Guns of History Naval Smoothbore by Osmosis - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24

[Osmosis]

Only certain metals it seems. The guys in our lab at work use it to clean brass and stainless all the time with no effect on the metal at all. But you should see it strip the marine growth off of fiberglass in seconds. It is pretty amazing stuff. Basically 30% Hydrochloric acid, 10% phosphoric acid and water.

[thibaultron]

Love the idea for the display feet!! I'll remeber this for future projects.

[Osmosis]

Thanks Ron,

 

I think Mantua had them on their kits. It adds a bit of elegance to it I think and they are easy enough to make. You can probably find some suitable pre-made wood blocks at the local craft store.

 

A little progress to report very little actually.

 

Added the shot racks. I wish I had thought of them before I started planking.

Also my second attempt at truck making turned out much better then the first try. Still not perfect but good enough to carry forward with. I have enough blanks cut and since they will not be glued on I will keep trying to refine them as I move along.

On the next set I will not pre-drill for the nails but save that for last. Hopefully I will be able to get them a little more concentric to the circumference.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by Osmosis

[Osmosis]

I never intended to spend this much time on this little kit, but I think I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope it is not the proverbial on coming train. But really an awful lot of the time has been trying to figure out how to make "little improvements" and develop ideas that may be useful on the next build.

 

Anyway I do have a little more progress to report.

 

As you can see I also got an upgrade to my work space for my Birthday, thanks to the Admiral. A new cutting mat to replace the old piece of cardboard.

 

I decided on satin wipe on poly for the finish. Now I can finally start attaching some hardware and rigging.

 

 

 

And although I am not quite ready to change my name from Smith to Wheelwright I did mange 4 usable trucks.

 

Need to stain the wedges. I made them out of walnut initially but you could barely tell they were there. I will stain them a color slightly lighter than the walnut to make them stand out a little bit.

 

As you can see the carriage is back in the fixture ready for the axetrees to be glued and pinned but since I am working without a net so to speak (the only plans are in my head) I am going to sleep on it for tonight in case I think of anything that has to be done to the parts before gluing.

 

I think things will proceed more quickly now that the deck and bulwarks are complete.

 

Once again thanks for looking in.

[Osmosis]

This is the smallest hook my tired eyes and stiff old fingers not to mention my round nose pliers will allow me to make, pictured next to the block it will be stropped onto. At 3/16" it scales up to 4.5 real world inches. Can anyone tell me if that seems about right. Having only seen pictures it is hard to tell.

Unfortunately SS wire is all I had available this small. Is there a way to blacken stainless steel?

Edited December 12, 2017 by Osmosis

[jud]

Should be fine. I suggest that you add some length to the open end with a reverse curve in the last bit of it. Hooks that were slack then quickly put under tension tended to jump out of eyes, so small stuff like Marlin was used to mouse the hook to prevent that, few modeler do that, they should. The Seamen of Old all carried knives and used them as tools, so lashing or Mousing almost everything did not slow things up a bit. Would expect to see the Grab Hook style on Guns.

Your work on this Display is  exceptional.

jud 

 

Figure 6-23.-Chain sting.

Grab Hooks

Grab hooks have an inside curve that is almost U-shaped so that the hook will slip over a link edgeways and not allow the next link to slip past. Grab hooks have a much more limited range of use than slip hooks. They are used exclusively when the loop formed in the chain is not intended to close around the load.

Mousing a Hook

As a rule, a hook should always be moused as a safety measure to prevent slings or line from coming off. Mousing also helps prevent the straightening of a hook but does not add to the strength of the hook. To mouse a hook (fig. 6-25) after the sling is on the hook you should wrap the wire or small stuff 8 or 10 turns around the two sides of the hook. Mousing is then

Figure 6-25.-Mousing a hook.

 

completed by winding several turns around the wire or small stuff and tying the ends securely. Inspection of Hooks

 

 

Edited December 12, 2017 by jud

[Osmosis]

Thanks for the info and the compliment Jud. I am glad I only made 1 before asking for help. I will try to refine the shape on my next attempt.

[Osmosis]

A little more progress tonight.

 

The carriage is finally glued up. The Transom and Bolster are installed and the Stool Bed is shaped and waiting for my Brass Black to arrive tomorrow. Having not found a reasonable method for blackening brass under my kitchen sink I was forced to break out the amazon prime account and order some.

 

The Piece of tubing supplied for the cross bolt was way too big in my opinion so I used the rod meant for the port hinges. By the looks of the illustrations in the "instructions" you are to use the entire length of rod and span the entire port. As you can see there is plenty to do both hinges as they should be and to make the cross bolt. I will fashion some washers for the ends from sheet brass.

 

 

 

I think that will do it for tonight.

 

As always thanks for looking in.

[Osmosis]

I think the wood work on the carriage is complete. At least I hope it is because after drilling the last of the hardware pilot holes I put the first coat of wipe on poly on.

 

 

Then I turned my attention to the hardware. I was going to blacken the brass tonight so that I could start installing it tomorrow. But, I kept looking at that pathetic little cast metal cleat. I could not convince myself to like it sooooo, you guessed it.

 

I don't know what the camera did to the texture of the wood in this picture but believe me it is walnut. It is a little over sized but I will deal with that over the weekend. Tomorrow night is our weekly dinner outing with my 2 yr old Grand Daughter so we will be feasting on Pizza.

 

Thank you everyone for all of the likes. I hope to have this done by the time the Jolly Old Elf brings me a new project to start.

 

 

[Osmosis]

MSW might not have been working last night but I was hard at it. Had my first experience using Brass black and it went pretty well I think. First I needed a few small washers for the cross bolts.

 

I am sure I could have bought these somewhere but where is the fun in that. I also needed a couple of smaller eye bolts that were not included in the kit so I made them from small brass nails as you can see below and I spent quite a bit of time cutting 75 or so of the same nails to the correct length prior to blackening. I took this picture after I started installing some of the hardware there was quite a bit more.

 

This is only about half of the hardware done in the first batch. I must say I was quite impressed, that Brass Black work great and very fast. Still not happy with the BB cannon balls I think I will try the gun bluing next.

 

And here is the carriage semi outfitted. Just the capsquares yet to be made and blackened along withe the barrel and that should complete the gun and carriage.

Still debating on the bucket I am thinking I will have to try to make one.

 

That is it for now I hope to find a couple of hours tomorrow to work on it some more.

 

Thanks for all the likes. Hope everyones shopping is all done unlike mine.

 

[Tigersteve]

Fantastic work with this kit. I agree you need to make the bucket. 

Steve

[fnkershner]

Art - I have been quietly following your log with great interest. To me the most important part is the exploration of blackening solutions. Did I miss something? I don't see any discussion that explains where the Brass Black came from? Where can I pick some up? 

[Osmosis]

"Brass Black" is a Birchwood Casey product the same folks who make gun bluing solutions as well as many other metal treatment chemicals. If you have a Bass Pro or other large sporting goods or shooter supply store near you they might carry it but I ordered mine from Amazon. About 8 bucks a bottle but it says you can reuse it several times and it only takes a small amount.

 

Best Regards

Edited December 22, 2017 by Osmosis

[Osmosis]

Did not have as much time over the holiday weekend to work on anything model related as I had hoped. But since this week is nortoriously slow at work I took some tools and wire to the office and made some rigging hooks. I took the pictures after I got home.

 

 

Shown with the block they will be used with. I made 12 and only need 6 so I should be able to find enough decent ones in there.

 

 

And here they are after 30-45 seconds in full strength Birchwood Casey Perma Blue.

 

 

Same thing for the BB Cannonballs.

 

Then I finally got to attaching some hardware to my bulwarks.

 

First up were the tool hooks. After reading some of the build logs for these kits this part scared me the most. It seems like a lot of people had trouble with it. Here is how I did it just in case it helps anyone planning on doing this. First I found some wood scraps that elevated the bracket to the correct height. Then I measured down from the cap rail to the position I thought looked good and made a small tic mark on the frame. Next I applied a small drop of medium CA to the bracket between the nail holes and set it on the wood block and aligned with the tic mark and held it in place for 30 seconds. After removing the wood blocks I carefully drilled the bottom hole Using a #73 bit and inserted a nail that I already had cut to about 1/4" with a drop of CA and pressed it into the hole. Lather, rinse, repeat for the top hole. Be sure to angle the drill slightly downward.

 

 

 

And the nail also when pressing it in. Even taking as much care as I could I had 2 nails that somehow got away from me and raised a pimple on the frame but after removing them and trying again they went where they were supposed to with no harm done.

 

 

Then I glued on some of my newly blackened Cannonballs. And got to work on the Gun Port Lid.

 

 

This was pretty straight forward. I attached the brackets on the lid using a small drop of CA then once that was dry applying the nails and rings just like I did for the tool brackets one at a time. Then I glued the pin into the upper bracket. Once it was dry I inserted it into the hole in the lower bracket. Holding the door in position I folded the upper bracket down and applied a drop of CA to the back side then flipped it up into position and held it until dry, about 30 seconds or so. Installing the nails the same way again.

 

I am only using the short length of chain on the door itself I will be using rigging line to complete the rigging from this point.

 

Getting close to the end now. I did manage to make the cap squares over the weekend but they still need some finishing. Maybe tomorrow that's it for tonight.

 

Thanks again for all the likes.

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by Osmosis

[semorebutts]

Great build! i just bought this kit. Though it came with a white metal cannon not turned brass. I would have never bought it if i knew that. 

[geomac6305]

Well done and thank you for the share.

[Tigersteve]

Fantastic!

Steve

[Osmosis]

Thanks Semore, Geo and Steve for the kind words and to all the others who sent likes.

 

Really a cast white metal cannon? I just posted a question in another thread about trying to find manufacturers that use less cast metal parts and it looks like Model Expo is going the other way on us. Although we did just get word where I work of a huge price increase on all the brass and copper products we buy from different manufacturers.

 

I am really going to try to wrap this up by New Years.

 

 

[DCooper]

Thank you for sharing a most wonderful build.  I really like how this kit allows you to have a taste of each kind of construction and still provides a pleasing model.  Your gun carriage is marvellous and justifiably the star of the show.  I wish you sweet sailing to the completion of you build.  

 

Dan

[Cathead]

My carronade (sister kit to this one) had a white metal barrel, I  just checked my photos and the box. I'm almost certain my long gun did too, but I can't prove it. It somehow didn't register with me that your kit came with a brass barrel, I don't know how I didn't make the connection. I bought and built both last year. Moreover, the photo on the M-E kit page shows a white metal barrel and the kit description says "Britannia metal components". So how did you end up with a brass barrel?

[Osmosis]

I am not sure. I just assumed that is what the kit came with. As a matter of fact I picked the kit off of the shelf myself on one of my trips down to Model Expo. Guess I should have bought a lotto ticket that day instead.

[Osmosis]

Thanks Eric and Dan for the replies and kind words.

 

Not much progress to show tonight but what I did do was a nice change. My first attempt at stropping and rigging wooden blocks was a challenge and I hope I succeeded to some degree.

 

First I had to finish my wooden cleat to replace the cast metal one that came with the kit.

 

The one on the right is the metal one supplied in the kit. The one on the left is a plastic one that I had left over from my Daysailer build. The center one is the one I made from walnut.

 

I did not try to take any step by step pictures of the stropping ind rigging work. I was too wrapped up in the process being my first attempt but below are a couple of shots of the finished gun port rigging.

 

That's it for tonight I am off to bed.

 

[mtaylor]

Cleat and strops look good, Art. If you hadn't said anything, who would know it's your first time stropping?

[fnkershner]

A very proper Cleat Hitch. 

[Osmosis]

Thanks for looking in everyone and for the likes and comments. Not much accomplished in the last few days. I always think I am going to get so much done over a long weekend but never seem to find the time. I got my bore tools finished and started to make the breeching line.

 

 

 

I know that this is not the typical breeching line but I saw a Naval Historical Foundation pamphlet titled Constitution Gun Deck and there is an illustration depicting this style and I thought it was more interesting then just looping it around the cascabel. I also got started on making a quoin I will finish that tomorrow I hope, also all of the carriage hardware is complete and waiting to be blackened. Still a lot to do but getting closer.

 

Best regards and Happy New Year to All

[Osmosis]

It has been a while since my last update but not because I have not been working on it. Getting even a fairly presentable finish on my cannon has proven to be a real challenge. I tried washing with vinegar first then ammonia then soap and water all to no avail as you can see below.

 

The barrel and last of the brass bits ready for blackening.

 

All of the smaller bits came out fine after the first try. These larger pieces did not want to cooperate. I made several attempts using the prep methods described above over several evenings.

 

I finally achieved a passable finish by immersing the parts in brass black and scrubbing with a scotchbrite pad soaked in brass black at the same time. Not perfect but it will do.

 

Once I had everything blackened and attached to the carriage it was on to the breeching line.

Then the quoin which I almost forgot to make.

A little touch up with a black sharpie on some of the fittings then it is on to the final rigging. Not sure what position I am going to display yet.

 

Question; Is there a way to soften the scale rope that comes in these kits so that it lays a little more like real rope?

 

Thanks for looking in.

[paul carruthers]

Nice work, I’m doing a lot of smaller items for my Pegasus, my question is were the side mounts one piece or several sandwiched bits of timber?

if one piece why the step design.

 

i too had lots of trouble blackening my small barrels, yours looks good.

[Osmosis]

Thanks Paul and to everyone for all the likes.

 

The brackets on my carriage are made from one piece of walnut. I believe typically they were made from two pieces bolted together and the step design is just the pattern from that period. I am not sure of the reason behind it. Perhaps one of the naval weapons experts could jump in and lets us know the reason for it.

 

Best Regards

[jwvolz]

Run the rope over some beeswax. That will help relax it, and reduce some of the fuzziness as well. 

[Osmosis]

Thanks Joe,

 

I will give it a try.