I've been detailing the howitzer; fixing some surfaces on the model that were "wrong-way-out" or missing, correcting things like the ammo box rack and a trunnion-hole (?) under the gun so it can be printed separately.
The next thing involving the gun will be the pivot fittings that attach to the launch; one in the bow, two different ones on either side, and another pair back aft. I can only guess what these things actually looked like, but they'll be small enough that I suppose a guess will do.
I also started detailing the 3D model of the pivot gun I made years ago. Eyes, pivot plates, and the clamp that locks down the carriage to the slide are done so far, but there's lots of plates, rings, axles, and other details to go. I'm hoping to print these (there's two of them) as a single piece because they serve as handles to open the access hatches they're attached to. I considered modeling all the gun's tackle on the 3D model, but I think not. I will most likely be modeling the shells for the blocks at any rate.
I started modeling the boarding steps, but don't care much for what I have so far. There's surprisingly little detail online of what these things really looked like, especially in
Constellation's time period.
Some may be thinking printing all these parts may be something of a cop-out on a so-called "scratch-built" model, but I am digitally modeling these items myself, from scratch, and besides the very nice detail I couldn't manage myself otherwise, this is a working model that's handled a lot; if something is broken, or lost, I can fairly easily replace it by printing another. This idea struck me as very important when I was thinking about printing
Macedonian's figurehead.
