark - you got the point! And Dave and Popeye off course :-) :-) :-) I hope you still will talk to me Lawrence ;-) Cheers, Daniel

Let the show go on :-) The full crew was up to 14 men for both guns on each side of the ship. Strictly numbered, 1 gun captain, 2 second gun captain, 3 loader, 4 sponger, 5 sec. loader, 6 sec. sponger and 7 - 14 auxiliaries to pull the strings. First picture for clarity without the auxs. One can see nicely, loader and sponger within the breeching ropes, sec. sponger and sec. outside bringing the next items as wad pads or balls. The gun captain is pressing a small leather bag against the vent, for that it is air sealed, for that no smoldering ashes are pressed by air pressure into the vent and that for by retrieving the sponge a vacuum is created that will put off all smoldering bits. The second gun captain is here shown organising the tools like worm and the bars, his time will come, if he has to take halve of the crew to work the opposite gun if battle on both sides is required. As one lieutenant was always taking charge of several big guns, Lt. Williams of course is present here at this excercising the great guns. And it gets really packed, once the auxiliaries are added to pull the strings Also nice to be seen is that sec. loader and sec. sponger have to stand outside the side tackles. Also see the stick of the sponge protruding largely outboard. On the capstan one can see the powder monkee, having prepared already the next cartridge. He is supposed to stay as far as possible for security reasons and to only handle the cartridge to the loaders and to nobody else. Also this was not a job for jung boys as generally thought, in fact Captain Duff of the Mars strictly forbid this as his log states. For the boys was to clean loose powder with a wet swab. I like the two marines that were stationed on each big gun, gives a nice touch of color :-) And also if I was a sponger and loader, I really would look out for that the man on the back tackle had a good lunch and that he makes sure, that there are no 3.5 tons coming towards oneself if a big wave is moving the ship ... Some more pics to enjoy ... ... or a bit more inside the melée :-) Cheers, Daniel

Herewego, Dr. dafistein coming straight from his lab ... ... breaking little bones of little people ... ... and reassembled, on the right, the poor lad before being transformed ... ... in his new life as gun captain, holding a leather bag against the vent to air seal it, for that no smoldering ashes is pushed upwards, while the barrel is sponged. Two of the Misters got funny tails ... ... a bit of paint applied ... .... and the crew is complete :-) The lieutenant, the gun captain, loader 2 with the bullet, sponger 2 with the wad pads, powdermonkee, the marine (at ease, the crossbelts off and the button opened). Sponger and loader are already at their place, waiting for the rest of the gang, the second gun captain and the 7 auxiliaries to pull the strings ... Cheers, Daniel

Having seen your Sphynx again on the exhibition yesterday, I just can say what I said the other times I saw her: WOW!!! It is a impecable gem! Cheers, hope to see her soon again! Daniel

As I realised yesterday by seeing the AV on the exhibition, you did not step forward, neither did a leap, that was a jump! Congratulation, well done Daniel

Thank you very much Sirs! While preparing the next input, just to keep you amused, a picture of yesterdays modeling exhibition in Stuttgart Germany: Alex, Joachim and myself enjoying ourselves with nice chats at the booth of the Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau (Workgroup for historical Shipbuilding) Alex: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/410-hms-sphynx-by-alex-m-scale-148-english-20-gun-frigate-as-build-1775/ Joachim: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/836-amerigo-vespucci-by-schiffebastler-mantua-model-scale-184-italien-sail-training-ship-build-1931/?hl=amerigo Cheers and enjoy as we did, Daniel

Great work! Daniel

What to do if one wants to play? One remembers old kids games :-) So take a paper strip of exactemente 4,5 mm width ... ... folded once ... ... take a template to properly get the corner bent ... ... the second to come ... ... fold the lower part into the opposite way, shorten it and again bent around the corner ... ... prepared the other side ... ... flattened ... ... opened and spread the opposite way ... ... already recognise it ??? Opened once more and ... ... and ready to be hatted :-) Still have to send Lt. Williams to the hairdressers for that the chapeau sits to its designed location ... ...hihihihihihihihihi... ... sincerely yours, the dafi

Also if you look at all these strange things like bar shots, chains and so on, I do believe it was negligible what the worm did ... ... funny that those guns did not explode more often ... ... just now and then ... XXXDAn

This worm stays as it is. Its purpose is to get powder cartridges out if the charge did not ignite (lovely job this must have been) or to regularly clean the bottom of the breech from possible remains of extinguished or even smoldering cartridges after a shot. That is why it needs hard and pointed ends. The swabbing was done with a different swab, this possibly was fur and was used really wet, that is why a bucket with 9 parts water and one vinagre was always nearby. In my small diasplay you see the loader (known as number 4) is just inserting/retracting the swab, 9 tenths of the rod being outside of the hull ... Cheers, Daniel

Sometimes, yes sometimes I hat me for what I am doing to myself ... ... example needed? The worm hook to extract cartridge remains ... ... already I glued a nice long spiral onto a stick and just then looked into the literature ... ... bloody mental cinema ... ... it is not one long spiral but two short opposite spirals, which makes sense for the purpose. First soldering trial with the 0,3 mm copper wires went bad until I remembered that there is a protection around :-( Once removed, results became better, but still quite breakable, but then realised, the spiraling method does not work ... ... okokokokokoko ... ... back to start, rethink and resolder ... ... but how to do the double helix? Took a fitting drill with the right lead ... ... and carefully embedded the wire into the grooves. The lead still being too high, respaned the opposite way against a 1 mm mandral, and carefully readjusted the lead. And here we are, it finally worked ... ... even fits for the bore :-) That is why I sometimes hate myself, took me days to work this out until it fitted ... ... so I got really time enough to hate myself ... ... deeply contrited ... ...yours dafi

THank you for sharing the know how! XXXDAn

Roooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr! :-) XXXDAn

Thank you Sirs, the joy is on my side ! Ok, lets compromise: 1:100 ... ... let the feast begin ... ;-) XXXDAn

All the best from me too!!! The thicker breeching line will do a good job. Also for these guns just one training tackle was used. The double one was only used for french 36 an 48 pounders. Makes things easier on the deck :-) Cheers, Daniel

Big thanks Henry!!! Daniel

Wuff-wuff :-) XXXDAn

Just one more question to our black-powder aficionados: If I see the nicely white washed inner walls of the decks and I think about "exercising the great guns" with live ammunition? Does the whole area of the walls needed to be washed down or even had to be repainted after each of these exercises because of all the black (?) smoke traces of the gunpowder? Also the sponge: Nicely white on the museum ships, but dirty grey in real life? Or even dark anthracite? Questions over questions ... Cheers, Daniel PS: I even do not dare asking for the walls condition after a long battle ...

If I am not mistaken, the establishment gave the gunport sizes according to the weight of shot intended at the time of construction. This meant, if smaller guns were fitted later - often in the later years of a ship - the guns should have been too low in the port. Also Goodwin mentions, that in Victory there are (were?) some guns with land carriages that were too high situated in the port. Naval carriages were apparently lower in height. Following the initial question too, is that those guns were 4 or 6 pounders on this small vessels, and these were "toy-guns" ... (even though I still do not want to be standing in the way while being fired ...) And coming to the drawing, if I understood well, while sponging and ramming in stuff, the gun captain should stop the vent hole with his finger to create a "air cushion" that avoids ambers to go into the hole and also to extinguish last glowing bits in there by cutting them off the fresh air. XXXDAn

Anyway, no something completely different ... ... re worked the anatomic side of Sponge-Bob as my son calls him and Dr Tentacle also got his wild brothers put into custody. While the starbord side is deserted as we know from previous posts, we can slowly start populating the port side. As everybody was given a number, n# 4 is already swapping the barrel with his sponge while n# 3 is helping with the cartridge. Still looks quite spacious ... ... but with the training in place it is getting tighter and tighter. Also I would not like to stand there without somebody holding the back tackle - if not one wave and some tons of iron and wood jump towards you and no way to jump out of this tackle bondage. And now imagine 5 guys on the tackle left and 5 guys on the tackle right, pulling the strings, helping with the handspikes, reaching for worm-hooks, wad pads and cannon balls and the guncaptain touching off the hole with his thump - THAT will be hot. And then the same to the gun on the left and the same to the gun on the right. Better than the tube at rush hour ... ... seen from the top, one really can imagine. Soon more, XXXDAn

Thank you Lawrence, but they should be handled with care as they are highly addictive! Never thought about using them that much when I designed them, but as they were there - a small trial - and crack - you are doomed and highly addicted from the first consumption on ... XXXXDAn

Thank you Popeye, dragzz, Jan, Patrick, Matti and Nigel :-) But as shown before, this could be just one way of displaying the tackles. The hint of keeping not needed ropes on top of the barrel is something, that is displayed on both Vic and Consti, Just the bow-tie I had to add as the rope was a little to stiff to get an even result otherwise. But the coils are not fixed, so I still have space for improvement. @ Jan, yeah it took ages to produce such a big Tic-Tac, that´s why I was slow in the build lately ... ... and I do not think to produce 850, I think 820 will do the job ... ;-) Cheers, Daniel

For the background of this display: The guncrew is busy excercising on the opposite side, so these guns are run out for symmetrical reasons and ready for combat with all tackles set. As they are left alone for the time being, the tackles are secured by a half hitch (or a overhand knot with draw-loop) and the length of the rope put over the barrel for easy grabbing. Like this the gun could go into combat within the second. So keep on dreaming ... Here just for the scales sake :-) And my favorite shot for today :-) XXXDAn

Thank you Patrick! Dan

What brings up the next question: What to be done with the length of the side tackles running side ? My usual way, take a length of rope and check the options. The coil was not in my mind for several reasons, that is why I did not try it here. First loosely placed beside the gun - over the breeching rope that lies on the deck - as seen on V. in P. on several guns. I do not like it as ropes could get tangled up easily. Second try, put behind the gun where usually the coils are placed ... ... gives a nice trap to fit the back tackle. And here my personal favorite, also seen on several museum ships, loose loops put over the barrel. Keeps the floor free, no messing, easy to grap. As Captain Hardy was sad to have been was some kind of etiquette freak here a more "ship shape" or "Bristol-fashion" style of: the loops secured in the middle. And this is my personal winner :-) XXXDAn