French war-ship Saint-Philippe 1693 - scale 1/72 - from Lemineur monograph
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Prototype of simplified gun carriage of 1st battery (twenty eight to do...) :
Happy Birthday!!! 
Joyeux anniversaire Christian et provite bien de cette journée!
Cordialement Thomas
Cordialement Thomas
Preparing cut of gun carriages :
First group of low battery guns cut :
Following cut of guns carriages :
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Colour of low battery guns
The low battery of the Saint Philippe is the only bronze one of the ship, which poses the problem of its color. Indeed, bronze contains copper, which can give several varieties of grey green by corrosion in a wet environment
To summarize, in the presence of water charged in CO², the grey green formed is copper hydro-carbonate, which shoots frankly on the grey-green, as its name indicates. In contrast, in the marine environment, salt from spray forms a copper chloride, which rather pulls on the greenish-brown
For model making, there is the possibility to soak the cannons in water with added cooking salt, and vinegar to accelerate the reaction, which is nevertheless very slow. or ammonia vapours (faster, but very toxic)
There is also the satin paint, with an exact color difficult to find
Finally, it remains the solution to allow the natural aging of the brass, which will brown slightly over time, and lose all alone its glittering aspect :
For other batteries, iron made, the classic tourmaline, or browner, works well and fairly quickly since brass is an alloy containing zinc that blackens on contact with selenium salts (a bath of fifteen minutes is enough to blacken the brass)
I admit that I do not know what to do, since the model is made of natural wood, I am wary of painted or stained accessories
I’m interested in your opinion
Thank you in advance
The low battery of the Saint Philippe is the only bronze one of the ship, which poses the problem of its color. Indeed, bronze contains copper, which can give several varieties of grey green by corrosion in a wet environment
To summarize, in the presence of water charged in CO², the grey green formed is copper hydro-carbonate, which shoots frankly on the grey-green, as its name indicates. In contrast, in the marine environment, salt from spray forms a copper chloride, which rather pulls on the greenish-brown
For model making, there is the possibility to soak the cannons in water with added cooking salt, and vinegar to accelerate the reaction, which is nevertheless very slow. or ammonia vapours (faster, but very toxic)
There is also the satin paint, with an exact color difficult to find
Finally, it remains the solution to allow the natural aging of the brass, which will brown slightly over time, and lose all alone its glittering aspect :
For other batteries, iron made, the classic tourmaline, or browner, works well and fairly quickly since brass is an alloy containing zinc that blackens on contact with selenium salts (a bath of fifteen minutes is enough to blacken the brass)
I admit that I do not know what to do, since the model is made of natural wood, I am wary of painted or stained accessories
I’m interested in your opinion
Thank you in advance
Following cut of guns carriages of first low battery (left side done, fourteen pieces = 50 %) :
Hello Christian!
There are many model builders who do not like shiny brass metal parts on their models. Each brass part is painted or burnished black. For some time now, I have also been burnish most of the brass parts black and polish the parts of the matt black coating with a cloth so that the brass shines through again.
The paint can peel off on painted parts, and on brass parts that have been burnished for too long, the patina can also peel off. That's why I only burnish for a short time and let cannon barrels age themselves over time (whether iron or bronze barrels). In this way, they can be glued well and held securely on the carriage. A durable darkening of brass happens over the years by itself. Everyone who cleans their brass chandeliers at home over and over again knows this.
Ultimately, it's a matter of taste and everyone has their own recipes.
Have a great Easter!
Thomas
There are many model builders who do not like shiny brass metal parts on their models. Each brass part is painted or burnished black. For some time now, I have also been burnish most of the brass parts black and polish the parts of the matt black coating with a cloth so that the brass shines through again.
The paint can peel off on painted parts, and on brass parts that have been burnished for too long, the patina can also peel off. That's why I only burnish for a short time and let cannon barrels age themselves over time (whether iron or bronze barrels). In this way, they can be glued well and held securely on the carriage. A durable darkening of brass happens over the years by itself. Everyone who cleans their brass chandeliers at home over and over again knows this.
Ultimately, it's a matter of taste and everyone has their own recipes.
Have a great Easter!
Thomas
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Painted test of old gun's color :
Cut of twenty-one carriage sides about twenty-eight = 75% done :
Very good progress - this is the problem with a ship of the line model -> these models have so much guns!
I would suggest to make one or two small adjustments.
1) red arrow
- this small ring would not be on a muzzle - better I never saw such a small ring at the front end
check it please - I guss you can sand it away easily
2) green lines
the gun is looking big in the relatively small gunport - maybe you can sand also the inner port lining slightly -> with this the gun would have a little bit more space
I would suggest to make one or two small adjustments.
1) red arrow
- this small ring would not be on a muzzle - better I never saw such a small ring at the front end
check it please - I guss you can sand it away easily
2) green lines
the gun is looking big in the relatively small gunport - maybe you can sand also the inner port lining slightly -> with this the gun would have a little bit more space
This gun is a Mantua low quality piece, just sacrified for my color test, the true comes from better fabrication, look at last pic of message #582
The dimensions of guns and gun-ports are those of monograph (I use always photocopies of plans for the built of details at exact scale)
Evently, I can sand some inner lines as you suggest it
The dimensions of guns and gun-ports are those of monograph (I use always photocopies of plans for the built of details at exact scale)
Evently, I can sand some inner lines as you suggest it
There is also an picture's optical effect, which disappear when the inner part of gun is hidden :
Cut of twenty-four carriage sides about twenty-eight = 86% done :
Result with grey-green patine, at 60° C :
I really do not know, if I like this colour - it is looking somehow too green and not realistic, but I am not a specialist or saw enough real guns of this time