Deck gun cannons

[John cushion]

 need a cheap way to add cannons to the gun deck on the uss constitution?

Edited January 11, 2019 by John cushion

[Gregory]

Cheapest or cheap?  What is your budget?

 

Short of fabricating them yourself and depending on scale,  I would guess it would be at least  $5 per gun, and that might be a tight squeeze..

 

If you are talking about " dummy "  cannon, with just a bit of barrel showing, it could be a lot less..

 

What scale are you talking about?

 

You could get a 1/96 plastic kit for less than $100, and use the cannon.  With some work, they would look pretty good.

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by Gregory

[John cushion]

Model space 1:76 of the uss constitution.  

  Don't want to use dummy cannons.

Edited January 11, 2019 by John cushion

[pontiachedmark]

Gidday John.

Can you please define "cheap".

Also what is your budget?

All the best with your build.

Mark.

[BANYAN]

The cheapest way is to make them yourself if you have the time.  These can be turned up on a lathe from brass, alluminium or wood rod (stock); or, buy/make one master and cast the remainder of them?

 

If you are willing to buy, have a look at ship model accessories at the many hobby shops/retailers and they stock additional/replacement parts from some of the bigger mass produced kits.  You may find something that looks a bit like the guns you need close to scale made from britannia/white metal.  Not as nice as brass turned barrels but a lot cheaper - but as the saying goes "you gets what yous pays" - Buying cheap will most often mean they will look 'cheap' on the model also unless you put a lot of additional work into them.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[allanyed]

If you cannot make a master yourself, maybe just buy one of each size then make a mold and cast your own as suggested above.   The cost of making a silicone mold then casting with resin or pewter or similar lead free metal will be less than buying all of them.  There was a recent post on casting barrels here, so could give you an idea on what is involved if want to go in that direction.  If you do buy a single barrel for each size, be sure they are to scale for your needs and contemporary in design as there were differences over the years in both long guns and differences in carronades, albeit smaller differences.  Good luck

Allan

[dafi]

The really cheapest way is to make them out of paper like the card-board-specialists do. Basically some paper wrapped several times around a core. Have a look at the cardboard forums if no-one ever presented it here 🙂

 

XXXDAn

[amateur]

Doris did

Now I need to think: where.....

 

Jan

Edited January 11, 2019 by amateur

[amateur]

 

Here

 

[mtaylor]

Budget, time, and tools are big three questions.   I've turned brass cannon using a Dremel and files.  Killed the Dremel in the process.   As for materials... wood, plastic, metal are all options as well as making masters and casting them out of various materials.  It all goes back the 3 questions and then add one more:  "what do you want to try or feel most comfortable doing?".

[jwvolz]

Here is exactly what you need in the proper scale, for about as cheap as you will find. They're designed for the kit. 

 

https://www.shapeways.com/product/PFE4WC7WW/1-76-usn-24-pounder-cannons-cecil-model-1808?optionId=64836047&li=marketplace

[pontiachedmark]

Gidday Joe.

Thanks for the link.

Mark.

[Nat Fay]

This isn't really a reply to this topic, but it is related.  I'm looking to add some more cannons to the weather deck of the USS Constitution (No. 170) by Scientific. The kit only comes with twelve cannons, I'd like to have the full armament on my deck.  I was told be one of the members of my club that Scientific used the same cannons on all of their models.  The twelve I have are well detailed and cast in white/pewter metal, .5 inches long by .25 wide.  If anyone has any they wish to part with, I'd be more than happy to purchase them and pay for shipping.  I need ten or all twelve, if you have an incomplete kit you'd be willing to part out.

There are several kits of the USS Constitution (No. 170) for sale on eBay, but I don't want to pay for another complete kit, merely to get some additional cannons.  Thank you!

[mtaylor]

Nat,

Also post your request here:  https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/forum/41-traders-dealers-buying-or-selling-anything-discuss-new-products-and-ship-model-goodies-here-as-well/    

[vossiewulf]

I've wondered why people don't use acrylic rod to scratch guns. It's cheaper and easier to turn than brass and holds at least as much detail, and is indistinguishable from brass once painted.

[mtaylor]

3 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

I've wondered why people don't use acrylic rod to scratch guns. It's cheaper and easier to turn than brass and holds at least as much detail, and is indistinguishable from brass once painted.

Force of habit maybe?  Tradition?  Who knows?   For me, I like turning brass but not sure why.  Maybe it's just the lathe and cutting noise that's soothing along with the feel and heft of brass. 

[vossiewulf]

Yeah, agreed that brass output is more aesthetically pleasing and why we like heft I don't know but we do. But the subject was need a cheap way to add guns to a build. At least people should remember that they could turn beautifully detailed cannon for an entire Victory build for about $5 in acrylic rod.

[mtaylor]

True on the acrylic.  From the builds using acrylic (or other methods like 3D printing) they still look good.

[BANYAN]

I for one am moving down the 3D printing path for the accuracy and level of detail which is consistently repeatable.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[vossiewulf]

With 3D printing, I'm still waiting for a photolithographic (laser) machine that seems to work consistently much cheaper than they are today. About the only one that seems to work well is the Formlabs 2 and it is $3500. I keep looking at reviews of much cheaper ones, but they all sound like a lot of frustration and not much good printing.

 

The extrusion machines can try to make thinner layers, but they have fundamentally lower detail and still come out with visible layers and an uneven surface. I used to be a 3D artist in the games industry, so I'm lucky in that I wouldn't have to learn 3d modeling from scratch, I can already model anything and I keep myself reasonably active with it. So actually if anyone is dying for some modeling work that wouldn't take 1000 hours, I might be able to help.

 

First up on the printer would probably be some of my Battletech models