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Brass Cannons on USS CONSTITUTION during attack on Tripoli

Myhr99

Myhr99

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Mar 19, 2019
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Warner, New Hampshire
I’m working on 1804 version of Constitution during the attack on Tripoli. Preble had borrowed six 24-pounder brass long guns from Sicily and mounted them on the quarterdeck. Any idea what these barrels would look like? I can’t imagine a polished brass color. Maybe a dull aged brass color? Or would the seamen have blackened them? Thanx for any input!
 
These were probably made from Gunmetal - a variety of high-copper content bronze AKA 'red brass' in the USA. There were many skilled casting companies in all of Italy, originally being employed to make church bells.
 
When polished it looks like red gold, but surface crud and oxidation tarnished is to a subdued warm brown. If I were to try painting an imitation of this more weathered look I would probably try something bronzy and metallic as a base and then use something like sepia ink as a wash to bring out the ring detail. I also noticed this colour range - which sounds interesting though I have never come across it before.

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Paint: Two Thin Coats - Spartan Bronze (Shadow/Metallic)(15ml)

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Alan Smith said:
When polished it looks like red gold, but surface crud and oxidation tarnished is to a subdued warm brown. If I were to try painting an imitation of this more weathered look I would probably try something bronzy and metallic as a base and then use something like sepia ink as a wash to bring out the ring detail. I also noticed this colour range - which sounds interesting though I have never come across it before.

leapingpandahobbies.com

Paint: Two Thin Coats - Spartan Bronze (Shadow/Metallic)(15ml)

The Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy ‘Two Thin Coats’ Paint Range is a range of paints developed from the ground up with some of the best paint development chemists in the world. These are not paints we just bought off the shelf and bottled. We developed each colour to meet our high standards of...
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Excellent! Thanx, man!
 
Bronze barrels can have really different colours with some pattina or fresh produced
But I would also go for a touch of brown
Victory-1765-Bronze-screenshot_7.jpg.37c6d302d54314cef082be81b67df7d5.jpg
 
Myhr99 said:
Thank you, Alan. I’m trying to figure out what color to paint the gun barrels, the bell analogy helps!
Click to expand...
omg that gun is gorgious! i wouldnt paint it. maybe clear coat it to prevent oxidation. imagin painting over the mona lisa?

id imagine guns were painted carbon black or brown so they dont reflect their positions to the enemy.

make your guns out of wood n paint those... that gun is too beautiful n should be a display piece.
 
I don't think any ship at war kept shiney brass barreled guns or cannons on board.

Make them stand out in sunlight and also cause a glare problem for crew.
 
I think that all too often we lose sight of the fact that we are building a "model"!! If you have any doubt, try floating it in your bath tub. Having bought or having turned a beautiful cannon barrel, many would prefer to show its beauty in an unstained or unpainted status. If that is what pleases the builder, then it is the correct decision for him or her. He same idea would also apply to bells, railings, figureheads, hinges, nails, etc. Again, we seem to forget that our builds are models and not the real thing.
 
I work in the model shop of the Constitution Museum. I don't there would be any record of what they did to the guns. Your best bet is the Gun Metal color that has been suggested. It's not a thing that they would have keeped a record of. The only way of telling would be the ships log.
 
I am nearing the point in building my HMS Ontario where I must place the guns. I have the turned "up scale" version of the Stella Maris guns and they are so beautiful that I will not be staining or oxidizing them and will set them in all their glorious brass beauty. Over time they will oxidize naturally. Of course, most of them will never be seen in their entirely as they remain below on the gun deck. For the same reason, I do not intend to rig those guns that are not visible.
 
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