The Naval Cutter ALERT- 1777, POF by Jimsky

Ha! Just when I think I might have something to contribute to the ship modelling community you come along with your perfect cannons and I slink away to my proper place among the unwashed masses...
Breathtaking Jim!
 
Ha! Just when I think I might have something to contribute to the ship modelling community you come along with your perfect cannons and I slink away to my proper place among the unwashed masses...
Many thanks, Paul! Considering your WASA is the first model, you raised the highest standard in hull planking it is hard to reach. ;) The idea to share the knowledge is brilliant and such a success here at SOS!
 
Jim,
I can only second the comments - guns/carriages could not look better. Thanks for sharing.
 
Many thanks, Gennaro! There are always ways for improvement, and those cannons are no exception, though. For example, implement the functioning Capsquare with working Capsquare Key and Capsquare joint bolt all the way to the axletree. ;) We often say a Model inside the model (usually with the ship's boat). How far you can go with those improvements - is only your personal choice!
 
Many thanks for your 'likes' and valuable comments I can't be happier!

...we shall continue with Ironworks from post #514

Earlier, we have identified the bolt passed horizontally through the 'Transom', binding the Brackets together. In our carriage, we will only imitate the bolt passed and making the bolt heads from both sides of the brackets. Another horizontal bolt passed between the brackets just behind the center of the carriage. This bolt also supported the Stool bed, which supported the Quoin.

We will use the washers, we made in the previous post. First, make necessary adjustments to the sickness and the inside diameter of the washer. The washer should go pretty tight on the rod designated as the bolt. This will ensure proper soldering and horizontal alignment. Yes, that's right, you guessed it right, we will solder the washer to the rod.
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The head of the bolt should be a half-round shape (like a rivet's head). This can be done in few ways: before the washer soldering or after. I found, a better way to make the head after soldering the washer. The soldering piece can be further adjusted in the lathe or any rotary tool. For example, make the washer smaller\ perfectly round, and round the bolt's head. Just leave about 1.00mm from the washer, and using the round bur make a nice bolt's head.

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Unlike the first bolt, where we just imitate the heads, this bolt must be passed through both brackets as it will hold the Stool bed. This can be resolved by soldering only one side of the bolt. Another side just cut for the required size accounting for the sickness of the washer and rounded head. Then the washer will hold in place tight. :)

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Two vertical bolts passed through both halves of each bracket and through the rear axles. I represent those bolts using the square brass wire. For this wire, you need to make the square holes. This was accomplished using the simple tool from the same stock of wire. The end was sharpened however as the chisel. In the predrilled holes insert this tool until you have the perfect square, that simple.

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Alright, we are pretty much done implementing upgrades. The gun's breeching rope passed through a large eyebolt which was fitted on each side of the carriage, about halfway between the two trucks.

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Some other improvements are the iron Axletree loop and Linch Pin. the loop was made using brass tubing with a suitable size. The Linchpins made out of leftover PE parts fret. The holes for linchpins made when the axletree already glued. This shouldn't be the way to drill the holes for the rest of the cannons. The proper way, however, is to make the holes first (before the assembly). Because this is POC (Proof Of Concept), I drilled the holes this way (ouch!!!!!)

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And here is the cartridge fully assembled with all improvements installed
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.... and the barrels installed, and supervisor makes the inspection... Hope he likes it!

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Well...with this, we reached the end of our cannon improvements. Hope you will find it useful for your builds... Thank you! :)
This is very nice precise micro work in all details. Well done. Rich (PT-2)
 
Very very nice work Jim, still jealouze at your perfect burnished gun barrels. Think I have to look for casey brass black to burnish the pewter.
Many thanks, Mon Amie! I think, your barrels look better... Not sure what those barrels are made of, but 'Brass black' by Casy does the job well, I have diluted with warm water and left it for 15 minutes. One more secret, I use graphite powder and a super soft brush to create a layer of graphite. I bought this one and very happy. The amount will last for another 3 lives (if any) :D

 
Many thanks, Mon Amie! I think, your barrels look better... Not sure what those barrels are made of, but 'Brass black' by Casy does the job well, I have diluted with warm water and left it for 15 minutes. One more secret, I use graphite powder and a super soft brush to create a layer of graphite. I bought this one and very happy. The amount will last for another 3 lives (if any) :D

Each and every artisan/craftsman has their own secrets carefully guarded but not quite so tightly in SoS it seems. Thanks for sharing. Rich (PT-2)
 
Greetings from rainy Brooklyn, folks. ;) It is miserable and annoying but...at home, it is cozy and warm.

Today will be a short update from a previous post. Well..., I thought, I have finished with the cannons assembly overview, as declared quality 'out of the box' is dissent for the most part, but...something bothered me as incomplete and I thought about ways for improvement. So... here you go - Jim's way to improve the overall canon appearance.

I recall Triden Model told us that kit provided a solid base, and there are many ways for improvement. So I decided to improve the kit's cannons. One of the improvements made is in the canon trucks. Kit provided trucks as laser-cut, and the axletree hole was not round and perfectly centered. Obviously, you can make it round but this will require more sanding, and as the result, the trucks will be smaller than the required size. The second issue is the timber itself, it doesn't look good under oil, The material is very porous and soaks the oil like a sponge.

Original trucks were made from multiple timber pieces laminated and bolted together. Take a look at the images below.

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The timber selection was easy, I cut the strips out of Pear and Castello just to see what would look better. Strips were glued together on the glass to make it perfectly flat and even.

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Note two types of clamps: the metal clamps holding two strips together while glue sets, the plastic ones (blue color) holding the stips flat. The strips are only 1.5mm thick. Once the glue dry, using the tablesaw cut the strip assembly into the squares.

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Now we will glue both squares together. Just make sure it is perfectly square (this is a 'must' for drilling the holes in the jig). Also watch out the line direction: both squares must form the 'plus + sign' e.g. on one side the line should be vertical, on another side it should be horizontal. I use machinist square to control the squareness

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To make sure the glue evenly spread, I used the vise.
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Time to drill the holes for bolt imitation. When repetition of similar work is involved, I always looking for jigs. A very simple jig was made to drill the holes, but this one ensures the holes were made on equal distance (assuming you have a perfect square). First, we will drill the axletree hole, because the diameter is the same for both hind fore axletrees.

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Take a look at the above photo. There are two types of blanks: some of them for fore tracks, they will be larger than a hind truck, therefore the bolting pattern different. The next step in sequence - to make bolts. This time, I use brass wire 4.00mm, just insert the wire and cut flush on both sides. Time to make the wheels round. I use the wood lathe and turning chisel.

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...and here are the trucks! They look perfectly round (actually they are):) The bolting pattern is equally distributed on the track. I am happy with the result.

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The next part for upgrade is the Stool Bed. It was made out of Pear with matching colors. First, both groves were made using the mill and round bur.

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Below is the new (in the middle) and provided with the kit

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This time I decided to use the carriage provided with the kit. Each bracket (left and right) was made in the upper and lower half. Besides the trucks, a major improvement was made on Ironwork.
The cap-square, already described, held the trunnions in place. The bolts which held the cup-square in position passed through both parts of the bracket, and also help to hold the fore axle in position. I use the kit-provided cap-squares, and the casting beautifully represents both bolts. Another bolt passed horizontally through the transom binding the brackets together. Here I made some bolts. This required to use of washers which I don't have :oops: ...so I made one!
First, we will make some rings, the internal diameter must be a bit bigger than required. Using the jewelers saw we cut individual rings. The wire must be annealed to be very soft. Using the flat pliers close both ends to get a solid ring without gaps.

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The next step is to flatten rings by topping each ring with the hummer until you have the desired thickness

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You may use them as is but, should you decide to make them more uniform and more presentable, you can solder the gap like in the photo below

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To be continued tomorrow...thank you!
What method did you use to anneal the brass wire before bending, cutting, and hammering the rings flat? To what approx. temp, for how long, and how to cool . . . slowly? thanks, rich
 
Each and every artisan/craftsman has their own secrets carefully guarded but not quite so tightly in SoS it seems. Thanks for sharing. Rich (PT-2)
No secrets from the SOS members! Today you learn my techniques, tomorrow I will learn yours or someone's else's ;)
What method did you use to anneal the brass wire before bending, cutting, and hammering the rings flat? To what approx. temp, for how long, and how to cool . . . slowly? thanks, rich
No specific method, just heat the brass wire until it an orange\red color, and let it cool. Just careful so it will not melt. However, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Different amounts of those metals could produce slightly different behavior such as Hard brass or Soft brass or pliable brass. You may want to experiment with yours.

To hammer the ring flat, I use a metal block and a metal bar. The ring goes on to a metal block, on top of the ring a metal bar, then top the bar with the hummer lightly and see how much it flatten. If it is not enough, do it again until satisfied.

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Thanks Jim, I truly appreciate you posting this thorough build log.
Your inclusion of annealing the brass stimulated me to try the same on our kitchen range (electric) coils to at least heat up both a 1 mm rod and my small 1/64 thick strips. It made a significant difference in my ability to drill the strips but with their 1/16 inch width created fold lines where the predrilled holes were located in making mast bands. I hadn't had that problem before but freehand drilling in punched locations is easier. Thanks, Rich (PT-2)
 
Nice work with the cannons Jim, this will be the way the cannons on Rattlesnake vill be made, thanks for the good information, greetings Knut-
 
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