I've been working on the guns for the cross section. There are two 18-pounders, four 12-pounders and two 8-9-pounders (I've read they were both). I posted previously that I got some different barrels for the 8-pounders, and reworked the carriages some, as noted above. I decided to blacken the barrels (and pretty much all brass rings, nails, etc.) using Birchwood Casey Brass Black. It did a perfect job first time on nails and rings; the barrels were a mixed bag:
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I had expected the bright area around the larger barrel's trunnion, as I had superglued it in place, and could get it all off. I guess just by "playing" with them and all, I'd gotten some areas marked up more than I thought, with something that the alcohol wouldn't remove.
So I cleaned them up some more, using steel wool and a file, and they turned out better the next time:
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Some notes concerning the use of the Brass Black:
- Small parts cannot be "buffed" afterwards, and I find that the black coating rubs off on fingers especially well, and other things. Doesn't really hurt the part, just can make a mess.
- Definitely buff the larger parts like the gun barrels with a soft cloth. It brings out a nice sheen.
- I only used one coat (soaking) of the Brass Black for most parts. Those that didn't take weren't clean enough so were redone as above.
- While the Brass Black liquid is a semi-transparent light blue color, it DOES stain the woods I've checked it on. One one of the other threads, someone asked if it would. It does. Putting a wood finish on afterwards did not remove it or make it less noticeable (like can be done with superglue on wood).
- Likewise, if you apply the Brass Black to a pin or other brass part already inserted in the wood, it WILL blacken the brass, but then in turn makes a black stain around the part in the wood. Ugly!
- At first I took small storage containers and partly filled them with Brass Black, then placed the brass parts in them to darken. Then rinsed them while in the container, etc. I found that using small food baggies with a small amount of Brass Black in the bottom worked better: I would add one barrel at a time, seal the bag, squish it around to mix the liquid and cover the part, until it was the color I wanted (usually only about a minute), then take the part out to rinse and continue the process. Then add the next barrel or part. I'm sure you shouldn't dip parts in the Brass Black bottle, contaminating the liquid, but using the baggie, I could seal it and add parts later.
- The black coating DOES scratch off. Since I think it's designed for guns, possibly multiple coats would prevent that, but I just tried to be careful and touched up any scratched areas I didn't like.
Here are my three sizes of guns atop the 1/48 scale sized Boudriot's drawing:
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As stated previously, the gun barrels and carriages are close to scale for the 18- and 12-pounders (the barrel averaging the length of the Old and New patterns). I replaced the 8-9-pounder barrels with shorter ones, which are pretty close, and modified the carriages to be closer in size and shape.
A fellow forum member here helped me out with some extremely nice breeching ropes:
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The larger rope included with the kit was only about half the required size. I think these will look good once attached in position.
On to making the rest of the gun tackles and mounting the larger cannon on the lower gun deck, then starting on the next deck...
